The Legacy of Shaquille O’Neal

Shaq.  The Diesel.  The Big Daddy.  Superman.  The Big Shamrock.  Shaqtus.  The Big Aristotle.  The list goes on and on.  Now, he’s going to be the Big 401k. 

Shaq may have been the greatest at
 winning while entertaining in sports history

Only a legend would be able to acquire all these nicknames.  Perhaps the most prominent celebrity figure in the history of the game, Shaquille O’Neal is finally hanging up his sneakers.  As a huge fan of basketball in general, I wouldn’t be doing this blog justice by not trying to take a look back at his illustrious career.  As NBA commissioner David Stern says, he really is a true giant – both on and off the court.  He has established his legacy as both an entertainer and a Hall of Fame basketball player.  If you can get perspective on everything he’s accomplished, you’ll realize he truly is larger than life. 

What can you say about his basketball career?  He became a dominant force once he got to the NBA in 1992.  A 15-time All-Star, 4-time champion, 3-time Finals MVP (and somehow only a 1-time regular season MVP); his accomplishments make him rank him up there among the greatest big men ever to play the game.  His tremendous impact on the game was evident once he set foot on the court. In his rookie year, he played a game against Boston and was matched up with Kevin McHale and Robert Parish when they were still on board.  Stunned by the one-of-a-kind physical specimen that anybody has ever encountered before, McHale said he and Parish looked at each other during that game and both said “Yeah, it’s about time to retire!” 

More than any other basketball legend (except maybe Charles Barkley), Shaq was equally well-known for his hilarious demeanor and publicity stunts as much as for his basketball achievements.   Because of the attention he’s drawn to himself from the fans, media, and players, he has called himself “very quotatious” as a result.  One of my favorite Shaq quotes of all time happened when the NBA conducted a BMI study during the 2005-06 season and Shaq was asked about his high BMI (which was well in the obese category); his response:  “Top 50.  Three Rings.  Lotta Money.  Two Mansions.”  Of course, he has four rings now, and he goes down as the most dominant player the league has ever seen. 

Even if you rooted against Shaq, you had to
love his ability to entertain in other ways

For anyone who didn’t like his game (truth be told – for a long while, I was among this group), you had to love the guy off the court.  If you ask anyone that’s spent time with him, he is an absolute blast to hang out with.  Not only did he embrace the social media to cultivate his image with fans and the press, but he was very active (and interactive) with the community.  Very few famous people embrace being a celebrity the way Shaq does; he knew better than anybody that athletes are supposed to be entertainers as well.  Whether he's break-dancing, pretending to be a point guard, kissing Tracy McGrady, or intentionally throwing free throws off the backboard to do monster (but illegal) put-back dunks at All-Star games, he never ran out of ideas for giving everyone a good laugh. 

Since I’ve never met him personally, I’m only basing this off of general observation and the perspective of others:  he is one of the most approachable celebrities you’ll ever meet.  Most stars and icons are low-key and want to be left alone; they usually have bodyguards with them in public to ensure people don’t harass them.  Not that there’s nothing wrong with that, but Shaq never did mind being out in the open for anyone to come up close to him.  Of course, at 7’1” and 350 pounds, he’s not exactly someone who needs to fear for his security.  Still, if you see Shaq at say, a restaurant, he would come over to your table and grab something from your plate. He'd make sure you weren't shy about coming up to him to say hi.  Even though he was a true beast, he was gentle and friendly in nature.  

He also pulls a lot of publicity stunts, like his “Shaqtue” act –  where he sat silently at Harvard Square and let everyone there take pictures with him.  With the era of social networking blossoming, he is a very active “Tweeter,” always sending out public message videos and gives fans a chance to interact with him.   

With so much that went on during his storied 19-year career, I could go on and on about his memorable moments.  Instead, I’ll go through some of the common questions and misconceptions about his legacy:

Misconceptions

“Was Shaq really that good?  He only won because he was bigger than everybody.”  

When motivated, Shaq was a devastating force
that could not be stopped

This is the most common misconception among casual sports fans with regard to Shaq – that he was only good because of his size and strength.  While those were his two greatest physical assets, everyone must understand that he had many, many more skills than just his behemoth presence.  First and foremost, his mobility was absolutely remarkable for a guy his size.  Over the course of his career, he greatly improved his passing ability, especially out of double and triple teams.  his most dominant years were as a Laker from 2000-2004.  In fact, to get a true understanding of how skillful he actually is, compare him with Dwight Howard.  The two of them are very similar.  In fact, Dwight is actually more athletic than Shaq ever was.   But many of Dwight’s criticisms – lack of offensive moves, inability to hit free throws, etc. – were weakne

My All-Star Picks

As an avid NBA chat reader, I remember ESPN's David Thorpe in a chat of his own answering a question regarding the seemingly superior Phoenix Suns trainers - given their reputation for helping keep older and historically injury-prone players (e.g. current Grant Hill, Shaq from 08-09) freakishly healthy. He responded by saying something along the lines of this: "Trainers are not unlike NBA players; some are better than others. Just because Mugsy Bogues and Shaq are both in the same profession, doesn't mean they'll produce the same results."

