Tag: shaquille o’neal

Boston big man alum Shaquille O’Neal on why he’s been such a goofball

In a word, marketing.

While the Hall of Fame big man Shaquille O’Neal might not have been the only player to use them, the antics that made the former Boston Celtics big man famous were revolutionary at the time that the Big Aristotle came into the league.

Asked about why he was okay with being such a massive goofball on and off the basketball court in a 2016 interview with ESPN’s J.A. Adande, Shaq replied “Marketing,” Now, many years later, O’Neal is seen as one of pro sports’ greatest businessmen, so he may have been ahead of his time. “For one, it was to prove to my college professor that big guys could sell,” the big man elaborated.

“And two, they were giving that money away, right and left,” he continued.

“And three, it was an opportunity for me, a young guy from the projects, a medium-level juvenile delinquent, to be on TV,” said Shaq. “It’s a great feeling, to have your momma at the crib, seeing you on a commercial.”

“Forget the game, but just seeing you in a commercial or a video … that’s why I did it.”

Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3F9DvjQ

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Why Shaquille O’Neal thinks Spurs icon Tim Duncan is the greatest power forward of all time

‘Nothing could break him,’ said Shaq.

If Hall of Fame center Shaquille O’Neal says Tim Duncan is the greatest power forward of all time, who are we to argue? The big Aristotle knows his frontcourt foes as well as anyone, and his personal experiences battling with Old Man Riverwalk are the foundation of that take.

Shaq shared that glowing praise in honor of Duncan’s exit from the game, and explained it wasn’t just height, girth, or counting stats that formed his take on Tim. “”Greatest power forward of all time,” said O’Neal of the San Antonio legend on the news of Duncan’s retirement from the game as a player breaking.

“Unbreakable power forward. No (elbow) could break him,” he added. “No loss of a championship could break him. Nothing could break him.”

“You know how I played: I tried to intimidate guys and ‘bow guys, but none of that ever fazed him,” added Shaq.

“As far as giving me problems, he’s right behind Hakeem Olajuwon. Not because of his moves. Because of his mind.”

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Three Lakers made ESPN’s list of the top 20 athletes of the 21st century

The Lakers have won six NBA titles since 2000, so it’s no wonder three of their superstars made ESPN’s top 25 list of the 21st century.

The Los Angeles Lakers have as storied a history as just about any other pro sports team, and while the Boston Celtics have just surpassed them in total NBA championships, they still have an argument as the most successful basketball team ever.

While 11 of the Celtics’ 18 titles were won prior to 1970, at a time when there were no more than 14 teams in the league, the Lakers have done most of their winning in modern times. Eleven of their 17 world championships have been won since 1980, with six of them coming in the 21st century.

They won those six most recent Larry O’Brien Trophies thanks to the incredible talents of Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal and LeBron James.

On Thursday, ESPN named its top athletes of the 21st century across all sports. Swimmer Michael Phelps, who won an incredible 23 Olympic gold medals, took the top spot, with tennis legend Serena Williams right behind him.

Where did Bryant, O’Neal and James rank on this list?

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4

Shaquille O’Neal says LeBron James should take a major step back offensively

Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal feels LeBron James shouldn’t be the No. 1, or even the No. 2, scoring option on the Purple and Gold.

The Los Angeles Lakers’ roster right now looks almost identical to the one they finished the 2023-24 season with. They have made no outside additions this offseason in either free agency or via trade, other than signing draft picks Dalton Knecht and Bronny James.

It has greatly disappointed many Lakers fans and led them to predict doom and gloom for the team. It looks likely that as a result, LeBron James will yet again have to carry a big load going into his 22nd NBA season.

On his podcast, Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal said that James should take a major step back offensively. He feels James shouldn’t even be the No. 2 offensive option — he said the 39-year-old should, at best, be the team’s third-leading scorer (h/t Lakers Daily).

“If I was LeBron, being that I already have all the records, I would pass it to A.D.,” O’Neal said. “I would demand A.D. — ’cause listen, LeBron can still do what he do, but, ‘I don’t need to have the ball all the time. I don’t need to score all the points. So, A.D. I need you to score all the points. Austin Reaves, you can be No. 2. I can just be the old Magic Johnson-style point guard and keep everybody involved and just keep this thing going.’”

