For most of his career Shaquille O'neal has come across as a laughable-lovable guy but truth be told he's a Hater and has always been a Hater. He crapped on Penny Hardaway and the coaching staff on his way out of Orlando, crapped on Phil Jackson-Jerry Buss-Kobe Bryant on his way out of L.A., he crapped on Pat Riley and every player except Dwayne Wade on his way out of Miami and I'm sure he's planning a way to 'rap-####' his way out of Phoenix. That's why I'm going to take a few moments to Hate on him
I'm not a Kobe Bryant apologist and would never pretend to be, I have my own issues with Bryant, mainly his continued lack of on-court maturity despite just completed his 12th NBA season and winning the league MVP award. But somebody has to step up and let Shaq know his recent diss of Kobe, thru some horrible rap lyrics, on his failed attempt to win the NBA Championship against the Celtics is Wack and Immature. I’m sure most of the NBA world thought Shaq and Kobe had reconciled their differences and their most recent actions before every Laker/Heat game proved to be true. But even if they were shaking hands and hugging for purposes of political correctness, their feud is so old that it makes no sense for either one to re-hash old news unless one is extremely jealous and resentful
So I guess that’s where Shaq comes in, The Big Jealous One, how else can you explain it? He wrote one of the worse raps I’ve ever heard and posted it on Youtube for the world to see. He laughed at Kobe losing in the Finals but he fails to realize that if D.Wade doesn’t put up a Superman Effort in the Finals a couple years ago, he wouldn’t be sporting a 4th ring now. Shaq did little to nothing against the Dallas Mavericks; his best effort was sitting on the bench cheerleading the rest of this team to victory. And since we’re on the topic of effort, let’s talk about Shaq’s inability to stay healthy for ¾ of his career; he hasn’t played a full healthy season in 7 years. He’s also never won a scoring title, rebound title, blocking title, 1st team all defensive position, and has never won defensive player of year award. He has won 1 league MVP award but for a guy who says he’s the best center of all time you would think he would have at least 6 or 7. To his credit he did win 3 straight NBA Final MVP’s but that was mainly by default considering he went up against the Pacers Rick Smits, Sixers Mutombo and New Jersey Nets Jason Collins respectively. 2 of the 3 will never be mistaken for a NBA quality center and Dikembe for all intent purposes was well past his prime. The Most Dominant Ever is a joke, if he played during the hey-dey of the 80’s he would be the 6th or 7th best center in the league and for as much as he thinks he was better than Chamberlain, Kareem and Russell during the 60’s and 70’s he’s not even in the same neighborhood let alone block when u talk about those legends
Shaq has already loss his 2 honorable mention Sheriff badges (still don’t know what type of integrity an ‘honorable’ badge carries) and here’s hoping he’ll lose his remaining tenure in the NBA by being ‘waived’ or ‘cut’. Maybe one day Kobe Bryant will write a rap about the Phoenix Suns trade for Shaquille O’neal going down as one of the worst in NBA history (he can rap half of it in Italian and get Tyra Banks to sing back-up again)
P.S. ‘Food for Thought’
Shaquille O'neal and Mike Tyson have 1 thing in common, if nothing else, sports history will prove that they did less with more and were the most overrated athletes of all time. Tyson beat a bunch of no-name boxers during his brief 4-year dominant era and Shaq put up average numbers during the prime of his career (’98-’04) when his biggest Center competition was Rick Smits, Greg Ostertag, Alonzo Mourning and some guy named Vlade Divac (Tim Duncan doesn’t count officially, he played Power Forward, but even still he outplayed Shaq for most of his career)
In one of the most unprecedented moves in professional basketball history the best player in the NBA, Kobe Bryant, has demanded and received a trade for the best rookie and arguably the best player in the WNBA, Candace Parker. It has yet to be formally announced but word from NBA and WNBA officials state that starting next year the WNBA Los Angeles Sparks will receive Lamar Odom and 4 consecutive 1st round draft picks (2009-'12) from the NBA Los Angeles Lakers and in return Candace Parker will immediately start next to Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum at the Small Forward position. The reasoning for this trade was explained with grace and grandeur by general manager Mitch 'cupcake' Kupchak: "after watching Lamar Odom 'soft-feminine' like play over the years we figured why don't we go ahead and trade for a real girl to play the position, not to mention Candace doesn't even have to change locker rooms"
Most NBA analyst agree Candace Parker will be an immediate upgrade at the position and she will come at a much cheaper price. Although Candace has yet to complete her first season in the WNBA she is already regarded as the best player in the WNBA and barring any injury would soon be considered the best to ever play the game, making Cheryl Miller's (considered by most the best to ever play at any level of womens basketball) accomplishments look slightly above average
Kobe Bryant was quoted recently as saying "I'm esctatic that Candace will be playing with us next year, hopefully we can beat the Celtics and bring a championship back to L.A. this year and then start our repeat with Parker next season, it'll be great to finally have a compliment player who has the heart and desire to be the #2 scorer and on some nights when I'm not clicking be the #1 scorer". I heard from one Laker insider, who chooses to stay anomynous, that Lamar Odom is happy to be going to the Sparks because he really really likes their uniforms. On the other hand Lisa Leslie was quoted as saying, upon hearing of the potential trade, "Who is Lamar Odom?"
