From an espn.com article, very interesting stuff, with most of it I have to agree with Shaq on, especially Kobe playing with blinders on : http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?id=1824721 ----------------- By Tom Friend ESPN the Magazine Jerry Buss is going to break up the Lakers or the state of Colorado is going to break up 'em up, but, either way, say your goodbyes. Because the exits are coming in droves. Phil Jackson is already gone, and, the truth is, Shaquille O'Neal wants to join him. It looks like Buss, the Lakers' owner, has made his choice: Kobe stays, the other Hall of Famers go. In other words, he is not averse to trading Shaq and is willing to build his franchise around a narcissist who's on trial for rape, doesn't make his teammates better and is in denial over all of it. Buss apparently will stop at nothing to keep Kobe off the open market, and I've been told that means he will offer Bryant partial ownership down the road. In the short term, he'll at least offer Kobe a quasi-general manager job, meaning Kobe can help pick the new coach, and, ostensibly, Shaq's replacement. Shaq knew this was coming, has known it for months, because he's refused to take the pay cut Buss wants him to take, the pay cut Kevin Garnett bent over backwards and took in Minnesota. Shaq says the Laker organization asked him to recruit Karl Malone last summer, asked him to recruit Gary Payton, and that it was understood they'd take care of him down the road. But they're not taking care of him, and, I'm not surprised that today he's just demanded a trade. He told me in late April he was resigned to the fact that it was time to go. "Well, I've seen it before," he said as we sat alone in the team's El Segundo training complex. "I've seen it before. It happens with the Ewings and the Dominiques. But give me enough respect and enough courtesy and let me know. And I'll make it easier for everybody. "But just don't tell me one thing and do another. Because you insult my intelligence like that. Just tell me. I ain't tripping. But the good thing about this country we live in, somebody will want this. Someone will want the Diesel. I've got about five, six good years left in me. Because the stuff that I'm doing, I still got a whole lot of stuff in me. I'm not even allowed to really take over the game how I want to. So I'm just out there playing on fumes right now." Shaquille O'Neal Shaq says the Lakers vowed to get him 'whatever you need' after recruiting Malone and Payton. O'Neal has a lot of beefs with the franchise. They are, in no particular order: # Buss hasn't made his contract extension a priority. "People act like they care, but they don't really care about you," he said in our interview. "Because if they cared about you like they said they did, then stuff would be in place. And that's the only problem I have with business. I'm so honest and stern that if you don't want me here, just let me know. I'll do my time, and we can make up a story together, and it can be easy. But don't say, 'Hey, if you do this [recruit Malone], and you do this [recruit Payton], I'll get you whatever you need, baby.' And then when I do that and it comes time and here you are messing around and jiggling around. "My thing is, if you're not going to pay me that, let me go. I've been in the game 12 years, I've been lucky enough to get three extensions in one lifetime, which is unheard of. So I'm not really complaining. But let me know. And don't try to match my numbers up against somebody else's numbers [Garnett's]. "I'm not a dummy. I understand they want to go younger, [Kobe's] only 25, 26. I'm not tripping over that. But let me know, just let me know. I don't have a problem, just let me know. Give me that respect and give me that courtesy. Let me know." # They should appreciate the fact that he didn't rip Kobe's head off this year. Think about it. Bryant called Shaq "fat" before the season. He said that Shaq begs out of games with mysterious injuries and that if he leaves the franchise, it'll be because of the big fella. Shaq, somehow, never retaliated. When Kobe was late for meetings all year and late for practices, Shaq never said anything. When Kobe had his own mysterious injury [the sliced finger], Shaq never said anything. When Kobe wouldn't shoot that day in Sacramento, Shaq never said anything. And the reason is, he'd promised Malone and Payton back in November he'd stay off of Kobe's case. "[The rift] didn't flare up again, because I promised Karl and Gary and all my other teammates," Shaq said. "I was advised to be the bigger man. To be corporate. Because he's already going through a delicate situation [in Eagle, Colo.] and I don't want to add to it. So I said, 'Just be the bigger man.' I'm big. I'm corporate. "See, even though I'm Shaq, I still have people over me. People over me who I respect and when they speak, there's no questions asked. A lot of people called me. The owner of the Staples Center called me and said, 'You did the right thing.' I always have corporate meetings, and they said, 'You did the right thing. You're good, Shaq. Appreciate that.' "See, with me and Karl and Gary and a lot of other guys, you can say something and it doesn't matter how you say it. They don't take it the wrong way. For example, I can say, 'Come on, Devean, mother------, play hard.' I can say that to Karl. But a sensitive guy will take that very sensitively." Like Kobe? "Like Kobe." # Kobe's style of play