Apparently he never touched any of his money made on NBA contracts. Put it all in the bank or invested it and lived off of endorsement money. Hes actually a pretty interesting guy. About to get his PhD. Been training in MMA since 2000 according to Wiki and I'm interested to see whether the Shaq-Hong Man Choi fight actually happens. They seemed mutually interested and seems like a good charity type event. I never recalled him being too much in denial about his decline. These are pro-athletes after all. Doesn't help to be timid and not believe in yourself. He seemed perfectly fine in Phoenix when they told him to just rebound and be a presence in the middle. Same thing in Cleveland and Boston. I only agree that I didn't like his attitude toward the game in that IMO he didn't work as hard as he could have to be better than he was. He was content with being in bad shape for a lot of his prime years and I don't think he was very invested in playing defense. I've also been suspect of the excuses made for his poor FT shooting and lack of developing more offensive skills (though maybe him developing a jumpshot would have been worse for his career).
Insanely a lot? Or little? I would imagine his endorsement money dwarfs what he made in the NBA but I don't really know. Maybe going with Shaq brand discount shoes instead of a Nike or Jordan deal cost him a lot? Still respectable that he wanted to put out a shoe people can afford.
http://www.bnvillage.co.uk/entertainment-village/97281-shaqa-monthly-budget-exposed.html lol at 24k a month for gas?
I'm sure hes paying a lot of people's ways. Pretty sure hes got at least a couple more kids floating around in the world lol.
Up there with Chamberlain, Olajuwon, Abdul-Jabbar, Russell and Robinson as the most dominant center ever. He was nearly as unstoppable on offense, during his prime, as Jordan.
Totally agree. I've hated his personality since he was in college. "Jealous" is the one word which sums him up.
He didn't tarnish shit. Does anyone really think of Mourning acting like a bitch and refusing to go to Toronto when he was traded there? Does anyone remember Pippen raising shit in Houston when he wanted to be "the man?" Does anyone remember Hakeem actually playing in Toronto? These are all minor blips on the radar of the over legacy that these guys will leave behind, that no one will recall when thinking of them years from now. Shaq will just be known as the most dominant player for a decade, and possibly ever in the history of the league.
this is true. The other side of the coin is that he might be the greatest underachiever of all time. If he'd have kept his weight down to 280-300 he'd have been so much more agile while still being by far the biggest guy on the court. I saw him with his shirt off back when he was a Sun and was amazed at how soft/fat he was. Playing 75 pounds (or so) overweight speaks to his dedication to his profession... so does his FT shooting. His rookie year he shot 59% from the line. In 19 seasons he only topped that once finishing as a career 53% FT shooter. His lousy % + ridiculous form speaks to someone who just didn't care. Just think of how much more he would have scored if teammates weren't afraid to pass it to him in the 4th If he'd kept his weight in check and mastered the FT to a league average level he'd be in the GPOAT discussion. STOMP