During the 2019-20 season, James did play the point guard position full time and got everyone involved, and he even led the NBA in assists per game that year. But he still averaged 25.3 points per game, which was only slightly below his career scoring average.

Playing point guard, bringing the ball upcourt, creating pace and facilitating a team’s set offense when the game slows down is very taxing, especially for someone with the type of insane wear and tear that James has. Perhaps it would be better for him to play off the ball more often on the wing and save his ball-handling and facilitating for important stretches of games and the playoffs.

James did, at times, play off the ball this past season, but he still averaged 8.3 assists a game. Davis showed more initiative and aggressiveness during the 2023-24 campaign, but while Reaves raised his game a bit, he likely doesn’t have the talent or skill to be the No. 2 scorer on a good or great team.

Whether O’Neal likes it or not, James will likely continue to score lots of points this coming season unless his game suddenly falls off a cliff.

Shaq doesn’t think the Boston Celtics will repeat

His reasoning seems to forget the health of the Celtics for most of the postseason.

Hall of Fame big man Shaquille O’Neal may have been a member of the Boston Celtics, but that does not mean he is a regular imbiber of the proverbial green Kool-Aid. In fact, if anything, he may be closer to former Celtics champion center Kendrick Perkins in his frequent skepticism of his former ball club — even after they won a title in their most recent iteration.

The Big Aristotle is skeptical that Boston will repeat as champs in 2024, and not just because winning a title under any circumstances is very, very hard. The reason, per Shaq on his semi-eponymous podcast? Because “even though they have the championship … Boston had it easy.”

“It’s not their fault, I don’t care, they won,” he added, referring to the fact that other teams had a key player out injured in every round (while ignoring that the Celtics did as well).

“Their road was too easy,” he claimed, evidently forgetting about the league-best record Boston assembled in the regular season as well. “So, when their road stiffens up, and they don’t win, then that statement will be verified.”

A hot take on Shaq’s part, perhaps, but that is what analysts do to keep eyes on them, which he himself admits. “You know how us haters and us commentators do,” he said. “Okay, you got one, win two!”

Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3F9DvjQ

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Shaq has a bone to pick with a certain Celtics assistant coach not getting head coaching gigs

The Big Aristotle stuck up for another Celtics alum who is currently an assistant with the team he won a title with in 2008.

When it comes to the Los Angeles Lakers hiring former NBAer and popular podcaster JJ Redick to be their next head coach this offseason, the move was seen as a solid one by and large. But not everyone thinks the hire was the best move the Lakers could have made — and the reasoning has little to do with any shortcomings on Redick’s part, at least directly.

We are talking about former Boston Celtics center and Lakers champion Shaquille O’Neal, who recently made a point of sticking up for another Celtics alum who is currently an assistant with the team he won a title with in 2008.

“It makes it look crazy that a guy with no experience can overshadow a guy like Sam Cassell who’s been in the league 15 years,” said the Big Aristotle on a recent episode of his “Big Podcast with Shaq” show.

“No disrespect to JJ, but I think Sam should also be able to get the same looks,” added O’Neal. “But I’m happy for JJ.”

“Lot of pressure — winning games will not be good enough,” he added. “Expectation when you take that job, when you take the Miami Heat job, when you take a job where there’s a lot of talent, the expectation is to win championships.”

Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3F9DvjQ

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Shaq’s third rap album finally hits streaming platforms on Friday, featuring an unreleased collaboration between Jay-Z and Nas

Shaq’s third album hitting streaming services comes with a huge unreleased collaboration between two rap legends.

Former NBA star Shaquille O’Neal’s third rap album You Can’t Stop The Reign is finally coming to digital streaming platforms on Friday, and there’s a fascinating twist involved with the release.

Per Fake Shore Drive’s Andrew Barber, the streaming debut will feature the previously unreleased version of the song “No Love Lost” that features both Jay-Z and Nas on their first-ever collaboration together at the time.

The studio version of the 1996 rap song originally featured Jay-Z and Lord Tariq alongside Shaq instead of Jay-Z and Nas, as the highly publicized feud between Jay-Z and Nas would’ve prevented a collaboration between the two.

