Shaquille O'Neal, the king of beef | Beef History Marathon

Shaquille O'Neal is the

king

of meat among NBA greats. Shaq stands out for his love of creating rivalries and pic

king

small fights with those rivals. If we take a walk through Shaq's various overlapping feuds, we'll see what makes him the

beef

iest, so let's see where he goes. Shaq enjoys his status as one of the best centers in NBA

history

and sort of uses it. as a reason to mess with other centers very early in his career. He has been compared to some NBA greats and he likes that above all, with one exception. Shaquille O'Neal takes great pride in his status among the greatest centers in basketball

history

.

Shaq has always talked about the NBA center position as if it were a fraternity. He feels that his indisputable greatness as a player allows him to speak as a kind of chancellor. for that fraternity, a worthy big man with the right to judge his 7-foot brothers if you play in a dishonorable style or speak loudly or behave in a manner that Shaq considers unbecoming of a center, will say so that we know that Shaq sought fights with his contemporaries. and we know Shaq has been picky about the next generation of greats, but what about the centers that came before him?

Shaq's brotherly feelings include deep admiration and kind words for icons in his position, with one notable exception, Bill Walter, when it comes to this legendary NBA Center Shack. I have issues, we're not talking about the distant past here on a 2020 podcast Shaquille O'Neal used Bill Walton as an example of someone who shouldn't be in the Hall of Fame at least based on his NBA career so recently alone. as 2022 Shaq went out of his way to insist that Walton's accomplishments were not enough for his inclusion on the NBA's 75 ba list, yes, because he only scored 6,000 points in the NBA, yes, while also stating that This was not a new thought or purely objective, you know who.

I've always had a problem with Bill Walton, I think a lot of people, yeah, you say that all the time, uh, okay, so let's go back to the concept of an elite big man fraternity basically always been a part of Shaq's story. . Shaq invited comparisons to Kareem. Abdul Jabar wearing his high school jersey number, his college coach at LSU invited some NBA greats, including Walton, to come mentor him. All of this seemed appropriate because observers correctly anticipated that Shaq would become one of those greats. Take this rebok commercial from O'Neal's rookie season in 1993. Shaq knocks on the invisible door of a prestigious clubhouse and meets Bill Russell, who offers a sort of meta admission of how premature this whole exercise is. .

You're early until Shaq insists it's different, but I'm ready, then I try it and so Shaq gets an audience with his esteemed 7-foot old men, Wilt Russell Kareem and Bill Walton, now to understand where our story is headed and why As Shaq continues to belittle Walton's career on podcasts, we'll need to starkly compare the achievements between these greats when it comes to K Glory, especially in the NCAA. Bill Walton's record at UCLA is right up there with the best of these guys, but in the NBA it's a different story. Here's a rundown of the titles, MVPs, All-Star Game appearances and points for Wilt Russ and Kareem.

Here when everything was said and done. it's Shaq's resume that compares quite favorably to those Legends, especially when you consider the eras they played in and here's Bill Walton now, like I said, this is a terribly crude exercise, this all needs context, especially the unique story of Walton beveled by bad luck and chronic foot. Walton barely came close to playing a full season during his decade and turn in the NBA when he became available Walton was a fantastic Finals MVP for the 1977 champion Portland Trailblade and League MVP the following season, but Walton missed several entire seasons out of his prime due to injury.

He broke with the Blazers on hostile terms and spent most of his 30 years as a bench utility player, earning that second ring as a low-minutes glue for the 86 Celtics and retiring soon after. Bill Walton achieved great things, but his NBA career did not. He's not on par with his legendary peers or his own UC La Glory simply because Health limited his opportunities, it is what it is and for a while he wasn't really on Shaq's mind, that's probably because he and Walton had a regular friendly relationship in person. and complimented each other on their respective jobs in the '90s and '00s, while Shaq rose from star to superstar to champion to legend, Walton was establishing his unique persona as a member of the media audit and blossoming tempestuously in both praise and popularity. condemns a guy he loves. great basketball almost as much as he loves the Grateful Dead and Shaq was Bill's muse when O'Neal joined the LA Lakers in 1996.

Walton sounded absolutely crazy when he described the big guy as a combination of magic and with him he foresaw the next great Laker , the star who would lead them back to glory Bill couldn't find anything to criticize about Shaq and Los Angeles, are you kidding me? This is great since Shaq and Kobe Bryant led the Lakers to three consecutive titles. Walton's platform only grew. Bill spent the spring of 2002 on a highly publicized 30-day, 30-game tour of the NBA playoff landscape then joined the broadcast booth for live coverage of the June Finals as the Lakers chased their threp. sha was the inspiration for one of Walton's most legendary calls truly the perfect blend of spectacle and storytelling throw it in, throw it out big man, not that everyone agreed.

