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As the Kings continue their image makeover that was sparked by the late May sale of the team to Vivek Ranadive, they have made a big and bold addition by making O'Neal a minority owner. The TNT analyst once gleaned pleasure in deriding the Kings, who he owned in a very different way when his Lakers thrice knocked their rival out of the playoffs en route to titles in 2000, 2001 and 2002. Now, however, his joy will come from seeing one of the league's worst-performing franchises turn things around.

His involvement will begin in earnest today, as O'Neal – who jokingly referred to himself as 'Dr. O'Neal throughout a phone interview with USA TODAY Sports – plans to meet with Kings players and coaches in Sacramento before having dinner with franchise centerpiece and his new protégé, center DeMarcus Cousins.

"DeMarcus is so excited at just the thought that (Shaq) is going to be talking to him, going to be spending time with him, going to be watching him, on the practice court, that he just can't contain himself," Ranadive said. "When he first heard that (Shaq) was looking at becoming an investor in the Kings, he just texted me and said, 'Can I please, please reach out to (Shaq)?'"

As O'Neal discussed at length, the work they do between the ears will be even more important than the work they do between the lines. It's the beginning, he hopes, of a powerful pairing. O'Neal has strong views on his new minority ownership endeavor and on Cousins. Here are some of his comments on the young Kings big man.

On how he got better in his playing days, and what he can pass on:

"What took my game to the next level wasn't practicing, it was conversation. What took my game to the next level was conversation with (former Lakers general manager) Jerry West, and conversation with (former Lakers coach) Phil Jackson. You know, you can go in the gym all day and do a hundred moves, but it's the conversation. Jerry West believed in me, and he was like, 'Hey, look up Shaq, your jersey will be up there someday.' So now I was like, 'I've got to step my game up.' And then conversations with Phil, who's saying, 'Shaq, I know you're doing movies and doing rap, but if you put that down this year I guarantee you I'll get you MVP.' So we're going to be having conversations and I'm going to stay on him. When you're good, and you're becoming great, expectations are high. But if you're well prepared, then you can meet any expectation."

On how he sees Cousins' game:

"I like his game. I like his ferocity. And he hates to lose. When you have those ingredients, like I said it's all about conversation. I was putting up big numbers and couldn't win anything. We'd get swept by Utah every year, and then all it took was one or two conversations — one time I heard Larry Bird say, 'You're the greatest big man ever. It's just conversations. We're going to have nice, light-hearted conversations. I'm going to teach him one or two things that I think he can do better.

"I'm not going to try to change his game — I like his game. But he's the leader on our team, so I'll talk to him about leadership and good examples. I'll talk to him about doing things a certain way and doing things consistent. First thing I'm going to say to him is, 'How many points do you want to average?' And hopefully he says 26 or 27, and I'm going to show him an easy way of how to get that and get it every night and expect it and want it and go for that every night. And then I'll also have a conversation with him about how to make his teammates better. I would like to see Sacramento back where it used to be."

On how he plans to help Cousins:

"I used to do a million drills I never needed, and then do one or two things that – for example, Dominique Wilkins told me, 'Shaq, don't try to score all 28 (points) in the first half, you're going to tire yourself out for the second half. Seven points a quarter — three jump hooks and a free throw.'

"The way I'm going to evaluate him is I'm going to evaluate him four times a year, every 20 games. 'OK, what are you doing? You need to do this. You need to do that.' I can't teach him everything, and I don't want to teach him everything. He has a fabulous game, so it's all about the conversation. We're all going to look at him now like, 'Hey, you're the man. You want to be the man. Let's do it.' He's going to do it. He's ready. He's going to get some guys around him and be young and exciting."

pillwenney wrote:Need you to link to what you're quoting there.

pillwenney wrote:Need you to link to what you're quoting there.

Cruel_Ruin wrote:

pillwenney wrote:Need you to link to what you're quoting there.

I think its safe to say he didn't make it up