Shaquille O’Neal

Entering the Smush Pot today is a man who has been known by many names: The Diesel, the Big Aristotle, Superman, and most recently, the Big Cactus.

I’d personally like to add another…the Big Underachiever. I’ve written and verbalized on many occasion my distaste and dislike for the Big Fella. Even when he was winning championships for the Lakers (my home team).

Among my rants were and still are his refusal to work on his game (something that is showing now that his athleticism has betrayed him), his need to pursue music and movies and police work during his basketball career, and his humongous ego that was 50 percent of the reason why the Lakers broke up their championship squad.

He had the athleticism and agility and sheer strength and size to be the most dominant big man of all time, without question. But, he never took that leap. He let outside distractions and in-house disagreements and his own penchant for taking off the entire offseason derail what could have been the best career by a big man ever. Unquestionably better than Wilt. Unquestionably greater than Kareem. Considered by most greater than Bill Russell. All of that could have been his, including 7 or more championships (which would put him ahead of MJ).

Instead, he's a rapidly aging player living on the afterglow of his youth.

He came into last season out of shape, like so many other seasons before (except for that first season in Miami in which he came into training camp in the “best shape of his life”).

His team got off to a horrible start without Dwayne Wade. Then they continued to play miserably even after Wade came back (Wade, who is playing through severe injuries as well). Wade questions O’Neal’s motivation and heart. Riles does the same. Then O’Neal gets hounded by the media, is left for washed up and past-his-prime, and decides that his hip bursitis or whatever he’s calling it, is too much. Rumors fly that he’s going to sit out the rest of the season.

Let me remind you readers that we are talking about one of the most well paid players in the NBA. After KG, there is only Shaq in terms of monetary reimbursement (at that time) for bigs. And dude contemplated sitting out as his team suffered with the worst record in the league. He was and still is one of the five highest paid players in the L, had “Michael Jordan” reincarnate playing with him, played in the JV league (the East), and yet still, his team had only mustered 9 pathetic wins. So, instead of man up and try and salvage any part of the season, he sat out and watched Wade play through his myriad of injuries. He sat back, let the team he promised to bring a championship (to his credit he did) fall into the laughingstock of the NBA.

And then, then the basketball gods who love Shaq, blessed him with the opportunity to play with Steve Nash. Marion got whisked away to Miami and Shaq helped the Suns to a five game ousting in the first round, by the very specific team he was brought in to help defeat.

Phoenix is his fourth team. He’s jumped ship three times now. He couldn’t get along with Penny Hardaway, so he left that situation to pursue music and Hollywood, and, oh yeah, some basketball in Los Angeles.

He was paired with Kobe, and the second Bryant turned the corner from potential to stud, the Lakers won 3 straight. Each year, Kobe continued to work harder and get better, and each year, Shaq slacked off more and more. When one talent works hard to get better and the other doesn’t, yet gets all the credit and tries to dictate all the rules, well, just put yourself in Kobe’s shoes for a sec. Kobe wanted to be the man. When Kobe started taking more and more shots, Shaq couldn’t stand not being the alpha dog. He continued to take jabs at Bryant through the media. When they lost in 04, Shaq, still under contract, demanded an unreasonable extension from Buss, who said no (he wanted 30 plus million per). Shaq then let Bryant shoulder the blame for his own trade demand, and Kupchack sent him packing to the Heat.

Once again, Shaq was gifted with another superbly talented wing, this time Dwayne Wade, and rode Wade to his fourth championship. Of course, after collecting his fourth ring, he let himself go again. Eased off his hard workload. Got lazy. Riles didn’t like that (though he did the same thing). Flash didn’t either—especially since he was battling out there barely stitched together.
Now, Shaq is Steve Nash’s ticket to a championship. I have been rooting for Nash to win it the past three seasons (since he knocked the Lakers out the past two) and each year he has come up short. It’s so frustrating because Nash goes about doing it the right way. He works hard. Has upped his game. He loves basketball. And now Shaq, the antithesis of that work ethic is on his team. So if Shaq wins, karma doesn’t mean a damn thing. And if Shaq doesn’t bring Nash a trophy, Nash’s hard work, discipline, and determination were all for nothing.

Their first attempt failed miserably. Shaq looked old.

He has no post game. His athleticism is on the Erick Dampier level (maybe worse). He still can’t shoot freethrows. But he says he’s now motivated again by the loss. He wants a fifth ring.
What happened to being self-motivated? Or playing hard because of the love of the game? Ask Allen Iverson why he plays basketball. Ask Kobe. Ask Nash. I’ve never met Shaq nor talked to him personally, but his actions dictate to me, that he doesn’t love the game.
Speaking of Kobe, Shaq has a history of criticizing the teams, coaches, owners and players he leaves behind. It’s amazing that someone hasn’t written more about how he has left three franchises in a disgruntled manner. Could the Lakers, an organization that cherishes and reveres all of the greats who have played in the Purple and Gold, really be the ones behind Shaq’s disgruntledness?

How about the Magic who were put on the map by Shaq? Who, consequently, were left in ruins when he skipped out of town (A side note, a couple of months back, The Diesel talked about coming back to Orlando when he retires and being the GM, to help save the franchise. I don’t understand why he thinks they want anything to do with him. After all, He gets booed there every time he shows his face).

The Heat and Pat Riley? Riles is one of the greatest coaches in NBA history, despite his penchant for being a frontrunner (check how he quit on the team last year, and came back the year before just in time to take credit for winning the championship).

The only constant in all three scenarios is the Diesel himself.

The former Superman (dethroned by Dwight Howard) has thrown former teammates under the bus faster than a speeding bullet.

He called Penny Fredo from the Godfather. He has countless quotes about Kobe, both thinly veiled and pinpoint direct that have been put to press over the course of their time together. Not to mention the recent rap video, where he asked, “Kobe, tell me how my ass tastes?” as well as took a shot at the reigning MVP saying that he couldn’t win a championship without him. He basically called Chris Quinn and Ricky Davis non-players.

He said, “I don't give a fuck what Riley said.”

He said about Jerry Buss who paid him nearly $150 million, “I needed a real owner like Micky Arison, not a guy that parties with girls three times [younger than him] – when you’re 60, hang out with 60-year-olds, not 20-year-olds. You can quote me on that. I’ve got nothing else to say about Jerry Buss.”

He called Phil Jackson a Benedict Arnold…okay, well, some things he says might ring true.

Sure he’s the most entertaining personality in the NBA since Charles Barkley. Sure he’s done a lot for downtrodden youth. Sure he’s won 4 titles. Sure he’s got an MVP and 3 finals MVPs. Sure he’s led three different teams to the finals. Sure he’s got career averages of 25 and 11.5 with 2.4 blocks.

But instead of calling Shaq the 2nd or 3rd greatest center of all-time, or the MDE…let’s call Shaq what he really is.

No, we won’t call him the Big creepy R&B-singer stalker. No, we won’t call him a jealous, bitter, divorcee. No we won’t call him the Big Statue (check Plaschke’s Olympic blog www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-olyplaschke19-2008aug19,0,1984672,full.column).

Instead, let’s just simply call him,

The Big Underachiever.

Smush on you Shaq.

Smush on you.

Welcome as the first to enter the Smush Pot.