However, it’s been nearly two decades since the two rap legends called their beef off, making their original first collaboration a possibility for release.

While the 2024 NBA Draft is easily the marquee event of the week for basketball, the streaming debut of a Shaq album that features an unreleased collaboration of Nas and Jay-Z in their primes is pretty awesome.

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Flashback to LaPhonso Ellis being drafted by Denver Nuggets in 1992

Who remembers this?

Later this week, a select group of young basketball players will have their dreams realized when they are selected in the NBA draft. That won’t include any Notre Dame players this time around, but that doesn’t mean we can’t look back on those who have been picked. Among those is [autotag]LaPhonso Ellis[/autotag], who was picked fifth overall by the Denver Nuggets in 1992:

You’ll notice a clip a lot of credit for Ellis’ growth in his final season for the Irish is given to [autotag]John MacLeod[/autotag], who had just taken over for [autotag]Digger Phelps[/autotag]. You’ll also notice the graphic indicated that Ellis joined [autotag]Tom Hawkins[/autotag], [autotag]Walter Sahn[/autotag] and [autotag]Robert Whitmore[/autotag] in the program’s 1,000-point/1,000 rebound club. Only [autotag]Luke Harangody[/autotag] has joined in the years since.

Ellis flourished in his first of 11 NBA seasons, making the All-Rookie First Team alongside Shaquille O’Neal, Alonzo Mourning, Christian Laettner and Tom Gugliotta. He started every game for the Nuggets, averaging 14.7 points a game and career highs of 9.1 rebounds and 1.4 blocks a game.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Shaquille O’Neal’s extremely confusing advice to Jaylen Brown about the NBA Finals fell hilariously flat

Jaylen Brown had no idea what Shaq was talking about

Jaylen Brown and the Boston Celtics are just two wins away from bringing the Larry O’Brien trophy back to Boston.

The Celtics’ journey here has been full of ups and downs. Even now, Boston has Jason Kidd trying to drive a wedge between Brown, Jayson Tatum, and the rest of the team.

So far, none of it has worked. The Celtics are still up 2-0 in the series and playing excellent team basketball. Boston has managed to sustain one of the best runs to the Finals that we’ve ever seen.

Yet, still, Shaquille O’Neal is out here trying to deliver advice on preserving team chemistry to Brown.

Shortly after the Celtics won Game 2, Brown sat down for a postgame interview with Shaq, Grant Hill and the rest of the NBA TV crew. Shaq tried to deliver some sage advice to Brown but it honestly just ended up being extremely confusing.

“Do not get fixated on useless titles. Do what you got to do. Doesn’t matter who’s who or they say who’s what. It ain’t time for all that right now. Do what you’ve got to do. Get it done,” Shaq told Brown.

“I understand. Yes sir,” Brown said back. Then Matt Winer asked him, “That made sense to you?” To which Brown simply responded “No.”

You can’t help but laugh right there. Because who did that make sense to?!? Like, Shaq. Bro. I appreciate the effort there. But come on, my guy.

After that, Shaq clarified it: “They’re trying to separate you and your guy by saying who’s better. I’m saying don’t worry about useless titles. Who’s the man? It don’t matter who the man is. Kobe’s the man. Shaq’s the man. It don’t matter. I’m getting my 40. Kobe getting his 39. Let’s go get these championships.”

That’s MUCH better, Shaq. Thank you. We all get it now.

Shaquille O’Neal pays respect to the late Bill Walton

Shaq pays respect to Bill Walton.

The memories and tributes for UCLA legend Bill Walton have been in full force since he passed away on Memorial Day. It has varied from the San Diego Padres’ Petco Park honor to the NBA Playoff games, and even Pearl Jam paying respects to Walton. 

NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal, one of the best big men to ever play the game, also had some special praise for Bill Walton.

While their relationship wasn’t the best over the years, O’Neal called him one of the “forefathers” and included Walton in the same realm as Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

“We definitely lost one of the forefathers of the big man alliance…Bill and I had an up-and-down relationship…It was up and down because I was sensitive…If you wanna become a legend, shouldn’t you listen to a legend?”

Shaq naming Walton with players such as those shows how good of a player he was, and it’s a special tribute from the legendary big man.