Shaq's New Book; Comments on Kobe Feud

[kibaxx7]

The Celtics blog did a great job. Gotta read the entire book, it's gold!

[kAmilli LakeShow]

That Brian Shaw situation pissed every true Laker off. WTF is going on down there? West, Kareem, even Magic all said that current Lakers management don't give 2 shits about the legends and their advice or help. Seriously, LA?

[RedPhazon8]

Probably the best part was Shaq talking about when LeBron was in Cleveland, if it's true then it's one sad time for that team.

[Patr1ck]

That Brian Shaw situation pissed every true Laker off. WTF is going on down there? West, Kareem, even Magic all said that current Lakers management don't give 2 shits about the legends and their advice or help. Seriously, LA?

Because they probably charge a shitload for consulting purposes.

[Cr0ss0v3rK1ng]

Probably the best part was Shaq talking about when LeBron was in Cleveland, if it's true then it's one sad time for that team.

You'd think then the Cavs hiring Byron Scott before LeBrons decision maybe made him have another factor in leaving with Scott being a more vocal coach I'd guess unlike Mike Brown who couldn't really control LeBron from what Shaq is saying.

[Andrew]

I don't think it ultimately made a difference. In retrospect, it seems like LeBron was leaving no matter what.

[The X]

Kareem weighs in re Shaq.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/Kareem-Abdul-Jabbar-8216-assumed-8217-Shaq-;_ylt=AvoiWC3iAj_IrAUKr1XYCbW8vLYF?urn=nba-wp10472

Kareem seems like an intelligent man, but he always comes across as a pretentious ass Admittedly not as much of one this time

[Andrew]

"As a pro I never approached Shaq because I thought he was pretty successful dunking everything and I assumed he didn't want my help," Abdul-Jabbar said. "Additionally, I was never on the coaching staff of any of his teams. I was never unfriendly to him and I would talk to him, but Shaq was enjoying his success, doing it his way. He never asked me of what I thought he should be doing and he never tried to reach out to me for any instruction and I respected that decision.

"If I had any idea that Shaq wanted to learn from me, I would have been happy to have worked with him, but all indications that I had received was that he felt he was doing fine and he didn't need or want my help."

I'd say he's got a point.

[The X]

He's definitely got a point, that's why I posted it. I just wanted to also point out what a pretentious arse that Abdul-Jabbar usually is

[kAmilli LakeShow]

Abdul-Jabbar can be an ass, i agree XD

[Andrew]

He's definitely got a point, that's why I posted it. I just wanted to also point out what a pretentious arse that Abdul-Jabbar usually is

Absolutely, I wasn't disagreeing with you there. I have to believe that if players like Kareem and Magic did have more to say during that time, it's likely that Shaq would instead be accusing them of butting in and not knowing their place.

[benji]

He assumed that Shaq would want to talk to him, he probably heard endlessly from people about how Kareem was.

Not to mention what if he started working out with Kareem when Kareem was a coach for the Clippers.

It's not like Kareem did much for Kandi.

Shaq wouldn't seek out Kareem, but I doubt he would have turned down anything if Kareem offered, he apparently willingly spent some time with Moses Malone and Tree Rollins. It was Malone or someone else who convinced Shaq he should never have to do more than one dribble to score. (Which if you look at 1993 Shaq vs. 2001 Shaq you can see the difference completely.) And somebody, whoever it was, convinced Shaq to learn how to become a great passer.

[bowdown]

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/72008 ... t-my-story

While I was rolling out my new clothing line in China, Pat Riley was busy sending us letters about our body fat. He had come up with some new and improved threats, but I didn't even open my letter. I knew I wasn't going to make my number.

Pat was concerned winning it all would make us too comfortable. And, to be honest, he was right. It did.

We celebrated a little too long and a little too hard. There were too many parties, too many commercials, too many celebrations. We lost our edge.

I showed up to training camp without any chance of making my target of 13 percent body fat. I wasn't the only one. Antoine [Walker} and [James} Posey both missed their target number and were suspended.