David is right on. This same logic goes with any occupation. Every profession has elite, average, and below average personnel. But obviously everyone in the NBA meets the standards of the being an NBA player. Similarly, every team has physical trainers that meet the standards of being a trainer (whether they have degrees, had specialized training, etc.), but clearly some are more skilled than others. For whatever reason (ahem, location), the Suns happen to have an All-Star team of trainers.

That said, I think of NBA All-Stars as the Phoenix Suns trainers' version of NBA players. Like the Suns' trainers, All-Stars should meet that elite level and have something to show for it - just as Phoenix has the health of Grant Hill and Shaq to show for their reputation. As Charles Barkley says, every NBA player is good. But only a few have something to show for it, whether they are reversing a franchise's losing history or helping continue a winning tradition. The obvious means for measuring that, of course, is team success. To an extent, good players on bad teams get shafted with this logic. But coaches have a long-standing tradition of voting for players on winning teams.

Assuming the starters will be those who are currently leading vote-getters, here's what you get:

This particular All-Star lineup favors the winningest teams, especially in the East. The one exception on the list is none other than Blake Griffin, whose performance on the NBA's worst franchise CANNOT be ignored. He represents all the hope that's left in the Clippers franchise. With each passing day he seems to get better, and so does his team. Anyone who gives that much hope to the Clippers should automatically be an All-Star, regardless of their current record. I do think they will climb their way back up the standings, though. Whether they make the playoffs, I'm not sure. I don't see it happening, though I am rooting for them. Griffin NEEDS to be on national TV during the playoffs. Has to, at least to make the first round watchable.

I'm sure some of you are going to accuse me of being a Celtics fan (I'm not). But can you ignore what any of those 4 have done? Which one would you take off the All-Star team? Pierce has been a steady, consistent scorer and remains their go-to guy. KG, as we all know, is their irreplaceable anchor on D. Rondo started the season storming out of the gates, greatly boosting the C's to a terrific start and breaking team assist records left and right. And the guy who most consider to be the 4th best player on the team, Ray Allen, may be their most valuable player in clutch situations. The C's would not have won many of their close games this season without him.

The other eyebrow raiser I should address is choosing Lamarcus Aldridge. Portland deserves at least one All-Star every year they are devastated by injuries (seemingly every year, now), yet manage to have a winning record. L.A.'s numbers may not blow you out of the water (21 ppg, 8.8 rbg, 1.2 apg), but he commands double teams and is undeniably Portland's No. 1 guy while the Blazers stay afloat in the playoff race.

Notable Snubs:

West - Deron Williams, Steve Nash, Tony Parker, Luis Scola, Kevin Love, Monta Ellis

East - Al Horford, Andrew Bogut, Gerald Wallace

D-Will, Nash and Parker are perennial All-Star point guards, but can you really replace anybody on that list for them? The Spurs may deserve 3 All-Stars with their record, but it's harder for teams to have more than 2 All-Stars in the West. However, of all the snubs, one of these two is going to be the likely Yao Ming replacement in the starting lineup. My money is on Parker, given the Spurs' record. I know some of you will point out that Kevin Love should be on the team if Griffin makes it, but unfortunately there's not enough room for both of them. You gotta go with the guy that's reversing the Clippers' fortunes.

Between D-Will and Steve Nash, it seems unfair to cut either one of them in favor of Griffin or Aldridge.  Based on the way Utah's played of late, however, I'm not sure if anyone on that team deserves to make it. AK47's struggles have been a disturbing trend the past couple seasons, and Al Jefferson's arrival hasn't lived up to expectations.  Either Jerry Sloan or Deron Williams needs to be held accountable for AK47 and Jefferson's lack of production and involvement in the offense.  In the case of Griffin and Aldridge, their teams have no business making any noise in the regular season with a much weaker supporting cast (and with the Clippers, team reputation).  Utah kind of has to get punished, being a team that has high expectations.  I fully expect the coaches to vote D-Will in, just because of the numbers he's putting up (21.9 ppg, 9.4 apg).  But my selections are mostly based on team success versus expectations.

On a side note, is this the most polarized the league has been in years or what? So many teams having double-digit streaks, whether they're winning or losing. The East is very polarized, given that only 6 teams are above .500. The 7th and 8th seeds -- Charlotte and Indiana, respectively -- are currently 7 games below .500. 7!! The East is arguably more shallow this year than any other season. For every ridiculously good team, there's a ridiculously bad team. We might be witnessing the most lopsided NBA season to date. It's only going to get worse, as superstars on mediocre teams (e.g. CP3, Melo) will want to jump ship to a contender and team up with other great players. This spells trouble for a LOT of teams. With a probable lockout looming, contraction may become more of a reality than you think. Anyway, I'll talk more about this on another post as the season goes on.

The point is, there are not too many stars from winning teams to choose from in the East. I do think either Stephen Jackson or Gerald Wallace should be on the team, but only because there are not too many deserving players remaining in the conference.

Altogether, I think this is one of the more difficult All-Star selection processes there will ever be. Lots of great teams loaded with great players. There are many deserving guys that will get cut, but not ALL great trainers are able to work in Phoenix either, right?

Interested in seeing who all the NBA gurus out there think should be showcasing their skills in LA on February 20th!