I had a chance to interview some L.A. fans, before the trade was officially announced, and after the shock and awe had subsided they realized that it would be best for the team even though they had to give up Odom and 4 first round draft picks. Charlie from Orange County said "I didn't know a professional womens basketball league existed but after going to YouTube and watching highlights of Candace I'm totally down with the trade, Lamar plays scared, disappears for half the game and never wants to shoot the ball when he does get it, so why not get a girl to take his place...plus she's hot looking too"
So there you have it, the inside scoop on a trade that may not make the headlines until the NBA Finals dust has settled. And for all you Laker and NBA hardcore fanz that don't know much about womens hoop take it from me Candace Parker is the real deal. I've been following womens college and professional hoop for 10 years and despite the harsh criticism from most radio and tv journalist it's a great sport with great fundamental skills on display every night. David Stern should consider himself lucky that he's gotten a player like Candace who at the level she's playing now is better than half the men on the entire NBA roster....and she's only getting better!!!
It's no coincidence that Kobe Bryant received the MVP honor during a year he put together his most complete all-around season ever. He definitely deserved it for how he played this year and if your a 'Laker Apologist', like I know many of you are, then u can say that his receiving the award makes up for the many he should of had during past seasons (I don't agree with the latter)
The shame comes in the fact it took him 12 NBA seasons to do it when in fact it should of only took him 4 to 5 years to get his first most valuable player award if not earlier. But once Kobe decided to skip college and go straight into the NBA he instantly retarded his maturity process (on and off the court) therefore u had a player go through a lengthy growing pain process in the Pros that was not only painful for Bryant but for his fans and coaches alike. This year Kobe finally put all the pieces together when it comes to playing team ball, and Yes the Pau Gasol trade was important and it that definitely helped turn the team around, but ultimately it still came down to Kobe leading this team with care while believing and trusting his teammates. That's why there on an incredible playoff winning streak now and have a bright future in front of them
There's a good chance this will be Kobe's first and last MVP seasonal award, with the likes of Chris Paul and Lebron James breathing down his neck as the best all around player in the league. But when its all said and done if Kobe can raise a few more championship banners those MVP's won't mean all that much but I can't help but wonder what could of been if an already super-talented High School senior from Philadelphia would of taken that Duke scholarship and played 2 years under Coach K; at this point and time in Kobe's career Michael Jordan comparisons would of been valid without an inch of doubt because Jordan would of have personally passed the torch to Kobe Bryant instead of passing it to the league in general
Game 4 is over and the Nuggets just got swept by the Lakers and everybody on that team, including coaching staff, should be fired and replaced…for various reasons...but mainly for this: selfishness; arrogance; individualism; cry-babying and the overall ability to look like a high school J.V. team when it comes to playing defense
George Karl should be fired because the team is no longer listening or responding to his aloof style of coaching; Carmelo Anthony should no longer be considered a Star or Young Super Star on the 'come up' in this league....He's one dimensional, lazy and a '*hit-talker', I now consider 'Melo just a regular NBA Player that's getting way too much $; Allen Iverson should be allowed to play out the rest of his contract and then 'walk' in free agency....His style of play doesn't fit and his attitude is crappy. The only player that might can be spared on that team is Marcus Camby, he plays hard most of the time and he's essentially a 'one-man band' on the court, his teammates can't and won't help because they have no discipline.
