duncan228
10-07-2008, 10:34 PM
Shaq feels good as Suns look to improve defense (http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/nba/suns/2008-10-07-shaq-lopez_N.htm)
By Paul Coro, The Arizona Republic
Shaquille O'Neal said he weighs about the same (330-335 pounds) as he did in his first NBA championship season.
He's well aware he is 36.
"Yeah, I'm old, but I can still do what I do," he said.
And as for that plan to retire when the Phoenix Suns are done paying him $21 million for each of the next two seasons: "I may get another deal. I may say I don't want to play anymore. You got that window. The window's closing. You've got to get it done now. No excuses."
As O'Neal blows up assumptions that he is overweight, in age denial and counting down to retirement, he might as well flip the script on reviews of the Suns' trade for him.
"It would've been a hell of a Cinderella story for me playing 30 games and for us to get it done," O'Neal said of last season, when he was traded midseason from the Miami Heat to the Suns.
"When you talk about winning championships, it really doesn't work out like that. What (defending NBA champion) Boston showed is if you put a lot guys together and go through a whole year uninterrupted, anything is possible."
The Suns are banking on the full-season theory when it comes to O'Neal. The hope is the team is better for having him from the start of camp last week and that new coach Terry Porter's system will suit O'Neal better.
The offense will be more traditional and deliberate at times, but that is low among O'Neal's priorities. The Suns have scorers galore. They need O'Neal to improve a defense that Porter said must be among the top five in the NBA to win a title.
"From a focal standpoint, that's going to change for us in order to be successful," said Porter, whose system will be more like the one that O'Neal played in while winning three championships with the Los Angeles Lakers.
There will be less space for O'Neal or any Suns player to cover as Porter puts in a simpler formula of sending dribblers to the baseline rather than the paint.
"The big guys have to rotate and be very alert and cut off angles," Suns general manager Steve Kerr said. "The guards have to be able to trust the big guys behind them. Robin (Lopez, the Suns' first-round pick out of Stanford) will be very good at it, and Shaq will be good at it.
"That's where he's at his best defensively, when he doesn't have to cover too much ground on the perimeter and he can guard the rim. We want post defense so we're not vulnerable against (San Antonio's) Tim Duncan, (Houston's) Yao Ming, (Minnesota's) Al Jefferson and the guys who were killing us last year."
O'Neal might play fewer minutes than the 29 he averaged with the Suns. He will form a lane-clogging tandem with Lopez, but Porter also will go with Amare Stoudemire at center and Boris Diaw at power forward.
O'Neal also figures he'll have fewer injuries to contend with this season. He missed 86 games over the past three years.
Miami staffers "were not real familiar with my injuries, so I missed a lot of games," O'Neal said. "Once I came here, Aaron (Nelson, the Suns' head athletic trainer) figured things out, and I was back on my feet. … I'm probably in the best shape coming into training camp I've been for a long time."
By Paul Coro, The Arizona Republic
Shaquille O'Neal said he weighs about the same (330-335 pounds) as he did in his first NBA championship season.
He's well aware he is 36.
"Yeah, I'm old, but I can still do what I do," he said.
And as for that plan to retire when the Phoenix Suns are done paying him $21 million for each of the next two seasons: "I may get another deal. I may say I don't want to play anymore. You got that window. The window's closing. You've got to get it done now. No excuses."
As O'Neal blows up assumptions that he is overweight, in age denial and counting down to retirement, he might as well flip the script on reviews of the Suns' trade for him.
"It would've been a hell of a Cinderella story for me playing 30 games and for us to get it done," O'Neal said of last season, when he was traded midseason from the Miami Heat to the Suns.
"When you talk about winning championships, it really doesn't work out like that. What (defending NBA champion) Boston showed is if you put a lot guys together and go through a whole year uninterrupted, anything is possible."
The Suns are banking on the full-season theory when it comes to O'Neal. The hope is the team is better for having him from the start of camp last week and that new coach Terry Porter's system will suit O'Neal better.
The offense will be more traditional and deliberate at times, but that is low among O'Neal's priorities. The Suns have scorers galore. They need O'Neal to improve a defense that Porter said must be among the top five in the NBA to win a title.
"From a focal standpoint, that's going to change for us in order to be successful," said Porter, whose system will be more like the one that O'Neal played in while winning three championships with the Los Angeles Lakers.
There will be less space for O'Neal or any Suns player to cover as Porter puts in a simpler formula of sending dribblers to the baseline rather than the paint.
"The big guys have to rotate and be very alert and cut off angles," Suns general manager Steve Kerr said. "The guards have to be able to trust the big guys behind them. Robin (Lopez, the Suns' first-round pick out of Stanford) will be very good at it, and Shaq will be good at it.
"That's where he's at his best defensively, when he doesn't have to cover too much ground on the perimeter and he can guard the rim. We want post defense so we're not vulnerable against (San Antonio's) Tim Duncan, (Houston's) Yao Ming, (Minnesota's) Al Jefferson and the guys who were killing us last year."
O'Neal might play fewer minutes than the 29 he averaged with the Suns. He will form a lane-clogging tandem with Lopez, but Porter also will go with Amare Stoudemire at center and Boris Diaw at power forward.
O'Neal also figures he'll have fewer injuries to contend with this season. He missed 86 games over the past three years.
Miami staffers "were not real familiar with my injuries, so I missed a lot of games," O'Neal said. "Once I came here, Aaron (Nelson, the Suns' head athletic trainer) figured things out, and I was back on my feet. … I'm probably in the best shape coming into training camp I've been for a long time."