How many of you feel that Shaq will always be best known as a Laker?
I mean he was in his prime as a Laker and help win us 3 titles.
But for me...the fact that Shaq has became a ring chaser at this stage of his career kind ruins it for me. I also put in to play how he left the Lakers...never coming in to camp in shape...doing surgeries on company time (during the season)...and not being a better leader when he was here period.
Yeah he gave us 3 rings but honestly he SHOULD of got us more. Instead he goes to Miami and rides D-Wades great Finals play a la Mavs choke job to a championship.
Because of these facts I care less if Shaq gets his jersey number retired as a Laker. It makes me sick to my stomach to see him hoping from the Heat...to the Suns....to the Cavs....trying to stack up on rings.
Maybe I feel this way because in a perfect world for us Laker fans he would of stayed and him and Kobe would of just kept winning rings.
But now when I think of our Laker greats....Shaq has dropped way down. Sh*t I put Kurt Rambis in front of his a$$.
Laker greats...
Magic
Kareem
West
Kobe
Wilt
Worthy
Baylor
Goodrich
D-Fish
Scott
Rambis
Shaq............
Attention seeking whore? Possibly. He's immature, and every team he's joined has eventually tired of his act. Every team has been left in shambles with his departure.
I sort of feel bad for the guy. I think he's a great player who deep down wants to be appreciated. I know he won a ring without Kobe (and the Lakers), but I think he regrets the situation and would try to stay in LA if he could do it all over again. People in LA loved him, period.
This is a hard topic for most Laker fans.
It's hard to like him when we had a bad break up and he won a championship with wade and is now trying to get one with Lebron.
On the other hand he brought us 3 rings and was the face of LA for over half a decade.
It's going to be hard for me to watch him playing along side one of my least favorite nba players.
Shaq... ahhhhhhhrg... I have a hard time putting all the things I think about the D down in words.
I will say this. No matter what, I have a tough time hating him. At times I am frustrated with him and sort of want to hate him. He is fascinating. Both KB and Shaq wear the weaknesses and strengths they possess on the outside for us to see and be amazed by. So they are very human to us, and we do not always want human hero's.
I will probably remember him as a laker and then magic guy.
I think in a lot of ways shaq did us a HUGE favor by being himself and yelling at Buss to "^%#^%$# PAY ME" ... We were lucky to rebuild after him as quickly as we did, but were also lucky we did not cling to him. If he is on his best behavior it would be much harder to not cling to him.
I think we have to retool with him and KB, were he to stay, in order to win another title. And that is going to be tough to do with 2 gigantic salaries. So who knows how successful we stay with both.
And keeping KB is not a certainty with shaq on board... hell, it was not a certainty without him.
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GTS pointed out in a piece he wrote about Shaq that shaq throws his former teammates and coaches under the buss too much. That one thing probably bothers me more than anything about him. It is way too frequent. And come classy cats are under that buss. It diminishes him more than them .
What is sad is that he won't get his number retired nor get a statue anywhere.
No, he is not the most dominant player ever, that title would go to Wilt.
I'm in no way saying that Wilt > Shaq, just that dominance is based on your performance against guys you played against.
What is sad is that he won't get his number retired nor get a statue anywhere.
No, he is not the most dominant player ever, that title would go to Wilt.
I'm in no way saying that Wilt > Shaq, just that dominance is based on your performance against guys you played against.
I agree, after a while it gets tiring to see comparisons between guys who have not played in the same era, let alone their primes at the same time.
Players all have different playing styles. Some point guards get 10 rebounds a game, others get 25 ppg with 6 assists, and others get only 10 points with 10 assists. It all depends on what the team needs.
We will never know who truly was better. Wilt could have had ways to outplay shaq and visa versa. Its always different depending on the matchup.
Some teams, Kobe has to focus on playing lock down D while dishing the ball, and some teams we need him to completely dominate on the offensive end. Thats just the way the game works, you make adjustments.
Idiots like TH50 will make an argument like "D-wade is better because he outscores Kobe every time they face up". While it has happened last season, the whole point of basketball, is not to play the other team's game. Thats how they beat you.
Thats why Kobe has matured a lot, because he used to get so motivated for 1 on 1's against VC, and other big names, and he would lose a lot of the time because he would go away from the system the team had set in front of them.
No game plan is necessarily weak. Whoever sticks to their gameplan more wins in the end of the day really. Detroit, San Antonio, LA, are a few examples of teams who don't go away from what they do.
I KNOW that I am in the minority here. Have been since day one but I always have and always will dislike Shaq. I was probably the ONLY person in Los Angeles that didn't want him when he got traded here.
MDE????
Please name the year he led the league in block shots, rebounds or anything else defensive for that matter. In his ENTIRE career what has he averaged when scoring OUTSIDE the paint??
Being the BIGGEST one on the floor doesn't mean you are the most dominant. It just means that you're bigger than everyone else and can push them around.
And blah blah blah... "he brought us 3 Championships" so what, Magic brought us 5 Kobe 4 Shaq hasn't done anything that GREATER Lakers than him have done, and done better!!!!
I know you guys don't like it, but it's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.
[quote=Laker4Lyfe]I KNOW that I am in the minority here. Have been since day one but I always have and always will dislike Shaq. I was probably the ONLY person in Los Angeles that didn't want him when he got traded here.
MDE????
Please name the year he led the league in block shots, rebounds or anything else defensive for that matter. In his ENTIRE career what has he averaged when scoring OUTSIDE the paint??
Being the BIGGEST one on the floor doesn't mean you are the most dominant. It just means that you're bigger than everyone else and can push them around.
And blah blah blah... "he brought us 3 Championships" so what, Magic brought us 5 Kobe 4 Shaq hasn't done anything that GREATER Lakers than him have done, and done better!!!!
I know you guys don't like it, but it's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.[/QUOTE]
Shaq was a traveling salesman. 4 different teams? MDE? Plllllllllllease.
Your post is absolutely my perspective. Good job. That big and moderate rebounder at best. Best dunker ever. NO shot. Can't make a free throw without an oversized funnel. Liability at the end of games. In shape only BEFORE he came to the Lakers. His size and Athleticism was all he had and it worked well for awhile. Once that went away, average center at best.
I am one of the rare posters with the same perspective.
Shaq was a big part of 2000-2002 but I will remember him more for being out of shape and living way below his potential.
What is sad is that he won't get his number retired nor get a statue anywhere.
No, he is not the most dominant player ever, that title would go to Wilt.
I'm in no way saying that Wilt > Shaq, just that dominance is based on your performance against guys you played against.
#34 will get retired in LA, book that.
Hes still one of my favorite players in the NBA, but I do agree it will be sickening to watch him with LeBron next year.
What is sad is that he won't get his number retired nor get a statue anywhere.
No, he is not the most dominant player ever, that title would go to Wilt.
I'm in no way saying that Wilt > Shaq, just that dominance is based on your performance against guys you played against.
What are you talking about? Shaq will definitely get his retired in LA, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Orlando consider it.
no. I don't feel like pointing out the millions of points that prove that question wrong but any real lakers fan knows that Shaq isn't even near the top5. Top10 maybe.
What are you talking about? Shaq will definitely get his retired in LA, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Orlando consider it.
It's not going to happen. Unless he either comes back to the Lakers at the vet minimum as a sub to end his career OR kisses the Buss family's A$$es big time........they are still furious for what he pulled, make no mistake about it.
He has as much chance to get his number retired by Orlando as Jordan has of having his statue removed in Chicago and replaced by Deng
The Shaq question...
