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As far as I know - when Russell was playing they were listing players wihout the shoes.
Lot of people forget also that Magic got swept twice in the finals - '83 to the Sixers and '89 to the Pistons.
I think a lot of people should get over the "dissing" Robinson thing. It's taken on a life of its' own over the years and has since become something of a "myth".
Shaq is good and right now you have to put him up there with the best of all time in the center position. As an overall factor? Who knows. Fundamentially he has flaws, but who doesn't? He's always up for league MVP every year, (as with Duncan) and every night he's capable of putting up huge numbers.
Granted he says stupid things, but if you still remember it after all these years, then his work was a success, he got inside of your head.
I'm sure he contributes to charities and everything like that. Granted he's not Robinson, and really who is?
As far as I know - when Russell was playing they were listing players wihout the shoes.
Other than his David Robinson drama, he has always been a classy guy and given the spurs and Tim Duncan their due.
He is a monster in the paint and has an (what I consider) less than beautiful game.
I am not a Shaq fan, but I have a lot of respect for the guy. You don't have to like someone to respect them. Most of Shaq's trash-talking is for his own benefit, it builds him up, somehow. David Robinson just happened to get in the cross-hairs once, I don't think Shaq meant anything personal by what he said about David Robinson.
My main complaint against Shaq is the way he talks about San Antonio. No one should ever talk down about a city that put them on the proverbial radar like San Antonio did for Shaq. If it had not been for the coaches at Cole High School and the local media and the love of the citizens of San Antonio...Shaq would be NOBODY. I just don't think he should dis San Antonio.
Other than that, I just take everything he says with a grain of salt. I actually think he's pretty humorous. I'd love to see him and Charles Barkley co-host a sports talk show together when Shaq retires. Talk about hilarious!
Shaq likes the drama and he likes playing the bad guy. Most of the time he is really funny and he and Barkley would be great.
that was always my issue with him...but it never fostered hatred of the man and never changed my opinion of his play on the court.My main complaint against Shaq is the way he talks about San Antonio.
Too early to call Shaq the "greatest of all time." Way too early.
He wrote it in his book... dedicated a whole section to it. The whole "he wasn't thinking when he said it" argument or "didn't mean it" just doesn't cut it when you take the time to have it written down and published.
As for the second comment... I was just thinking they would show the clip of both of them fighting as part of the opening credits to the show... Now that would be irony.
edit: I added the "and published" part because I realized several posters here often "write" something down without really thinking about it....
Last edited by hegamboa; 06-03-2005 at 02:55 PM.
Sometimes you just have to rack yourself
He es to the media whenever things don't go his way. The drama with Kobe was absolutely childish and pathetic. The media licks his ass (although I guess I can't blame him for that). If he bothered to keep himself in shape he might have actually earned the whole "Most Dominant Force in the NBA" le. And last but not least, he gets called for a fraction of the offensive fouls he commits. And the commentators cover for it with their BS of "Well he's just so large that it's tough to really call what's a foul and what's just Shaq being Shaq." What a load!
Would Shaq still be dominant player if the refs called everything offensive fouls and 3 seconds? I feel part of his success was getting superstar treatment. Put him in the olympics and we see how quickly he will get fouls.
Quote: "Put him in the olympics and we see how quickly he will get fouls."
Actually, Shaq won the MVP award in 1994 when he was playing with Team USA in the World Basketball Championships.
94 was when he still actually played basketball. The last 4 years or so he's been so out of shape that he just lowers the shoulder or raises his off arm and pushes his defender out of the way to score while the refs look the other way.
THAT style of play would get him fouled out of every olympic game. I wish he would have worked hard in his career. He was so amazing his first 5 years in the league. With his amazing quickness and strength, although he was schooled my drob throughout his career.
Personally, I think to be considered one of the top 2 or 3 players in the history of the NBA, you have to be able to make a shot outside of 4 feet from the rim.
Shaq couldn't make a shot outside 4 feet to save his life.
I get annoyed when people call him the greatest center ever, when the only thing he does is knock over people and dunk, or make a weak layup. You can't be great if that's the ONLY move you have. Nobody would really say this, but I will I think Shaq is as one dimensional as they come. The only reason he gets blocks and boards, is by size alone. He has only one way of ever scoring, by pushing people out of the way with his size. If he could actually shoot the ball, then maybe he'd be dominant.
My other problem other then what you already stated that by the rules shaq really doesn't have enough game to make him even a top 10 player of all time. By the rules you can't move a defender by lowering your shoulder and ramming into him or by using your off arm and moving the player that way.
Often basketball rules are ignored by officials but it is so blatent with snaq that it needs to be called. If he didn't get those no calls from the refs he wouldn't be half as effective as he has been in the last 3 or 4 years.
He is always dishing his community... he was suppose to attend some kids camp in LA a while back and he was a no show -- all he thinks about is himself.. yea that's all good and dandy -- he's a great father -- but the money he gets -- I still feel he should give back to this community - whether it be LA or SA (where he went to school) or now Miami --
He is a selfish man and I just don't like him.
Yes he is dominant on the court but only because he is soooo big... heck if you were 7' tall and weighed 360 lbs -- wouldn't YOU throw your weight around too?
Well that and also that fact that he called the Spurs the WNBA -
when he gives us some credit -- maybe -- maybe - then we might give him his due - till then -- no way -- he is the enemy till then...
Wade is a cool dude -- just like the Nash -- I would never diss Wade -- I just don't want him to win vs. the spurs -- tis all --- simple as that.
i hate ShaQ because:
-he is a blabberand doesn't RESPECT some of the NBA players and coaches.