The body fat crusade was on overdrive and I was tired of it. Tired of walking around drinking water twenty four hours a day. Tired of eating food for rabbits. I told the guys, "Do you honestly think Riley was doing this in LA? Do you really think he was pinching Magic Johnson's waistline every day?"

Pat was pissed that we didn't come back in top shape, so that meant he needed to crank things up.

The workouts were longer and more intense. After a hard practice we'd have to get on these exercise bikes around the court. They hooked us up to heart monitors and had these television sets with everyone's name on it so they could measure our heart rates. Each one of us had to keep it at a certain level depending on our age, weight, and height. Pat would pace back and forth checking the numbers, and if they weren't what he wanted, he'd yell, "Shaq, pick it up. Pose, pick it up." Each bike had a chip in it, and it recorded everything.

The idea was to embarrass you into keeping your heart rate at that level. It was demeaning, but we figured out a way to rig it. Me and GP [Gary Payton] realized if you kept tapping and rubbing the monitor on your arm it would speed up the heart monitor even if you weren't pedaling that hard. DWade and Posey knew about it, too. Some days, we actually were smiling while we were on those bikes. I'm sure Pat was suspicious. He was probably wondering, What the hell are they up to?

Our team got off to a terrible start. On the night we raised our championship banner, Chicago crushed us by 42 points. We lost eight of our first twelve games.

Pat wasn't handling it well. He was big on suits and ties on the road, but after we won a title we got him to relax a little bit and go with jeans and sports coats. But once those losses starting piling up, we were back to suits again.

Idk about you guys but this really has put me over on Shaq. I cannot believe Shaq being paid such a humongous paycheck for playing basketball would get his feelings hurt when his coach would force his lazy ass to get in shape. Seriously Shaq? Really? Pathetic.

[Andrew]

Riley is known for his tyrannical stance on these things, though he's certainly got a point in wanting players to be in shape and not get complacent. Shaq himself admits in that excerpt that there was some complacency on the team, so I guess his point is that Riley went too far on the body fat numbers and ultimately focusing on the wrong things.

[Nick]

That is a pretty childish attitude by shaq. Riley is trying to run a world class basketball organisation and one of their team leaders is behaving like a naughty high school kid in class.

I love shaq but damn that's unprofessional.

That sad thing is that the heat would've been a contender again for sure if shaq was in pristine shape.
He probably would've been less hampered by injuries too if he was conditioning was better.

[Dan's Brain]

Our team got off to a terrible start. On the night we raised our championship banner, Chicago crushed us by 42 points.

I remember watching that game. As a staunch Bulls fan/Heat hater, it was the greatest thing that has ever happened in the history of forever, ever.

[The X]

Our team got off to a terrible start. On the night we raised our championship banner, Chicago crushed us by 42 points.

I remember watching that game. As a staunch Bulls fan/Heat hater, it was the greatest thing that has ever happened in the history of forever, ever.

I'm not a Bulls' fan but I cheered them on all game after the farce that was the 2006 NBA Finals.

[NovU]

In response to Bowdown, Nick and Andrew's comments...

I think we all knew Shaq was that kinda character from way before. Whenever he left the team, he left in a so-so terms. Remember the Lakers? Heat? Celtics? Suns? Cavaliers? I don't think he had bad relationship with the clubs/players the whole time but it was more of his public stunt(gag) that made it look like that. That is why people found him entertaining. Sayin whatever on mind while being funny, that's rare cuz for most of players I'd find it annoying. And run-in with Riley was there the whole time as he was the Heat. Shaq was the most dominant force up untill then so he probably still had huge ego then. But people are rather gracious to him for bringing the championship to the city.

[shadowgrin]

In response to Bowdown, Nick and Andrew's comments...

What are you rambling about?
They were talking about Shaq not being 'professional' enough to maintain his conditioning not his habit of leaving teams in not so good terms.

[NovU]

I was sorta commenting on the notion that Shaq is suddenly acting out of ordinary like "but this really has put me over on Shaq". This is no different from how Shaq has been acting all his career.

[Andrew]

I never said otherwise. Shaq's an entertaining personality but he's also shown a childish and belligerent streak throughout his career.