Shaq reciprocated the attention in less enthusiastic ways during the 2002 Finals. He attempted to distance himself from Walton on at least two occasions, one of which arose in the context of a big toe injury. that bothered O'Neal during the 0102 season and during those finals Shaq played through the pain in his foot joking that he would keep doing it until, oh, more rude in that second thing when asked about that time Walton came to LSU to teach you some lessons, Shaq. he was dismissive, they only worked together one day, Bill didn't teach him much and although O'Neal borrowed a lot of moves from other great men, Walton as an older guy didn't have much to offer, his moves were analyzed and they were also rude that summer.

The toe problem persisted long enough that he felt compelled to make an option. He was afraid of foot surgery. Why was he afraid again? It was a matter of ending up like Bill Walton. No offense, not necessarily, but Walton supposedly said something to someone about how O'Neal losing weight could relieve pressure on his toe. Walton was far from the first person to suggest this. Lakers coach Phil Jackson said the same thing, but once Walton's comments reached Shaq, he focused his animosity on Bill before a game in Portland earlier in the season. Season 0203 O'Neal saw Walton interviewing Kobe Bryant in the locker room and addressed him.

I'm not a pawn, watch your mouth. Walton didn't respond, but later suggested to reporters that his point was lost in translation, he just thought it might be a lighter cabin. Shaquille, a healthier and better Shaquille, wasn't having it, he told reporters to pass on the stats, he was 342 lbs, 177% body fat and then came the big change, a tone Setter for decades to come, talks too much . I have done more in the league than he has Shaq told Bill, who is 20 years older than him, to respect his elders, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, that is a problem on multiple occasions, this guy had been introduced to Shaq as a mentor and as an example of what he could become in just a couple of media cycles Shaq destroyed those Notions and Walton's entire NBA resume.

Coincidentally, O'Neal had a pretty rough 2003 season and gave a media guy and former great like Walton a lot to talk about. Sha's toe was still not completely healthy. and Walton stepped in The fissures between the Lakers increasingly leaked with Shaq openly mocking his teammates and Walton stepped in Shaq said and only apologized for some pretty racist things about Yao Ming Walton stepped in forcefully perhaps less coincidentally Shaq continued to use to Walton as a kind of derogatory shorthand reference point for his foot pain. Things unraveled in Shaq had enough, was traded, and moved to Miami, though not before spending some time playing with Bill's son, Luke Walton, and evidently talking a lot about Luke's crazy dad anyway, while Shaq Bill Walton was there singing his praises, calling him the king of the sport and marveling at how completely he dominated the competition, but he was also there identifying times when Shaq underperformed at that level of greatness, like when he watched Shaq get Beaten by Sagana Jop and Eric Damier in the 2006 Finals, Miami turned that series around to win Shaq his fourth title.

The big diesel, relatively healthy and glorious, once again didn't have much to say about Bill Walton, but when another champion went down, the

beef

returned. In the 2008 season, O'Neal's performance declined along with the heat, missing games with vague health issues that led to conflict between Shaq and coach Pat Riley, who suggested his St was exaggerating his injuries to rescue a struggling team in February 2008. Riley released O'Neal and traded him to Phoenix, where Shaq suddenly sounded much more optimistic about his prognosis at the Sports Center. Walton called doing absolutely nothing and said he couldn't play at all.

He now he said that he was going to win the championship. What about this? In closing, Walton delivered the most direct ad homm vitriol he has ever uttered about Shaquille O'Neal. Shaq's arrogance is an insult to people who think Shaq was the bigger man. Addressing Walton's criticism with a simple non-comment, just joking in an extremely shady way, the new Son of Phoenix shamelessly repeated the idea that Walton wasn't successful enough to talk about. I believe Mr. Walton has broken ordinance 2257 of the great man's pecking order code, which means his resume isn't good enough to speak of.

What I have done, he reiterated the one fact that he saw as defining Walton's career and invalidating his entire Person. I know here's a guy who only played one or two seasons without injuries and now he's talking about me being injured, so something I really hated. he's a hypocrite, he referenced the other three guys in that rebound commercial, the centers he saw as bona fide legends. I spoke to Bill Russell, uh, I had a conversation with Will Ch, may he rest in peace, I haven't spoken to Kareim and to part ways. Walton, from that Mount Rushmore, compared it to a modern-day benchwarmer, if Bill was playing right now, you remember what happened to Greg Oack, you remember that, right, these are old Shaq playful words.

Giving a genuinely tough message, man, Shaq didn't do either. He compared himself to Bill Russell or Bill Gates, he compared Bill Walton to the owner of Atari, so yes, Shaq really unloaded his words, they echoed those of 2002, although this time the attack included a response proportionate to Wallins. Bill had started the dialogue with something much more provocative. Much more personal than advice about Shaq's playing weight. Not long after all this, Shaq ended up fulfilling some sort of Bill Walton vibe. He played light minutes for contending teams, including the same franchise with which Walton won his second ring.