-laughed and mocked Bibby for being included in the Olympic qualifying team in Puerto Rico, called him a a boy scout, who only made a name of himself bec. he plays in Sac, a playoff team.
-for calling Sacramento Kings "the Sacramento Queens".
-for calling the Spurs "an WNBA team" on David Lettermen Show after they've been swept by Duncan/Admiral in 1999?
-for the Lakers calling the Spurs "Spuritis" after the Spurs lost twice to Lakers in the 2001 & 2002 WC playoffs?
-doesn't want to participate in the Olympic Qualifying or Olympic team because Larry Brown is the coach.
-Proclaims himself as Superman?
-Being such a drama king, wanted the Lakers staff to exaggerate his injury so nobody would blame of the team's losses?
-desputing Duncan's MVP in 2002?
-agreeing to the asterisk* Phil Jackson put on Spurs' 1999 le?
-for dreaming of "immortality" because he's still on David and Olojawon's level?
-calling himself "sexy" on that wheaties breakfast box?
argghhhhhhhh!!! please. 340 lbs is sexy?
-said that Stu's 1 game suspension on Duncan on that Jack Nies incident was NOT enough?
-Big Ego as big as his butt!
and in 2004 All-Star, after taking some gulp.. for giving Dirk Nowitski that plastic of Gatorade or something(?), making Dirk looked like a waterboy? BTW, Dirk kinda irked on that gesture, he smiled awkwardly seemed lost what to do with ShaQ leftover.
i still have many of my reasons...so many, i lost count.
Last edited by milkyway21; 06-04-2005 at 02:56 AM.
I don't like Shaq because he has an ultra ego and says stupid . For example : a tattoo of superman logo. He also gets all the calls from the ref. He wouldn't be the same in the Olympics because all those are offensive fouls. At one time when he was thinner he could play basketball without fouling all the time.
so obsessed being Superman, even his "cribs" full of it.
i was laughing when i watched MTV visited Shaq's cribs. what a beautiful house w/ a lot of Superman's logos around it
OK, I've read all your input into Shaq's popularity. I still say he doesn't have the skills of at least 5 big men in the NBA who can dribble, shoot a J, pass with skill, and apply a rationale to how and why they play the way they do. Let's face it, Shaq has pure brutal strength. If you are an opposing center defending against him, you will take a beating and have umpteen fouls called against you. Also, I watch him with the ball under the basket and he travels more often than not. But will officials call traveling? He's the NBA's meal ticket. Of course they won't.
Finally, if I were making the money he is, I'd probably be more like Bill Gates: giving for causes that help humanity and the disadvantaged. The stories about the "little deaf kid" and George Mikan are exemplary, but too little, too few, and too far in-between.
When he used that remark on TV this week, " ... I'm a ... mother 'bleeper'..." one sportscaster on SportsCenter couldn't stop complimenting him enough for being such a great funny man.
Shaq has no class.
I promise not to go here anymore. Let's get on with the playoffs.
Shaq is unfair...almost cheating.
7 foot Punk
Speaks for itself. What an arrogant ass!
I go back on forth on it all the time. I think he's a one dimensional player who gets beyond preferential treatment from the refs. When he doesn't, he es about it. He's got a big ego. He's said some bad things about SA. He takes no responsibility for keeping in shape or for team morale or for losses or anything. I dislike that.
But he has been generous, and has helped out the community. The Mikan gesture was great, but on the other hand, what did he do for his 'friend' and 'idol' when he was alive and desperately needed the help? Mikan had to sell all his memoriabilia, including his MVP trophy to pay for his medical treatments. ESPN had an interview where he and and his son talked about that and it was heart wrenching - the only time Mikan didn't have a smile on his face. There is a lot Shaq could have done privately and personally to help or to get the pre-65'ers a better pension deal, and he didn't.
But in the end, I don't hate him. I don't care for him, but he can be amusing. Just like in fall of '98, when I first came to college in Houston. Lakers were playing the Rockets and a friend and I were in the Galleria, and we noticed a disturbance. We went to see what it was, and there is Shaq, surrounded by a ton of people. He signed some autographs, then headed on with a small circle of body guards around him (earpieces, visible guns, etc). I laughed so hard I fell down the stairs - he was a good foot taller than the tallest of his bodyguards. Now I remember that everytime I see him.
Are you kidding? There is NO WAY Shaq is the top 2-3 center of all time, you don't even NEED arguments for that one. There's always Wilt, Kareem and Russell, and then there is Hakeem, Robinson, Moses Malone, and to a lesser extent Wes Unseld and Nate Thurmond (I think he was just extremely underrated.)
He's not the top 2-3 Laker of all time (Wilt, Magic, West, Baylor), and not even the top Heat of all time (he only played one year, Mourning beat him on this) but he is the top Magic of all time though.
You don't really believe this do you? Come on. Nobody thinks Mikan's family is slobs. I think it's pretty apparent to sports fans (who are the only ones who even know about Mikan's death and Shaq's generosity) that Mikan played in a different era and was not renumerated as well as today's players. I seriously doubt Mikan's family was insulted by Shaq's actions, so you shouldn't be either.
Bottom line here: if joe blow had never heard of GM until he died and thought that GM's family was slobs b/c they needed Shaq's public help, then joe blow is not much of a contemporary sports fan and doesn't care about Shaq and GM anyway. No big deal. Great gesture by Shaq.
Do you actually believe Shaq "wrote" that book?
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