drives him batty. No question, he admires Kobe's skills, but everything Shaq's stepfather said in San Antonio -- that Kobe essentially plays with blinders on -- Shaq agrees with. "John Wooden told me when I was 18, 19 years old, the sign of a great player is not how many points you score, but how you make your other guys play with you," Shaq said. "That's a great player. A lot of these guys now think if you score points and if you do all that sh-- around the basket, you're a great player. And that's not true basketball, and that's not the type of basketball I know how to play. If you've got a guy open, hit him. I may miss a guy once or twice, but I'm not gonna miss you three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10 times. "I could score 40 every night. If I shot the mother------ all the time. But you've got to keep Rick Fox involved, because you're gonna need Rick. You've got to keep D-Fish [Derek Fisher] warm. You've got to keep all these guys warm." # Phil and his beloved triangle shouldn't be the scapegoats. Obviously, Shaq enjoyed that Phil ran the offense through him, but he also knows where the Lakers were before Jackson showed up: nowhere. "So, to bring somebody else in would be to start all over, and I don't have time to start all over," he said in our interview. "And I don't really need to start all over, because the formula's written, we know what we've got to do." Shaq also thought Kobe was inappropriate when he said he didn't like Phil "as a person" this year. "Me being a professional, that wouldn't happen with me, because I was raised under discipline," he said. "Of course, you'll have your disagreements and all that. But if I didn't like the man like that, I wouldn't make it a national thing. Like I said, I'm loyal. Because I could never get over the hump, and Phil's the man that brought me over. Period. He's the best at what he does. Track record proves it. He has 9 [titles], going on 10." But what Shaq says doesn't matter anymore, which is why he blew off his exit meeting Friday with general manager Mitch Kupchak. He's convinced the Lakers are already planning to trade him ... the same way Wilt was traded once, the same way Kareem was traded once. Orlando is the place that has the first overall pick to dangle, the place that has tons more No. 1s stockpiled to give up, the place Shaq still owns a home in. And Orlando is the only place that makes sense. Orlando is the place that has the first overall pick to dangle, and a ton of other No. 1 picks to add to the package. Orlando is the place that has huge contracts to send back to make the deal work, like Grant Hill's and Juwan Howard's. Orlando is the place Shaq still owns a home, and if Shaq comes, trust me, Tracy McGrady will rescind his trade request. This is the trade that Shaq wants. And trust me, he's thought about life after Kobe ... thought about it a lot. Thought about all the scenarios. Like the scenario of him staying and Kobe going to the Clippers. "It wouldn't be a real rivalry," he said. "It'll be a media rivalry. Won't be a real rivalry. You have to do something and be something before you can become a rival. Like, Napoleon wouldn't have had a rival with a guy that had one sheep and one cow and no army. You know? I don't care how much they say, 'Hey, this guy with one sheep and one cow and his brother that's 50 years old, he's a cold cat. And he's gonna take out Napoleon and that whole army by himself.' So Kobe on the Clippers, that wouldn't be no rivalry. It'd just be, hey, he used to play here and now he's duh duh duh. It'll just be hype. Hype for a night." Or the scenario of Kobe going not to another team ... but to jail. Or the scenario of them playing against each other in next year's Finals. "If we split up and I don't win, then everybody'll say, 'Well, if Shaq had Kobe, he would've won.' And if he don't win, it'll be, 'Well, if Kobe had Shaq, he could've won.' That's what everybody will be saying next year ... "Well, I like my chances better." Tom Friend is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at tom.friend@espnmag.com.
I actually read this whole thing and like jiggx23 said, it doesn't look like he'll be a Laker next year.
No i cant believe this. Shaq not A Laker next season. This is unbelievable. If they let Shaq go this will hurt them alot. He will get his revenge. I hope things change and that Shaq stays.
Shaq is in the right but Shaq isn't the same Shaq he was three years ago. You can't invest 100 million dollars in someone who is as old as Shaq is. At the same time you can't let Kobe run everyone out of L.A. when he has already opted out of his contract and has an impending rape trial. Kobe is by far the most recognizable name in the NBA today. He probably is primarily responsible for the high ratings that the NBA Finals received this year. And he is only 25. But at the same time Kobe has a history of alienating his teammates and he has yet to prove that he can win consistently w/o Shaq (I believe the Lakers are under .500 when Kobe plays and Shaq doesn't). Phil Jackson has already been pushed out b/c of Kobe and it looks like Shaq is next. What happens if Kobe decides to play elsewhere? The Lakers are now one decision away from being a lottery team. Jerry Buss really needs to reevaluate what he is doing right now. As good as Kobe is he is not worth blowing up the entire franchise for, especially considering his free agency and that his freedom is in jeopardy.