Granted, Shaq took on that role. when he was almost 40, he didn't regress into his 30s like Walton did, so yes, Shaquille O'Neal was better than Bill Walton thanks in part to Better Health. Shaq's career is more like that of his beloved Mount Rushmore. of large centers I don't think Bill would disagree, but he certainly wouldn't agree with what that means. Shaq feels that Gap's accomplishment makes Walton unqualified to talk about him, but for a while it was Walton's job to talk about Shaq and that included everything from praise. Advice for direct attacks Shaq didn't want to listen to it, but Walton kept talking louder and louder.

Sha is out of the league now, but even as a deserving big man, he is not one to let go of grudges, which explains this campaign against Bmer Walton. summary, so even when these guys pass each other without incident, there's meat simmering just below the surface, so let's move forward a little bit, but there's a meat story episode about Shaq's rivalry with David Robinson, who It is more contemporary than some. The guys we're going to talk about, it comes from a time when Secret Base wasn't as careful about fair use and copyright laws and all that, but it's on YouTube, so you can watch it. right now I'll wait and go see him and then I'll come back okay so now let's move on to when the Lakers traded sha.

The thing about sha is that he was so good and dominant that his arrival on your team couldcompletely change culture and politics. of that team, just as Stan Van Gundy's Miami Heat won their first NBA championship in 2006, Miami's formula seems pretty simple. Longtime Heat leader Pat Riley drafted superstar Dwayne Wade, then traded for superstar Shaquille O'Neal, then coached them to a simple title but The short version of the story leaves out a season , an important character and the beginning of a lasting conflict when Shaq arrived in Miami, his coach was not Pat Riley, it was Stan Van Gundy, the relationship between these two ended in a quick divorce, but he remained testy.

For a while longer, let's start with Stan because he was there for the first time in 1995. Legendary head coach Pat Riley abruptly left the New York Knicks for the Miami Heat. Miami gave him everything he wanted, a huge salary plus control over the bench and front office. Riley didn't. However, they were able to keep one of his favorite teammates, the Knicks refused to allow longtime assistant Jeff Van Gundy to follow Riley to Miami undeterred. Riley ran into another Van Gundy, literally, Jeff Harrier's older brother, Stan, had been rising through the college coaching ranks for years and finally landed a big head coaching job at Wisconsin the previous season, well, Guess which guy you're now an NBA assistant coach for the rest of the '90s.

Riley tried and ultimately failed. Competing for a championship with Stan by his side the entire time, around the Millennium, the Heat began to collapse and in 2003 they posted their worst record during Riley's tenure, bad enough to get them a top five pick in the 03 draft, which wasn't a bad year to be in the lottery with the fifth pick. Riley nabbed Marat guard Dwayne Wade, the hopeful star of a new Miami era, but just days before the 0304 season began, Riley decided he didn't want to coach this rebuilding project and suddenly gave up half of his dual function.

Riley supposedly walked into Stan's office and said he was ready and then he gave the other Van Gundy brother his first NBA head coaching job on the spot and it was great, this team was a lot of fun, not just the sensational rookie Wade, but also developing stars like Karan Butler and Lamar Odum, wonderful veterans like Eddie Jones and Brian Grant, pure aesthetic joy in the form of Raer Alon and, yes, Udonis Haslam was once a rookie, the heat was cool and nice and, for the first time in a pretty good while, they made the playoffs as a four. seed and won an exciting first round against the Hornets for leading this youth movement and defying expectations.

Van Gundy received strong consideration for Coach of the Year. Great, unbelievable feelings all around and then all of a sudden those expectations exploded in the summer of 2004. Riley, who was still the team. The president went ahead and traded like half the people I just named for himself, Van Gundy's happy-go-lucky young roster was sold out for the NBA's biggest superstar in terms of personality fame salary and you know , the size no one was bigger than Shaq. That I was wrong in managing Shaquille O'Neal is a fantastic problem, but his sudden presence would represent a monumental change for anyone, much less a coach entering his second season.

It was believed that Shaq respected the fame and resumed. Above all, everyone thought he played a role in Phil Jackson taking the Lakers job from the less successful Dell Harris a few years earlier, so people wondered if O'Neal could ignore the inexperienced Van Gundi and could respond better to Riley, who had won titles with the Lakers during Shaq's childhood. people even wondered if Riley would return to the sideline and reclaim his old second job, all this despite the fact that Shaq once wrote that he would never play for Riley due to his famously grueling practices, meanwhile, Shaq met his new real coach with the typical good humor if Maybe he wasn't in the best physical shape.

