Shaq's Character Issues
Shaq
The Magic finished 41–41, winning 20 more games than the previous season; however, the team ultimately missed the playoffs by virtue of a tie-breaker with the Indiana Pacers. On more than one occasion during the year, Sports Illustrated writer Jack McCallum overheard O'Neal saying, "We've got to get [head coach] Matty [Guokas] out of here and bring in [assistant] Brian [Hill]."[15]
O'Neal became a free agent after the 95–96 NBA season. In the summer of 1996, O'Neal was named to the United States Olympic basketball team, and was later part of the gold medal-winning team at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. While the Olympic basketball team was training in Orlando, the Orlando Sentinel published a poll that asked whether the Magic should fire Hill if that were one of O'Neal's conditions for returning.[18][19] 82% answered "no".[18] O'Neal had a power struggle while playing under Hill.[20][21] He said the team "just didn't respect [Hill]."[22] Another question in the poll asked, "Is Shaq worth $115 million?" in reference to the amount of the Magic's offer. 91.3% of the response was "no".[19][20] O'Neal's Olympic teammates rode him hard over the poll.[19][21] He was also upset that the Orlando media implied O'Neal was not a good role model for having a child with his longtime girlfriend with no immediate plans to marry.[18] O'Neal compared his lack of privacy in Orlando to "feeling like a big fish in a dried-up pond."[23] O'Neal also learned that Hardaway considered himself the leader of the Magic and did not want O'Neal making more money than him.[24] On the team's first full day at the Olympics in Atlanta, it was announced that O'Neal would join the Los Angeles Lakers on a seven-year, $121 million contract.[25][26] He insisted he did not choose Los Angeles for the money. "I'm tired of hearing about money, money, money, money, money," O'Neal said after the signing. "I just want to play the game, drink Pepsi, wear Reebok," he added, referring to a couple of his product endorsements.[27][28] The Lakers won 56 games during the 1996–97 season. O'Neal averaged 26.2 points and 12.5 rebounds in his first season with Los Angeles; however, he again missed over 30 games due to injury. The Lakers made the playoffs, but were eliminated in the second round by the Utah Jazz in five games.[29] On December 17, 1996, O'Neal shoved Dennis Rodman of the Chicago Bulls; Rodman's teammates Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan restrained Rodman and prevented further conflict. The Los Angeles Daily News reported that O'Neal was willing to be suspended for fighting Rodman, and O'Neal said: "It's one thing to talk tough and one thing to be tough."[30]
In January 2002 he was involved in a spectacular on-court brawl in a game against the Chicago Bulls. He punched center Brad Miller after an intentional foul to prevent a basket, resulting in a melee with Miller, forward Charles Oakley, and several other players.[37] O'Neal was suspended for three games without pay and fined $15,000
At the beginning of the 2003–04 season, O'Neal wanted a contract extension with a pay raise on his remaining three years for $30 million. The Lakers had hoped O'Neal would take less money due to his age, physical conditioning, and games missed due to injuries. During a preseason game, O'Neal had yelled at Lakers owner Jerry Buss, "Pay me."[44] There had been increasing tension between O'Neal and Bryant, the feud climaxing on the eve of training camp prior to the 2003-2004 season when Kobe, in an interview with ESPN journalist Jim Gray, criticized Shaq for being out of shape, a poor leader, and putting his salary demands over the best interest of the Lakers.[45]
The Lakers made the playoffs in 2004, and lost to the Detroit Pistons in the 2004 NBA Finals. Lakers assistant coach Tex Winter said, "Shaq defeated himself against Detroit. He played way too passively. He had one big game ... He's always interested in being a scorer, but he hasn't had nearly enough concentration on defense and rebounding."[46] After the series, O'Neal was angered by comments made by Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak regarding O'Neal's future with the club, as well as by the departure of Lakers coach Phil Jackson at the request of Buss. O'Neal made comments indicating that he felt the team's decisions were centered on a desire to appease Bryant to the exclusion of all other concerns, and O'Neal promptly demanded a trade. Kupchak wanted the Dallas Mavericks's Dirk Nowitzki in return but Cuban refused to let his 7-footer go. However, Miami showed interest and eventually the two clubs agreed.[47] Winter said, "[O'Neal] left because he couldn't get what he wanted—a huge pay raise. There was no way ownership could give him what he wanted. Shaq's demands held the franchise hostage, and the way he went about it didn't please the owner too much."[48]
Surgery and Wade's injury
In the 2006–07 season, O'Neal missed 35 games after an injury to his left knee in November required surgery.[51][52] After one of those missed games, a Christmas Day match-up against the Lakers, he ripped Jackson, who O'Neal had once called a second father, referring to his former coach as Benedict Arnold. Jackson had previously said, "The only person I've ever [coached] that hasn't been a worker ... is probably Shaq."[53]
O'Neal again missed games due to injuries, and the Heat had a 15–game losing streak.[55] According to O'Neal, Riley thought he was faking the injury.[56] During a practice in February 2008, O'Neal got into an altercation with Riley over the coach ordering a tardy Jason Williams to leave practice. The two argued face-to-face, with O'Neal poking Riley in the chest and Riley slapping his finger away. Riley soon after decided to trade O'Neal.[57] O'Neal said his relationship with Wade was not "all that good" by the time he left Miami, but he did not express disappointment at Wade for failing to stand up for him.[58]
O'Neal preferred his new situation with the Suns over the Heat. "I love playing for this coach and I love playing with these guys," O'Neal said. "We have professionals who know what to do. No one is asking me to play with [his former Heat teammates] Chris Quinn or Ricky Davis. I'm actually on a team again." Riley felt O'Neal was wrong for maligning his former teammates. O'Neal responded with an expletive toward Riley, who he often referred to as the "great Pat Riley" while playing for the Heat.[63]
He also received media flak for mocking Chinese people when interviewed about newcomer center Yao Ming. O'Neal told a reporter, "you tell Yao Ming, ching chong yang, wah, ah so."[129] O'Neal later said it was locker-room humor and he meant no offense. Yao believed that O'Neal was joking, but he said a lot of Asians wouldn't see the humor.[130] Yao joked, "Chinese is hard to learn. I had trouble with it when I was little."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaquille_O'Neal
Shaq fined $25K for not leaving court, arguing after ejection
Updated: November 18, 2008, 12:21 AM ET
ESPN.com news services
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Shaquille O'Neal lost the argument, and now he'll lose some cash as well.
