09.15.08 Regarding Shaq

As I’m sure most of you have heard Shaquille O’Neal set his retirement deadline for when his current contract with the Phoenix Suns is up in two years. I personally believe that it might have been a good idea for Shaq to retire a few years ago, but you can’t blame the guy. He would’ve been leaving a big deal of money on the table. Who cares about a legacy when money’s involved?

The facts about Shaquille O’Neal’s career are pretty clear. He was one of the most physically gifted players of all time, with an ability to overwhelm his opponents with his size and strength. There’s no question that Shaq was one of the all-time great creators of mismatches. Though, along with his gift, came an arrogance that few could ever match. Throughout Shaq’s career he’s shown a great interest in being highly regarded as a player, but what it takes to maintain that regard was something he didn’t think applied to him.

When Shaq entered the league after being drafted by the Orlando Magic I think many people thought he had the opportunity to be the most dominant player ever. There had never been a player with so much size and power, but who also had the speed and basketball IQ to match. After two seasons in the NBA Shaq had carried the Magic to the NBA Finals, passing Michael Jordan and the Bulls along the way.

We all obviously know that Shaq jumped ship from Orlando to go play for the Lakers in Los Angeles. It was Shaq’s years with the Lakers that he will undoubtedly be most remembered for. Shaq did it all in Los Angeles. He won an MVP trophy, three championships and had a drama filled feud with Kobe Bryant that would make daytime soap operas jealous. In his prime, Shaq wasn’t only a winner, but he was also a star. Some would argue that being a star might be better than being a winner. Either way, Shaq was both.

It was his level of stardom that made him a very expensive talent to have on a team’s roster. In 2004, after the Lakers got spanked by the Pistons in five games, Shaq’s fate came down to the biggest decision Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak will probably ever make. I think everyone had seen that Shaq’s best days were behind him, but he was still the best center in the NBA at the time.

The choice to trade Shaq to Miami will always be a controversial decision. There’s two ways to look at it. One, the Lakers made a big mistake in that Shaq gave Miami two highly competitive years, one ending in a championship. Two, the Lakers saved themselves some money and were able to plan for a future that seems to paying off now. I tend to think it was a good idea not to pay Shaq the kind of money that he was asking, but I also think that the Lakers are just plain lucky with how things have turned out.

Shaquille O’Neal is never going to go down in history as he would’ve liked to. He never stayed in shape and he’s paying the price of those sins now. Like Hakeem and Ewing before him, Shaq has learned the pain of staying in the game too long. We tend to remember the best days of Hakeem and Ewing, and maybe that will be how we remember Shaq after he’s retired. I can’t predict the future. I do know that, right now, it seems like a million years since Shaq was one of the best players in the league. In a little over 700 days Shaq’s story as an NBA player will have come to a close. It may be a little past due, but I’m not looking forward to writing about it.

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