Do any of you still respect Shaq???

Bbowsh54,

I respect the player not the person.  You know at one time or another we all have had some sort difference with our employers.  Maybe we have bashed our former employers publicly but I don't think most people would bash say the clients or the customers or supporters of our organization. 

How dare he bash me, my friends and our kids when all we did was buy tickets to cheer him on, buy and wear his jersy and give him positive lip service when ever any one had a negitive thing to say about him.

We are not pretentious, we are the fans of the Los Angeles Lakers.

So good player, not great anymore (not bashing just stating the facts) not such a good person. (I wouldn't want him as my neighbor he is just one of those guys that will talk good about you to your face and once your gone he talking down your every step.)

Bbowsh!  Nice to see you on the Lakers board!  I'm pretty sure you already know how I feel about Shaq - my postings on the Suns board (both the main and the team boards) are well documented.  But, since you asked, allow me to sort of recap with this:

I don't hate Shaq, I've come to loathe him.  In a decidedly team sport, I find him to be a decidedly non-team player.  And I'll even go so far as to say that this has been the case ever since he arrived in the NBA.  Nobody can question his innate talent - his ability to dominate in this league is almost unparalleled.  And, as a Laker fan, you will always have to save a little piece of your heart for him because he was, after all, an integral piece of three championships.

The problem, in a nutshell, is that if you were to ask him why the Lakers won those three championships in '00, '01, '02 he probably say something along the lines of, "The Shaq Daddy Cometh", or some crap like that.

And, not to take this opportunity to bash...but;
- the fact that this guy can't hit a free throw to save his life after 15 pro seasons and another 3 at LSU is simply not acceptable.  The egregiousness of this ineptitude has, unfortunately, saddled the league with the Hack-A-Shaq practice, for which no legislation can be brought to bear - that in itself is a blemish on Shaq's legacy for which there is no remedy.
- tangential to this point is his athletic apathy.  Because he was able to dominate in this league from the get go, I never saw Shaq as a guy who would ever work on his game - ever find a way to add new dimensions to the package that was evident in his rookie season.  The added fact that the guy always came into camp totally overweight and out-of-shape is a perfect example of his lack of a work ethic.  His innate apathy never really allowed him to become a mutli-dimensional player at his size (see Olajuwon, Ewing, Robinson, Kareem, etc.)  This ultimately made his downfall that much more noticeable and unforgiving.
- in Shaq's world, there is him, and then there is everyone else - that's just the way it's always been and will always be, I don't care how you spin it, it's a truism for which there is no escape.  I mean, honestly, can you really fault Kobe for maybe wanting to step out of Shaq's enormous shadow, even though they might've been able to win a couple of more rings together?  Do you have any idea what having to play second fiddle to Shaq must've been like for a guy like Kobe?  Do you have any idea how poisonous an atmosphere things must've gotten in Miami after Shaq checked out in the face of a losing season?
- he has a big, big mouth.  Can anyone name any other player in the history of this league that has been as idiotically outspoken as Shaq?  (OK, besides Charles Barkley...)

It's funny but as much as Shaq will probably end up in the Hall of Fame, and as dominant as he was, I actually cannot think a any real positive things to say about the guy - I really can't.  He was a good sound byte?  The media loved him?  He loves law enforcement?  He had a knack for shattering backboards?  I don't know - there are some things that kinda make him lovable, but positive?...I dunno.

NEW YORK -- Separating Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal on different teams on different coasts has done nothing to lessen the animosity between the one-time Los Angeles Lakers teammates. If anything, the feud is escalating.

On Wednesday, O'Neal dismissed as "ridiculous" Bryant's allegations that O'Neal had paid up to $1 million in hush money to various women and then took his own shot by saying, "I'm not the one buying love."

O'Neal made the remark to ESPN's Stephen A. Smith after the Los Angeles Times quoted a police report as saying Bryant told detectives in Eagle, Colo., "he should have done what Shaq does ... that Shaq would pay his women not to say anything" and already had paid up to $1 million "for situations like this."

The comment was written down by Det. Doug Winters but not recorded on tape.

"He stated he, Bryant, treats a woman with respect, therefore they shouldn't say anything," Winters wrote.

O'Neal's agent, Perry Rogers, told the paper on Tuesday that the allegation, which was fought successfully to have inadmissible at trial, was untrue and "undeserving of a response."