Shaq being disrespectful

[ItsDanger]

Shaq prioritizes PPG more than the average voter.

[Ryoga Hibiki]

Shaq prioritizes PPG more than the average voter.

because he knows the game, not like those nerds who never touched a basketball

[JDR720]

The funny thing is Shaq used to be a pretty big fan of Jokic... until Jokic became a threat to pass him in the all-time rankings.

[Pattycakes]

OP, headline could have just been “Shaq being Shaq.”

[The High Cyde]

Just give his seat to Dirk

[sp6r=underrated]

the most ridiculous thing is that after 20 years Shaq still hates the fact that he only has 1 MVP and Jokic doesn't give a damn (maybe the first one but definitely not the others)

Shaq only ending up with 1 is pretty reasonable when you survey his career. I bolded the years he deserves consideration.

1993: rookie. not in serious consideration.
1994: finishes #4 behind Robinson, Hakeem, Scottie. I wouldn't get outraged with a Shaq vote here but this was not a robbery.
1995: finishes #2 behind David Robinson. I wouldn't get that outraged if someone preferred Shaq that year but it wasn't a bad call.
1996-98: misses too many games to be considered
1999: Lakers severely underachieve compared to past season in large part for him not showing up in shape. No good case for him.
2000: Won
2001: if he didn't dog the RS he would have walked away as a repeat MVP. But he did dog it. AI was a bad choice but it isn't clear Shaq deserved it. But you can't blame voters for evaluating players for a RS award on RS performance. And his RS defense that year was shameful. It is telling once he gave a **** before the post-season began the lakers turned into a GOAT level squad.
2002: I could see thinking Shaq was better in the RS than Duncan but I have a hard time buying it. Spurs were running neck and neck with the lakers despite Robinson losing his fastball or the emergence of the young guys.
2003: See above.
2004: KG clearly # 1.
2005: There is a Shaq argument but I don't buy it. The two previous winners were eliminated from consideration due to injury (Duncan, who was walking away with it) and KG (terrible team management). Even if you're a Nash skeptic, I fail to see how what Shaq accomplished in Miami was superior to Dirk in Dallas.
2006 on: not even the best player on his team

I only see 7 seasons he was a serious MVP candidate and one of he won the award. And only 1995/2001/2002 do I think his argument is really strong. His pettiness about 2005 is gross because his argument isn't that strong.

Basically I think voters got Shaq right. Shaq should have ended up a serious GOAT candidate. But instead he ended up on the same tier as guy like Duncan because he was just too damn lazy. I love Duncan. He is my 2nd favorite player all-time but he doesn't have a GOAT case. But if he had born with Shaq's raw talent, I have no doubt his argument would be as strong as MJ.

Shaq was just too damn lazy. He only has himself to blame.

[Chokic]

I can't stand shaq but how is his salty behavior any different than rgm when embiid won mvp last year? Lol

[Johnston]

I dont think this would be an issue for Shaq if he thought Jokic was an inferior player to himself. I think its self consciousness not narcissism.

if you subtract Jokic for Denver, they are a play in team if they are lucky. If you subtract Shai from OKC they are likely still a good playoff team. They have a lot of good young depth pieces who would step up.

Shai would have been a deserving MVP and I'm surprised votes weren't closer. They both had great seasons.

[FluLikeSymptoms]

Guys Shaq being insecure gave him a weak spot and if he didn’t have one of those then life wouldn’t have been fair- he was already basically Thanos and he bent the whole league. If he’s been an adult he would’ve broken it.

But LOL at the Lakers falling apart being Shaq’s fault. That is some fundamentalist church of Kobe nonsense.

[og15]

Looks like Shannon Sharpe agrees with OP:

https://youtu.be/He3vjFzCuH4?si=lAEWjpDQZjml7VM3

Everyone knows that Shaq is like this, even the other players knows this isn't some secret.

Arenas says "Shaq hates other big men"

Shannon mention that Shaq is jealous because these guys are getting accolades that he didn't.

The thing is that everyone including Shaq also knows that it was his own fault. Shaq is probably siting around thinking, "man, if I got to do it over", but Shaq is also still overweight now, so maybe things don't change like you think.

Arenas make a great point (sometimes when not being dumb he can) saying that newer players get the benefit of seeing what older players have done and what did and did not work and use that to path their own legacy.

Arenas also says, "if Jokic was a lazy player he would have a weight problem", and Shannon mentions that he did and changed it. Then Arenas mentions that if Giannis was a lazy player he wouldn't have bulked up.

Shaq got comfortable, and he was able to be successful in that comfort, but there are always going to be people coming after you, and if you don't maximize your legacy while you're around, a guy who sure can't peak a high as you might overtake your legacy wise because you got content, hence the I was 350->380>420 or whatever those high numbers were after each championship.

[reddyplayerone]

What a weird over emotional response to such a nothing burger or a clip.

It warrants the same backlash as what Kanye got for what he did.

LMAO

The Jokic - Taylor Swift comp is going to have me giggling all day

[og15]

I dont think this would be an issue for Shaq if he thought Jokic was an inferior player to himself. I think its self consciousness not narcissism.

if you subtract Jokic for Denver, they are a play in team if they are lucky. If you subtract Shai from OKC they are likely still a good playoff team. They have a lot of good young depth pieces who would step up.

