OT: Was Phil Jackson Shaq's downfall?

[MitchellUK]

This is fairly old subject matter, so sorry if it has been discussed before.

I was watching NBA TV today (or Raptors TV, since that is what we get up here), and they were showing the season reviews of the Lakers' championship runs of the early 2000s. At the start of the second winning year, they discussed how Shaq basically turned up for training camp overweight and out of shape, but also that he had done it with Jackson's blessing (almost his orders). After the first win, Jackson told Shaq to take the summer off, rest and recuperate, and he took that to the maximum, barely working out at all until the first day of training camp.

That season, O'Neal missed 8 games, but was generally still quite dominant - he was, however, bigger than he'd ever been up to that point and struggled with nagging injuries. The Lakers still won, Shaq was still the man, and he basically has taken every summer off since then.

It's just made me wonder, was that the point at which the scales tipped (pun intended) and O'Neal began to think that he didn't need to work out at all in the offseason? He's rarely been in shape since, and although 75% of Shaq is better than 100% of most other players in the league, his decline has been pretty rapid since the final championship run. He's only played more than 70 games once in the last 7 years, has been consistently overweight, injured, and can't even manage a double-double any more. At a period in his career - over the age of thirty - that O'Neal should have been working harder than ever to stay in shape, he seemed less and less interested in it, certain that he could produce when it mattered most. We kept (keep) hearing from the man himself that he would round into shape as the season progressed, and would be ready come playoff time, and for the first couple of years that was true, but the last couple it has been hot air.

So does Jackson's (and Riley, to some extent) notoriously long leash when it comes to his superstars shoulder some of the blame for O'Neal's latter-day struggles, or can O'Neal himself be the only one to blame?

[Dome]

It's easy to blame Phill here. As a coach I do think he should've pointed out to Shaq that that's not the way to do things, but nobody besides Shaq himself is responsible for his own health and conditioning. If you're an NBA star and are getting paid millions of dollars with the results of an entire franchise depending in large part on what you can do physically as an athlete, you better take the responsibility in your own hands IMO. I know I would.

[trebone]

shaq should of had a little more self control, he is a professional athlete who gets paid millions of dollars to play a game. I feel conditioning should be on the players to EARN those contracts, not just the NBA but all professional sports.

[craig01]

Shaq put on too much weight.

Only one person to blame there.

[Dome]

Shaq put on too much weight.

Only one person to blame there.

Ronald McDonald?

[sChOlaRlY_Magi]

Shaq put on too much weight.

Only one person to blame there.

Ronald McDonald?

LOL

Good one Dome!

[damo[23]]

Its pretty bad that Jackson didnt pull Shaq on the weight, but Shaq really needed to put some pride into his own job, he surely new that he should have been training, not eating.

[UCFknight84]

i think coaches are overhyped on how they shape natural born all stars like Shaq. Nobody is to blame for Shaqs downfall. I dont even think he had that much of a downfall, the guy had a hall of fame career and is just getting old and slowing down like most guys do