And “The Diesel” Retires

Seven foot one inch center Shaquille O’Neal spent eighteen years in the NBA, playing for six teams, his longest and most successful stint of eight seasons, coming with the Lakers. The Lakers have announced that they plan to retire 34, Shaq’s uniform number when he was on the team, a deserved honor. In those eight Lakers seasons, O’Neal averaged 27 points on a 58.4% shooting average, 12 rebounds and 2 blocks over about 64 games per season. And even those gaudy statistics don’t do complete justice to the menacing physical presence that defined Shaq during his Lakers tenure. He wasn’t a great free throw shooter and he never made a 3 pointer in purple and yellow but his rap, “Shoot Pass Slam” answers what kind of player Shaq was and why he was so effective a center.

I remember first seeing Shaq when he absolutely dominated opposing college teams across two seasons at LSU. His first four seasons in the NBA, with the Orlando Magic (who were fortunate to have the first pick in the draft when Shaq joined the NBA) that dominance almost instantly translated; he averaged 23.4 points a game his rookie season and improved to a staggering 29.3 in both his second and third. Some speculated that Shaq would have a relatively short NBA career because of his size and a propensity for shortened seasons and overweight appearances at the beginning of training camp. Ultimately, he was able to prove that idea wrong by remaining at least a factor for 18 seasons, even averaging 17.8 points over 75 games during his 2008-2009 season for the Suns.

Shaq has been known for his personality almost as much as his game, releasing multiple rap albums, staring in movies (including the serious Blue Chips in 1994) and making himself available for appearances and comments regarding sports, pop culture and most anything.

As a Lakers fan I had to choose when Shaq’s conflicts with Kobe Bryant became untenable and even though he can be a ball-hogging snit, I chose Kobe just like the Lakers did. In comments and behavior Shaq made his dislike of Bryant and dissatisfaction with the Lakers well known, even attributing it as a motivational factor in the NBA Championship he earned with the Heat in 2006.

Begrudged statements from Shaq were often over the line in my opinion and the fact that he played for four teams, in ever decreasing amounts of time following his Lakers tenure soured Shaq for me. Many seemed to identify him as media savvy and as an intelligent self-marketer and certainly Shaq was both but he also made himself a caricature because of his appetite for attention and dismaying things that he said often about Kobe and many others. And because he can’t help himself, Shaq the icon unfortunately cannot be separated from Shaq the bully, just another reason to make explicit the fact that he cannot be considered a role model. But he did give LA eight great seasons and he will no doubt have many more years in the public eye. I wince at the thought while wishing Shaq good luck in retirement.