It would be great if Shaq comes back to Orlando but I highly doubt that would happen just because the Magic has nothing to offer. Grant Hill, Juwan Howard, and the first draft pick (Emeka or Dwight) for Shaq is not going to happen. Grant hill is unpredictable due to his ankle injury, Juwan is a decent player but he is undersize, and Dwight and Emeka are just rookies.
Well the Lakers are in trouble but the real interesting thing is that they got themselves into it, whrever Diesel and Phill will go if they go together it'll be a hell of a team and that's interesting. Lakers.......I just can' see them getting 3 or 4 staerters and a coach and make a team out of them, so I guess we won't see much of Lakers in forthcoming couple of seasons. We'll see what will happen but things are starting to get hot hot hot...
I would love to see the Lakers crumble and see if Kobe can lead the Lakers into a championship by himself.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Rudeezy:</div><div class="quote_post">Nice to see this dynasty coming to an end.</div> I feel you man. I jut don't want him to go to Orlando
Shaq knows how to talk. He actually he said he understands the Lakers want to go younger. That basically wraps up the fact that he's leaving the Lakers
Am I the only one who saw all this coming? The Lakers are on complete self distruct mode, and they're going to have a very ugly starting lineup next year. I knew signing Payton and Malone wouldnt be a good thing, but it goes way beyond that. I agree with most everything Shaq said in that article.
Shaquille Oneal can still put up MVP numbers, IF the team chooses to make him the number one option. How many shot attempts to get with the Lakers last year? 13 or so? That's absolutely ridiculous. While Orlando might make sense at first, would Shaq really want to go back there? I mean, would Tracy be anymore willing to give up the ball than Kobe? How about Shaq in a Denver Nuggets uniform? They're an up and coming team, and Carmelo/Shaq could make a pretty explosive duo.
Well alot of people say it was because of koeb that shaq wants to leave the lakers and I agree that it was in part because of kobe and the buss situation. Although in last nights sportscenter they said that shaq also wants to leave the lakers because he is currently earning 30 something million dollars and wants a new contract worth 60 million dollars and doesnt feel right that the lakers wont offer him that but will offer kobe a 140 million dollar contract. So basically shaq has been made to feel like the second fitel in the lakers team. We all know shaq and know that him has a competitor and some of it justified wont accept that because he has won all three of the finals mvp's of the lakers titles and has won the league mvp and the all star mvp. Besides the all star mvp kobe has done none of that. Also on sportscenter last night they say that phil jackson left in part because of kobe but also left because of financial dissagreements. He wanted the lakers to pay him 12 million dollars to coach next year because he felt after 4 finals appearrences in the last 5 years that he had earned that. Buss said no one because that would double his salary from the 6 million he had been earning. Also because he left reportadly in the thiord quarter of game 5 vs the pistons because he was tired of watching the lakers offense he was tired of phil's triangle offense he wanted the lakers to become the same lakers of the showtime era. He also wanted that at the start of the year and thought it would happen with payton and malone running the break, but that didnt happen. So basically the dynasty is coming apart do to money and offensive game plan. One thing though that both shaq and phil have in comine in leaving is KOBE. If you go back to the showtime era type offense the offense will run through who KOBE. Why did shaq leave because of KOBE being offered more money then him. So basically this thing all still in part revolves around KOBE!
ive been waiting on this for a while now i really dont care where he goes just as long as he leaves the lakers ;-)
Man, first "T-Maudib and now the Dune Deserter." This is going to be an action packed summer, I thought spider-man was going to be the biggest blockbuster of the summer but it may turn out to be Super-Man . Could the Enigma be responsible for all this, after all he did get PJ canned and now is running Shaq out of town. What if the Enigma goes to Jail? Hmmmmmmmmm, Jerry Buss must be a prophet. We all know Enigma will be ballin, thats what he is a baller and thats what he will do, but will he be wearing #8 in purple and gold or #098134 in white and black pin stripes, dont worry guys the Enigma will not play for the Boss, maybe another type of boss but not The Boss.
