SoonerofAlabama
6/1/2011, 03:11 PM
Career- 23.7 PPG, 10.9 RPG
4-Time NBA Champion
Leagues' 5th-Leading Scorer
Jun 1, 2011 - Shaquille O'Neal has announced he will retire from the NBA after 19 often brilliant seasons punctuated by an MVP award in 2000 and four championships. Shaq wore many hats during his NBA career: dominant center, physical anomaly, skilled giant, quote machine, bad actor, worse rapper, bequeather of nicknames, mogul, fan favorite, target of hate, diva. But all of that pointed at one clear definition of Shaq as an entity: he was a star.
Shaq was almost a perfect response to Michael Jordan, the reigning hegemon whose NBA welcome O'Neal in 1992. Where Jordan was psychotically determined and polished, Shaq was often goofy and darling. Nothing mattered more than basketball for MJ, and it showed, even when he made movies with Looney Tunes. For Shaq? Basketball was a piece of him. Basketball was the day job -- a day job he did seem to love and that he was obviously incredible at. But just a piece. We sit at the end of a long, gold-encrusted 19-year career, and we know now basketball was just a piece of Shaq. Imagine how we'll see it in another decade, when O'Neal's run through another dozen projects.
But that personal diversity in interests, that sanity in knowing that it's unhealthy to invest yourself totally in one single thing ... that kept him from reaching his awesome potential.
Shaq could have been the Most Dominant Ever, as he called himself. He could have been a bigger Jordan, a perennial MVP, a perennial champion. He could be the undisputed best center ever instead of a candidate for just the top three or top five. He could be in the conversation for the best player ever. At his peak, focused totally on making himself the best, Shaq was completely unstoppable.
But that was for just a year or two. He'd re-engage: his 2000 season was the stuff of legends, and he should have won the 2005 MVP award over Steve Nash for his brilliant comeback with the Miami Heat. His 2009 All-Star bid was well-deserved ... at age 36. But in the context of Shaq's career, those look more like comets than a prolonged meteor shower. O'Neal was regularly a shooting star. But the greatest -- the Jordans, the Russells, the Wilts, the Magics, the Birds -- don't take years off, don't let up. Shaq did.
Perhaps the best illustration of Shaq's imperfect career is to compare it to that other amazing Lakers center, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
4-Time NBA Champion
Leagues' 5th-Leading Scorer
Jun 1, 2011 - Shaquille O'Neal has announced he will retire from the NBA after 19 often brilliant seasons punctuated by an MVP award in 2000 and four championships. Shaq wore many hats during his NBA career: dominant center, physical anomaly, skilled giant, quote machine, bad actor, worse rapper, bequeather of nicknames, mogul, fan favorite, target of hate, diva. But all of that pointed at one clear definition of Shaq as an entity: he was a star.
Shaq was almost a perfect response to Michael Jordan, the reigning hegemon whose NBA welcome O'Neal in 1992. Where Jordan was psychotically determined and polished, Shaq was often goofy and darling. Nothing mattered more than basketball for MJ, and it showed, even when he made movies with Looney Tunes. For Shaq? Basketball was a piece of him. Basketball was the day job -- a day job he did seem to love and that he was obviously incredible at. But just a piece. We sit at the end of a long, gold-encrusted 19-year career, and we know now basketball was just a piece of Shaq. Imagine how we'll see it in another decade, when O'Neal's run through another dozen projects.
But that personal diversity in interests, that sanity in knowing that it's unhealthy to invest yourself totally in one single thing ... that kept him from reaching his awesome potential.
Shaq could have been the Most Dominant Ever, as he called himself. He could have been a bigger Jordan, a perennial MVP, a perennial champion. He could be the undisputed best center ever instead of a candidate for just the top three or top five. He could be in the conversation for the best player ever. At his peak, focused totally on making himself the best, Shaq was completely unstoppable.
But that was for just a year or two. He'd re-engage: his 2000 season was the stuff of legends, and he should have won the 2005 MVP award over Steve Nash for his brilliant comeback with the Miami Heat. His 2009 All-Star bid was well-deserved ... at age 36. But in the context of Shaq's career, those look more like comets than a prolonged meteor shower. O'Neal was regularly a shooting star. But the greatest -- the Jordans, the Russells, the Wilts, the Magics, the Birds -- don't take years off, don't let up. Shaq did.
Perhaps the best illustration of Shaq's imperfect career is to compare it to that other amazing Lakers center, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.