Shaquille O'Neal stirring up the pot during the offseason

[admin]

Shaquille O'Neal stirring up the pot during the offseason has almost become as traditional as the NBA Draft. Last year his infamous club freestyle provided radio shows across the country a sound bite that is still used to this day, although its entertainment value has dropped now that Kobe Bryant has won a title without him. This time he's not bashing any of his former teammates, but he does go after former Lakers Mychal Thompson and Kurt Rambis when asked to recall the two worst players he's ever seen.

"I never even really seen Mychal Thompson's game, they just told me to name some horrible players," explained O'Neal on the Mason & Ireland Show. "Those were the guys that came to mind, never really waste your time and saying things as a youngster, 'Oh, I wanna be like Mychal Thompson. Oooh, look at his baseline fadeaway. Wow. Daddy, can you teach me the Mychal Thompson fadeaway? Sure, son. Forget Kareem, let's work on Mike's moves. If I could be like Mike."

Obviously there has to be some bad blood between the three for O'Neal to call them out like that, but you would think there would at least be some respect for Rambis. After all, Rambis helped coach O'Neal during the most successful time of his career when he won three championships and the MVP award. When asked about Rambis as a coach though O'Neal had nothing to say at all, in fact he hung up on the question and called back with the following response:

"That's what I like about him, and if you ask me the same question again, I'll lose another connection."

Hopefully Rambis didn't put O'Neal down as a reference for David Kahn to call because by the looks of it O'Neal appears to be more of a Mark Jackson supporter. It's not surprising though as Shaq is as tough to coach as he is to cover, Rambis isn't the first former coach of his to get bashed and he certainly won't be the last.

Even though Shaq's days as the most dominant center in the game are done he remains one of the faces of the league and a spokesperson in a way. Everyone is always eager to hear O'Neal's comments on everything, whether it be on the success of Kobe or the antics of Stan Van Gundy, because he never holds back.

Currently the biggest issue in the NBA outside of free agency is the Orlando Magic's Rashard Lewis' positive drug test that showed increased testosterone levels. If this was Major League Baseball a congressional hearing would be in the works, Rashard would be suspended for a third of the season, and there'd be an outcry over the integrity of the game. Fortunately the NBA handles things a bit differently from the MLB and this will soon be forgotten since it's not a widespread issue, according to O'Neal.

"I don't think, I'm gonna go with no," said O'Neal when asked about whether or not steroid use was prevalent in the league. "However, I can say, a lot of guys including myself, we do go in to these GNC stores and for example, we look at a bottle and it says, 'Fan Man Buster Plus' and it has a nice little picture on the thing, we'll buy it without even doing the research or looking at it. But, I think now guys really have to look and see what's on the back so we're not taking anything. But, again, most people when they read the labels they just buy it, 'Fat Booty Buster Plus - lose your fat booty in 10 days.' But, I don't think the guy was like, 'Let me use a steroid.' I've known Rashard a long time and he's not that type of guy."

While we would all love for Shaquille to just sit in front of a microphone and tell us how he feels about anything and everything, he does have a season to prepare for. This is the final year of his contract and he's playing alongside LeBron James with nothing less than a championship acceptable. Anyone who has followed Shaquille throughout his career knows though that the offseason is more about play than work. Right now his biggest concern about being in Cleveland isn't Dwight Howard or Kevin Garnett, its PETA.

"I have a lot of clothes, I just hope PETA doesn't get upset when I bring out some of my old stuff," said O'Neal. "I didn't use the word fur, I just said old stuff. I just said stuff."

HOOPSWORLD

[miguelito]

`I love this guy. Say what you want about him, but he's always fun. Super nice guy, too.

Predictions on his self-proclaimed nicknames this year:

--The Big Blizzard
--The Big Frosty
--The Big Freeze
--The Big Chill

[Dasher]

--The Big Rock 'n Roller

[Sith Lord]

The Big Shaq...then he'll team with McDonald's and Big Mac.

Sith

[maldoror]

he does go after former Lakers Mychal Thompson and Kurt Rambis when asked to recall the two worst players he's ever seen....then he says "I never even really seen Mychal Thompson's game..."

WTF?

I thought this was an Onion article when I read that.

[shelden]

This story illustrates the reason I don't much care for Shaq. What purpose was there in him bashing Mychal Thompson? It seems he's always taking potshots at someone. I have more respect for people who live by the adage, "If you can't say something nice about someone, don't say anything at all."

[polk]

Originally Posted by Dasher

--The Big Rock 'n Roller

I agree or simply The Big Rock 'n' Roll.