Let me post a question- what exactly did Shaq say that was considered "bashing" Howard? From what I saw, a reporter baited Shaq into a discussion about Howard being the next Shaq, and Shaq pointed out that Howard has done nothing that Shaq hasn't done. And he was right on the money. Howard is powerful, athletic, and improving, but we just watched a 37 yr old Shaq way past his prime play him individually to a standstill. When Shaq was at the same stage, he was dominating the likes of Ewing, Olajuwon, Mourning, and DRob in their primes. Even now, Yao is considered 1 or 1a as the best center in the league, and Shaq is keeping up with him.
To the guy that said Shaq never did anything until he was 28yrs old- he led the Magic to the Finals in his 3rd year. And he won his 1st title his 8th ( I think) year in the league. Does anyone remember how many years it took Jordan???
So when these media morons provoke Shaq by comparing lesser players to him, of course he's gonna get offended. He is adamant about building a legacy, and when you have been considered one of the greatest ever for 17 years, you earn the right to be respected. SVG calling him out offended him. Bill Walton offended him. Miami personnel and media offended him by placing all of the blame on him even though he was being asked to carry a team of CQuinn and Ricky Davis while playing on a bad hip (misdiagnosed by the MIAMI MEDICAL STAFF!!!!) and a bad knee. Even Riley and Wonderboy Wade began calling him out when the team started to slide. However, I don't think any player in history could have done any better with the injuries he had. When he got to PHO, they actually diagnosed the real injury and fixed it. So the knock on the Miami trainers was valid. All he said was that they never fixed his ailments- they shot him with cortizone and did electrical stim. Is that bashing someone? To point out what they did and say that it didn't work? Add all of this together, and a player with as many accolades has the right to respond with full force. If Del Harris would call out Kobe in a similar fashion and Kobe responded, I guarantee that everyone on this board would give him a pass (except for extreme Kobe haters). Lebron as well. I've found that posters on this board and the media love to bash Shaq. I can't explain it. I don't remember too many occurrences where Shaq just called a press conference and started insulting people. Every instance I remember involved either a player, coach, or reporter calling him out and he responds, or a stupid reporter asking a stupid question that he responds to.
So if he out of the blue calls a press conference after a win over a former coach and bashes the coach, would you blame the coach for responding? Why has no one bashed SVG for starting that mess in the first place?
And I'm still waiting for someone to show me where he "bashed" Howard.
I absolutely agree that Shaq took WAY too much criticism for what happened in Miami last year. The guy had a HORRIBLE supporting cast last year.
Penny Hardaway? Smush Parker? Luke Jackson? Chris Quinn? Ricky Davis? Alexander Johnson? Earl Barron? What a joke.
I was watching a game a few weeks ago where one of the commentators pointed out that "The Heat surrounded him with players last year who probably shouldn't have been there."
And that is absolutely correct.
To expect a banged-up 35 year old Shaq to carry THAT team to the playoffs was asking for too much.
I don't blame him for losing interest given his supporting cast; he knew they weren't making the playoffs and he was getting blamed by EVERYONE.
Then you have the critics of the trade say "The Suns were in 1st place before they made that trade."
THEY WERE IN FIRST PLACE BECAUSE THEY HAD AN EASY SCHEDULE!
But they struggled against the best teams in the NBA before they traded Marion last year; they were just 8-12 against the best teams in the NBA and also lost to the Timberwolves twice and the Heat once.
Sarver has pointed to the 8-12 pre-trade record as the reason he would do the trade again.
And remember, the Suns played EXTREMELY well towards the end of last season winning 15 of their last 20 games and only the Celtics had a better record over the last 20 games of the season.
And the Suns got EXTREMELY unlucky that Grant Hill got injured and Tim Duncan hit that 3 pointer because it crushed all the momentum they built up towards the end of the season.
Was Shaq exaggerating his injuries in Miami? Probably because he wanted out. But he WAS playing banged-up for awhile (deep thigh bruise) and then dove into the scorers table trying to save a loose ball when he was on the worst team in the NBA.
Riley deserves most of the blame for what happened last year; he let Posey and Kapono leave, he gave up a 1st round pick for Ricky Davis
and he surrounded Shaq with a pathetic team.
As a columnist wrote recently, the Suns have failed Shaq more than he has failed them. He has done everything they've asked of him, but it's Kerr's mistakes that have let the team down.
He never should have hired Porter and never should have traded Diaw and Bell.
I think this team would have a MUCH better record if they played up-tempo from the beginning like they did for so many years under D'Antoni.
Porter tried to fix something that wasn't broken by slowing down the offense WAY TOO much.
However, Jaypo, in the Heat medical staff's defense, they offered Shaq the same treatment he was getting in Phoenix, but he refused because he wanted out.
He even asked for a buy-out because he wanted to leave; he got himself traded.
Which I'm sure he regrets now because the Heat would be contenders this year if he had stayed.
But in his defense, I don't think anyone could have imagined the Heat would turn things around so quickly. He probably thought it would take a few years and didn't want to spend the last few years of his career in a rebuilding situation.
