NBA Bids Farewell to Shaquille O’Neal

By Eric Yearian

On June 1, 2011, Shaquille ONeal logged into his twitter account and posted a short message saying  “I’m retiring” along with a video of himself sitting at a desk addressing a camera saying, “we did it, 19 years, baby. I want to thank you very much. That’s why I’m telling you first that I’m about to retire. Love you. Talk to you soon.”

His career spanned 19 years and six franchises. He scored 28,596 points over the course of his career; more than all but Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Michael Jordan, and Wilt Chamberlain scored in the NBA. He ranks 12th all-time in rebounding, 2nd in field goal percentage, 7th in blocks, and took three different franchises to the NBA Finals (winning three with the Lakers—all as Finals MVP—and one with the HEAT). He made 15 All-Star games (with MVP honors in three of them), was Rookie of the Year, an NBA Most Valuable Player and made more All-NBA teams than anybody not named Kareem or Malone. His contributions to the game and his credentials are almost unparalleled.
   
Shaq stands 7’1” and is listed at 325 pounds and just about the only thing bigger than his massive frame is his personality. He spent his entire career being a monster on the court and a loveable clown off of it. He was able to disarm reporters with his smile or a witty quip, and was known as one of the most fan friendly superstars to ever grace the hardwood. When he took to twitter he began doing what he called “random acts of Shaqness” in which he offered fans the opportunity to meet him and win prizes. Every time he changed teams he embraced it as an opportunity to add to his list of nicknames, which included such favorites as Superman, The Big Aristotle, The Shaqtus, The Big Shamrock, Witness Protection, and Shaq Fu.
    The Big Shamrock,
His career wasn’t all rose petals and trophies, though. Shaq is the most unique of any star player in any sport in one way. Quick, name one aspect of Shaq’s game. Now, 90% of you probably said “poor free throw shooting”. Shaq is probably the greatest player ever to be defined more by his weakness than his numerous strengths. How profound has his impact at the charity stripe been? Fouling players to send them to the line to prevent them from hurting you in other ways is called Hack-a-Shaq, there’s been numerous song lyric references such as in Gym Class Heroes song Catch Me if You Can where they sing “You know I miss you more than Shaq miss free throws.”  To take it a step further, there was an entire song parody of ’99 Problems’ called’99 Free throws’ written entirely on the premise that Shaq could shoot 99 free throws and wouldn’t hit one.

The big man has been embroiled in his share of controversies as well. First, there was him packing his things and leaving Orlando, who had made him the first overall draft pick in 1992, to play under the bright lights of Los Angeles. While in LA he won and won big but was ultimately undone by his feud with Kobe Bryant which saw him traded to the Miami HEAT. In Miami, he said all the right things about how it was Dwyane Wade’s team and he got a title while Kobe struggled without him in Laker land. However, his stay with the HEAT was short-lived, as he began ripping the organization and was sent to Phoenix in a trade. He was in Phoenix for only 108 games (just long enough to be accused of stealing Steve Nash’s reality show idea, for his show Shaq vs.) before moving on to be LeBron James’ sidekick in Cleveland where he had little impact. The biggest news about him in Cleveland revolved around his messy divorce from wife Shaunie. Finally, he went to Boston, hoping to cap his career with one or two final titles, but was unable to stay healthy, playing in only 39 games for Boston.

Despite the controversies, and he packed quite a few of them into his 19 years in the league, Shaq is regarded as a great person by many around the league, thanks in large part to his witty, charming demeanor and willingness to give back to his fans. He’s been one of the most dominant players in the history of a storied league for a long time and over the course of his career  has drawn comparisons to greats like Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell and done battle with the likes of Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing, and David Robinson. He’s been a proponent of the back to the basket, “true big man” and has questioned the abilities of those he felt didn’t measure up, such as Dwight Howard and Yao Ming.

Ultimately, whether you remember him for his contributions to the game, his bubbly personality, his poor free throw shooting, for being a nomad basketball star, for his All-Star Game dances, for all his points and rebounds, for his controversies, or for being the most dominant big man of his generation, everybody can agree that he will be missed by the league. It was painful to watch him in his last game, as he could barely move up and down the court due to injury. In LA he got chastised for his comment that he was hurt on company time, so he’d heal on company time. In the end, he showed just how badly he truly wanted to win, as he came back from injury to give the Celtics what he could to help go out on top one last time. I don’t care if he came up short in an effort to win a title, as far as I’m concerned he did go out on top as the most dominant center fans today may ever see. He played in a time when centers have gradually transformed from hulking brutes in the paint to face up jump shooters who hang out

closer to the three point line than to the rim. Yet, he remained down low, true to his roots. He represented an earlier time, when big men not only were big, but played big. He blended pure size and strength, ballet-like footwork, and cat like quickness into the arsenal of one of the greatest players this league will ever see. When listing the best big men of all-time you have to list him right alongside the greatest of the great. The best part of his entire career isn’t the MVP he won, or winning four rings, all the points, awards, or accolades; it’s that in his farewell video to his fans he leaves the league in a way very few pro athletes are able to: with a smile on his face.