With Shaq officially retiring do you think the Lakers should retire his jersey? Should he get a statue?
lol kinda question... but no with the statue, if they give him one, then Kobe, Jerry West, and KAJ get one too.
I would vote no. I don't think his #34 deserves to be in the rafters. He disrespected the fans and the owner.
If you owned a business and your employee told you to fuck off and then told your customers to fuck off, then went to work for your competitor would you want to honor him after he's retired?
How did he disrespect the fans? By playing for the Celtics? I agree that really hurt but its not like he was born in LA. Nor drafted by LA. Jerry Buss was the one disrespected, not you, and he made it a point to announce immediately that Shaq's # would be retired....if he is over it you should be too I totally agree Shaq did some douchy things but the positive FAR outweigh the negatives. Not having his # in the rafters would make the Lakers look petty and childish
The perfect statue after Kobe retires: [video=youtube;sUE_0LRxtpU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUE_0LRxtpU&feature=related[/video] 1:36 Kobe to Shaq....THAT's the statue for both of them (im sure Kobe would be irate but whatever)
Not sure what you're referring to specifically but could you blame him for being pissed after he was the focal point on three championship teams and then the Lakers picked Kobe over him? I'd be pretty pissed if I accomplished that for the franchise and then they let the #2 guy run me out of town. The world of sports is different from the world of actual business too. Players moving team and talking shit to their old teams, fans, etc. isn't unusual. Its not like you Laker fans never had bad things to say about him. You've got to retire the jersey of a guy who was the best player on 3 championship teams. I know championships aren't hard to come by down there in Lala Land but give him his due. He did a lot for your team and IMO hanging his jersey in the rafter is necessary relative to his accomplishments. If not then you might as well take down the championship banners from the 3 championships that Shaq lead you to.
He called out the fans and the franchise after he signed with Miami. You forgot about that? Then he bashed Miami's franchise after they let him go. He's a prick. Not sure why he gets a free pass from people still. I guess the clown act helps him bullshit his way around who he really is. I'm not surprised Dr. Buss is retiring the number. Maybe they've privately reconciled their relationship and Shaq still has a lot of "friends" within the organization Dr. Buss wants to keep happy. And of course it generates money for him and press coverage for the Laker brand.
They didn't pick Kobe over him. Shaq wanted out and made a ridiculous contract extension request to force their hand. Kupchak wasn't seasoned enough to work it out with Kobe & Shaq and keep them together.
but shape, how does that really matter in the end? i mean sure shaq was a d-bag, but so was kobe for god sake! everybody that was involved played a part in the splitting up of that team. he led the lakers to 3 out of 4 championships, he's the most dominant big in recent history and put the lakers back on the top of the league for years. if we are talking about things he has done off the court then we shouldnt be discussing retiring jersey numbers, becuase they are unrelated. completely unrelated. dont get it confused. i think shaq deserves his number 34 retired AND a statue. Kobe will absolutely get a statue, so i think its only fair that shaq does too. we all know shaq has a big mouth, but if he was still on the lakers wouldnt you side with him?
I think Shaq deserves a statue one day, but I wouldn't be upset if he never got one, either. However, his jersey should be retired opening night next year.
There's no question that his jersey needs to be retired. I wouldn't give him a statue, though. Simply because he didn't establish himself as a symbol of the Lakers, although he definitely established himself as one of the most dominant players that has ever stepped on a court. He won't be remembered as a symbol of the Lakers unlike Kobe.
