Yes it was. What's your point. The plan was to FREE Imaginary Cap space 2 years into the future though.
Agreed on all counts. He may have been great, but could have been far greater. He never worked on his game in the off season, or even tried to stay in halfway decent shape. He also postponed surgery that he should have had done at the beginning of summer until summer was over and training camp starting - just so he could have the summer off. He never took the regular season seriously. Constantly starting the regular season overweight, or recovering from surgery cost him lots of games, and led to further nagging injuries that cost him even more games. If he would have done nothing else above and beyond staying in reasonable shape suring the off season, he would have had a much greater career and would have had offensive stats comparable to Karl Malone or maybe even Kareem. He also never worked on improving his game. He simply relied on his unique combination of size and stength (and quickness, early in his career before he got fat) to overpower his opponents. He seemed to really admire and respect Hakeem, but never put in the effort to learn low post moves comparable to Hakeem or the other great centers. Imagine a player of Shaq's size and strength and the low post moves of Kevin McHale, or even just a halfway decent drop step and up and under. And then there is defense and rebounding. Souldn't "the most dominant player of his generation" lead the league in rebounding and blocked shots year after year (or at least occasionally) during the prime of his career? Again, when it came to defense and rebounding, Shaq lacked motivation and and effort. Defense and rebounding are hard work. Shaq preferred to rest on defense and save his energy for the offensive end of the court. Of course, if he would have been in good shape, he could have gone all out at both ends and been a much more complete player. He's often compared to Wilt, due to their physical dominance, but Shaq was no Wilt. Wilt kept himeself in great shape and hated to miss a minute of any game for any reason. Shaq generally coasted through the regular season for most of his career. Wilt was a dominant rebounder and defender. He also made himself into a great passer. Exceptional size and steength and poor FT shooting is where the similarities between Shaq and Wilt end. Wilt was a much more complete player who worked much harder both on, and off the court (insert obligatory joke about 20,000 sex partners here). In the end, Shaq will be remembered as a great, physically dominant player, but if he would have shown more dedication to conditioning and improving his game, he could have been the greatest ever. He just lacked the drive and self-motivation of players like Jordan, Bird, and even Kobe.
Great post. I don't think Shaq enjoyed playing basketball. He just happened to be a behemoth with agility and used the sport as a stepping stone for getting noticed and open doors to entertaining which is his true enjoyment.
He enjoyed the entertainment aspect of playing basketball and being viewed, but he never put in the work like Boob-No-More posted. Just look at the timing of his retirement announcement, right at the start of the NBA Finals. Why not wait until the season is over? Attention whore.
.....because I'm sure Shaq's retirement is taking the spotlight away from Lebron and his finals run. I dont buy it.
Shaq was dominant the way Ron Artest is dominant. Players give him a couple extra inches to avoid a fight. That's not what I call dominant. Intimidation is just one of many factors contained in my concept of dominance. He never dominated like Jabbar in Milwaukee or Chamberlain in Philadelphia or San Francisco. They were unstoppable 1-man tornadoes. The more you watch post-game Shaq press interviews, the more you hate him. He makes an ass out of himself, governed by negative emotions, a jealous paranoid snake striking at rivals. Like Bush, the media hides Shaq's live press conferences. An article summarizes it and the stupidity is taken out. You have to watch the live Qs and As to see the real Shaq.
Shaq winning multiple Finals MVPs and multiple titles while not working during the summer means he is lazy. Andre Miller saying he takes the summer off to rest his body means he is a smart veteran. Shaq had a 26.4 PER for his career, for chrissakes. Sorry, but I'd take Lazy Shaq over Smart Veteran Miller any day of the week. What a completely biased and moronic post, BNM.
For about 5 years he was considered a top defender. But his false kind of dominance was like Shaq's, deriving from throwing his weight around. I prefer Kareem's true dominance in his Buck years, coming from knowledge of the game.
What happened to Bill Fitch is the question. He's stuck in a cheap Los Angeles flat, afraid to come out because HCP's relatives control the neighborhood. It's like a hundred degrees there and he can't even open his windows. The 4th-greatest coach of centers of all time, wasted, eaten by the fleas of his own dog. This country needs a leader like Khadaffi.