I'll give much credit to the Lakers because they played well and they deserve the win but most of the blame goes to the Denver Nugget Players and that horrible coaching staff. David Stern should disband that team (along with a few other select NBA Franchises) and let it be known, they won't be allowed back into the league until they display professionalism on and off the court
Wow, what a difference 8 months makes for a star athlete like Mr. Kobe 'Bean' Bryant. He's enjoying another All-Star season, a potential MVP of the league season, his team is arguably the best the NBA has to offer-as I write-and most importantly Kobe seems to be smiling and having fun while playing the game he grew up loving. That's great to see but it's a stark contrast to what Kobe was feeling and saying during the summer of '07, when he was crying and ####ing about 'not wanting to be a Laker'
Nobody wants to hold Kobe accountable but I will
If Kobe would of just shut his mouth, kept things internal and played out the string of his contract then at least he would of shown more maturity and team leadership as oppose to going on every radio station in America crying the 'blues' about being misled and lied to by Laker mgt. I'm sure there was truth to some of what Kobe was saying but in my opinion if u feel as though your team is not following through on their promises then exercise the 'opt-out' clause that all Stars have specifically written into your contract (Players like Tim Duncan, with D. Wade and L. James next in line, have used that leverage wisely by letting his team know that 'yes' I'll sign a Max deal but I'm going to put my opt out at 3 or 4 years just in case u decide to NOT give me help in trying to win a championship )
Kobe will have the option to be a free agent after the '08-'09 season where he would be free to sign with any other team willing to pay him big bucks (and lets be honest there would of been plenty of teams reaching for her services) so last summer, during the heat of his frustration, all he had to do was keep cool, do what he's been doing, play out the last 2 years then opt out at the age of 31 and be done with the Laker organization. And you know who would of looked like the fools in the whole ordeal, the Lakers, not Kobe. But instead Kobe at this point and time is playing the 'Fair-Whether' player; happy and gleeful because the Lakers are winning but with that he's already proven he can pout, moan and refuse to shoot the ball for an entire 2nd half with the best of 'em when the team isn't doing what he thinks it should be doing
Super-star players are built with the strong mindset that they know they can endure the bad and good of an organization with extreme poise. Decision making is high on their list, that's what made Magic, Jordan, Russell and Bird great...On and Off the court. Fans are ready to anoint Kobe in that category but I'm not sure he should be, he hasn't earned it
p.s.
I really hope Kobe Bryant gets his much deserved MVP trophy this year because starting next year ('08-'09 season) Mr. Lebron 'King' James is going to start a string of MVP seasons that might not ever be matched (can u say 4 or 5 in a row). Lebron, is starting to show the skilled dominance that I predicted he would have once he mastered the superior focus on the defensive and offensive ends of the court. I'm not sure how many championship rings he's going to win but I know barring any major injury, starting next year Lebron will clearly be the best the NBA has to offer in terms of individual effort
You have every reason to be in a state of euphoria right now, Mitch Kupchak turned into Jerry West for a day and turned a trade that will benefit the Lakers for years to come!
(And to give more credit where credit is due, I'll compliment Mitch 'one more' for not making that Jason Kidd trade that the whole world felt like he should of did a year ago...Jason is a great point guard but he's a liability as a scorer and some nights he's good for ZERO pts and 10 assists, that's down right horrible on a team like the Lakers where they needed a consistent 2nd scorer more than they needed a distributor--and before you say it, I'll stop u right now and say 'No, Lamar Odom is not the 2nd scorer most Laker Fans thing he is, Odom is overrated and to passive to be the dominant player fans keep saying he's going to become'...Kobe alone is the floor leader for the Lakers and a Pt. Guard like Jason would have only made things uncomfortable on the court)
But before u book championship victory parade tickets for the Lakers your going to have to wait another year becuase despite what the critics are barking (especially here in L.A. where everybody and their mother is drinking the purple and gold kool-aid) the Lakers HAVE NOT ARRIVED...Pau Gasol hasn't completed an injury free season in 3 or 4 years and despite Bynum's early season success before his injury, he's just now learning how to play like a real 'big man' and he has a few more learning curves to drive around before it really starts clicking in his head that he's 'the man'. Not to mention he's only 20 and never benefitted from learning from a great college coach on the fundamentals of hoops--he's just learning that now as a 3rd year pro
In the meantime Laker Fans, enjoy a nice, much longer playoff run this year but start printing the 08/09 NBA Western Conference Champ. Round tickets now and expect your team to make an appearance and u never know they might be in position to hang another World Champ. Banner @ Staples...U think that will be enough to prevent Krying Kobe from opting out of his contract?