Shai would have been a deserving MVP and I'm surprised votes weren't closer. They both had great seasons.

A good playoff team? Maybe like a year or two version of the team, but no, I wouldn't call them a good playoff team without him. It was 46 wins to get into the play in, remove them and the next team is 41 wins, so I would still peg them as a play-in team, but with like 42-44 wins.

Denver minus Jokic, they didn't really put much work into a backup C, so this would have to assume they put in a rotation C, then sure, they have good coaching and could win in the high 30's to low 40's as Murray is not the most healthy guy.

[indiegrind]

I agree that I would have picked SGA over Jokic, but it wasn't egregious to give Jokic the MVP. Either way, it was disrespectful to rain on the announcement. If he had to say something, that wasn't the time. Kind of classless imo.

[Special_Puppy]

Do you guys have Hakeem over Shaq?

RealGM's Project had Hakeem at 6 and Shaq at 8

[sp6r=underrated]

Do you guys have Hakeem over Shaq?

RealGM's Project had Hakeem at 6 and Shaq at 8

Tabeling era differences but Shaq's personality was fairly bad. I would prefer other guys over him if they are similar in talent (as Hakeem was).

[Marvin Martian]

What a weird over emotional response to such a nothing burger or a clip.

Telling Jokic he doesn't think he was worthy of winning the award that they are interviewing him about immediately after announcing it does seem stupid. This man's still crying about the MVP Nash got over him and yet doesn't realize how it'd make someone feel during what is supposed to be THEIR moment.

Shaq made it about him and let's be real, he doesn't watch enough basketball to truly know who deserves what. His arguments of why Shai deserved it were some of the dumbest comments one can make but totally inline with who he is, and this is coming from a dude who loves Shai.

He did the same thing when Lebron broke the scoring record. Made the moment about himself and Kareem. Then asked Lebron if he thought he was the GOAT

[HEKTOR]

Shaq only ending up with 1 is pretty reasonable when you survey his career. I bolded the years he deserves consideration.

1993: rookie. not in serious consideration.
1994: finishes #4 behind Robinson, Hakeem, Scottie. I wouldn't get outraged with a Shaq vote here but this was not a robbery.
1995: finishes #2 behind David Robinson. I wouldn't get that outraged if someone preferred Shaq that year but it wasn't a bad call.
1996-98: misses too many games to be considered
1999: Lakers severely underachieve compared to past season in large part for him not showing up in shape. No good case for him.
2000: Won
2001: if he didn't dog the RS he would have walked away as a repeat MVP. But he did dog it. AI was a bad choice but it isn't clear Shaq deserved it. But you can't blame voters for evaluating players for a RS award on RS performance. And his RS defense that year was shameful. It is telling once he gave a **** before the post-season began the lakers turned into a GOAT level squad.
2002: I could see thinking Shaq was better in the RS than Duncan but I have a hard time buying it. Spurs were running neck and neck with the lakers despite Robinson losing his fastball or the emergence of the young guys.
2003: See above.
2004: KG clearly # 1.
2005: There is a Shaq argument but I don't buy it. The two previous winners were eliminated from consideration due to injury (Duncan, who was walking away with it) and KG (terrible team management). Even if you're a Nash skeptic, I fail to see how what Shaq accomplished in Miami was superior to Dirk in Dallas.
2006 on: not even the best player on his team

I only see 7 seasons he was a serious MVP candidate and one of he won the award. And only 1995/2001/2002 do I think his argument is really strong. His pettiness about 2005 is gross because his argument isn't that strong.

Basically I think voters got Shaq right. Shaq should have ended up a serious GOAT candidate. But instead he ended up on the same tier as guy like Duncan because he was just too damn lazy. I love Duncan. He is my 2nd favorite player all-time but he doesn't have a GOAT case. But if he had born with Shaq's raw talent, I have no doubt his argument would be as strong as MJ.

Shaq was just too damn lazy. He only has himself to blame.

Exactly. Shaq is still a big baby. He was blessed with being an absolute freak of an athlete, especially for his size but you can see he didn't have the discipline as other MVPs and star players, and with that lack of discipline comes a lack of accountability on Shaq's end. He always has an excuse or blames others when things don't go his way but when they do - he wants all the credit - his take on coaching (and how useless it is) is an example of this.

[Nate505]

He is easily, by far, the worst thing about Inside the NBA. It was so much better without him.

[ryguy613]

Do you guys have Hakeem over Shaq?

Its a fair question, and I dont think theres a clear cut answer, but I'm rolling with Shaq.

[sp6r=underrated]

He is easily, by far, the worst thing about Inside the NBA. It was so much better without him.

Few things are more painful than an unfunny person who thinks they're funny. A boring person is far more tolerable than the unfunny guy who thinks he's a savant. Everytime Shaq talks on inside the NBA you get to experience it.

Barkley says absurd stuff and is a joke of an analyst. But he is genuinely funny. He says funny things. He has good comedic timing. He's enjoyable. Shaq is a terrible analyst and a bad comic.