The NBA fined the Suns center $25,000 on Monday for verbal abuse of an official and failure to leave the court in a timely manner after he was ejected in a 104-86 win over the Pistons in Phoenix on Sunday.
"Doesn't matter to me," O'Neal said after the Suns' 109-97 loss in Utah. "I'm not the one that can be controlled with fines, so that doesn't matter to me."
The incident occurred with 5:19 left in the second period when Pistons guard Rodney Stuckey went in for a layup and O'Neal sent him crashing to the court chest-first. He received a Flagrant 2 foul and an automatic ejection.
O'Neal remained on the court arguing the call.
"The laws of physics say that a body in motion stays in motion. So if you have two objects meet in the air, the smaller object is going to fall much harder," O'Neal said after the game. "I've never been the type of player to take anybody out, so I obviously went to the ball. The little guy ran into a brick wall."
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3709298
Shaq fined $35,000 for ripping refs on Christmas
Kurt Helin Dec 27, 2010, 2:49 PM EDT
3 Comments
As expected after he let it fly to the media after the Orlando game, Shaquille O’Neal has been fined $35,000 for criticizing the officials, the league has announced.
Shaq played just 12 minutes in the Christmas Day game and was in constant foul trouble. Which happens to guys trying to guard Dwight Howard, but Shaq thought both sides were pushing and only he was getting called on it.
So he called it like he saw it after the game.
“I guess they (fans) come out to see No. 26 play (referee Bob Delaney wears 26). He was a great player out there today,” O’Neal said. “They paid all that money to see No. 26 come play. My thing is, if you’re going to call it, call it the same way every time. Don’t pick and choose who you are going to call it against.”
Shaq admits he was selfish ‘championship chaser’ when he left Magic for Lakers
February 26, 2012 By Larry Brown 2 Comments
Shaq has ripped Dwight Howard for talking about leaving the Magic, saying it would be a “travesty” for the big man to leave Orlando. What Shaq forgets is that in 1996 he did the same thing, leaving the Magic to sign with the Lakers as a free agent. 16 years later, he admits he was selfish to leave Orlando to chase championships in LA.
“I admit, I was a championship chaser,” Shaq said during a sit-down with former Magic teammates Penny Hardaway and Dennis Scott that aired on TNT Friday. “One, I was a championship chaser. Two, I was an opportunity chaser. I was a little bit selfish but I had to be because I wanted to be one of the most dominant players ever.
“I never told anybody this, but when I left, and I used to watch [Orlando] play, I would say to myself ‘Did I make a mistake [by leaving]?’ Man, because I really missed you guys. We didn’t have the same camaraderie [in LA] that we did [in Orlando].”
Shaq was only in Orlando four seasons but they reached the NBA Finals once. They had a strong core and could have probably won at least a title had he stayed, but like he said, he left for LA to win even more. Shaq isn’t exactly the most humble guy, so it’s surprising to hear him admit that. Maybe it was the setting — being surrounded by Penny and D-3 that made him say it, but we appreciate him being honest. And maybe he should go easier on Dwight recognizing he’s in the same position Shaq once was.
http://larrybrownsports.com/basketball/ ... ers/119174
Shaquille O'Neal took the mic at a NYC club last night, unleashing a freestyle verbal assault directed at his arch-enemy Kobe Bryant -- blaming his former teammate for ruining his marriage and imploring him to "Tell me how my ass tastes."
After spending several verses shredding Kobe apart for losing in the NBA playoffs, Shaq drops the line, "I'm a horse, Kobe ratted me out, that's why I'm getting divorced."
Launch photosThe line most likely references a comment Kobe made during his infamous 2003 rape case, when he told Colorado police that he "Should have done what Shaq does ... Shaq would pay his women not to say anything." The two became famously bitter rivals after the incident.
Calls to Kobe's reps were not returned.
http://www.tmz.com/2008/06/23/shaq-atta ... -marriage/
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