Van Gundy was a strong disciplinarian and a demanding tactician. Shaq was sometimes a little frustrated integrating into a new system, but from what I can tell, it was a pretty good professional partnership. The biggest challenge for both men was Shaq O'Neal's health. He managed to stay available for most of his first season with the Heat, but he played with a sore hamstring early on and struggled with a bruised and problematic thigh. until the playoffs. Still, he was a force when he played and not even Miami's top threat along with the rapidly improving weight Van Gundy coached his two stars into the All-Star Game led the Eastern Conference with 59 wins and then led Miami through playoff sweeps by the Nets and Wizards even with Shaq severely lame in an Eastern Conference finals against the defending champion Detroit Pistons Miami. overcame a shaky game in the first game to take a three games to two lead Stan Van Gundy had the Heat one win away from the NBA Finals closer than Riley ever had them as coach Wade had to sit out in Game 6 with a rib injury that cost the Heat dearly, but he returned for Game 7 at home, that decisive contest looking good for Miami even with his lingering injuries.

Wade and Shaq led the comeback from a halftime deficit. Shaq played the final 8 and a half minutes of the fourth quarter and influenced the action in waves almost every time he appeared in Miami's offense as a blocker or finisher whenever the Heat seemed to falter. Shaq demanded the ball and restored order like this stretch around the 3 minute mark. Mark A posted a tying foul and believe it or not, two decisive free throws and then. After Doug Collins noticed the big guy calling his own number, he said, "Bring me the basketball right now," this beautiful shake and bucket against Ben Wallace to back up, still you could tell Shaq wasn't him same on a play like this one by Wade and You know he wasn't going to be perfect from the free throw line.

All of this sets the stage for the final 90 seconds of game seven. Miami was at a disadvantage once again. This part is important for our Bey purposes. Possession number one. Shaq is out of the picture. On the weak side of the court, Wade takes a quick shot and breaks it badly. Possession number two comes out of a timeout, so Coach Van Gundy had a chance for something three-point, whatever it is, he can't find Shaq Wade. He faces a double. Shaq gave the Heat life with a steal on the next play and Shaq scored Miami's only field goal in the final two minutes, but it was too little, too late.

The lead was blown in the fourth quarter. The series was wasted. finals for the number one spot in the east and here it started after game reporters asked O'Neal why he didn't dominate down the stretch and big diesel transferred that responsibility to van gundi. I don't make the decisions. Ask the guy who makes the decisions. decisions almost immediately after, rumors surfaced about those ideas from the previous summer, perhaps Shaq would prefer Riley coach the Heat in August. ESPN's Rick Buer reported that Riley could make that move and noted that Shaq didn't have Van Gundy's back in public, yet Miami opened.

Season 056 SE with the same coach O'Neal missed much of that early season due to injury, but he took the opportunity to dismiss that ESPN report. The day Rick Buer credibly reported would be the day Shaq became the 48th white president of the United States. which is interesting and worth considering because in December 2005 Stan Van Gundy quit, said he wanted to focus on his family, everyone else said Shaq Andor Pat forced him to leave and well, Riley instantly got Van's job Gundy and then coached Miami for the aforementioned. 06 after the Heat won it all without him, people felt bad for Van Gundi, but you know it's hard to argue with a ring and Stan soon re-emerged in a lead role just a couple hundred miles away, Coach head of the Orlando Magic, Dwight's notable employers.

Howard, who many saw as the next Shack and who Shaq saw as an unpleasant imposter, there was a lot of beef between these two and it was a sha Howard Collision that inflamed Shaq van gundi's beef in March 2009 Shaq now with the Phoenix Suns Hit on the floor while defending a follow-up dunk by Dwight Howard, look closely at the timing and angle and I think it can be fairly fairly said that Shaq exaggerated the contact to try to draw a foul if it happens, but it's the kind of behavior for which Shaq himself could belittle an opponent.

Because of that, Van Gundi criticized Shaq during the game and continued afterward. He was shocked to see his former player fall. He said Shaq should stand up and play like a man and even used the unspeakable F-word, you better believe it. Shaq responded, Oh my God, did he respond first? He defended himself against that F-word and offered a strange little lecture on semantics, then pointed a cannon at Van Gundi, repeatedly disparaging his former coach's entire career. One thing I really despise is a favorite. So you know, I know for a fact that he's a master of panic and, you know, when the time comes for you to meet his team to go to the playoffs and do certain things, he's going to let him down because of his panic and, uh, I .

I've been before I played for him, so that wasn't even all. Shaq called Van Gundy a nobody and said he wasn't going to let anyone shoot him. Oh, and one more thing, be sure to print this out for everyone who plays. Van Gundi doesn't like it, this is what is known among meat students as a spicy meatball. Mama Mia Van Gundi wasn't going to give it back, although she laughed, she called Shaq sensitive and basically left it at that, Dwight wanted no part in this except other magic. The players stepped forward to say, uh, yeah, hey, you know, we like our coach.

At times, Shaq didn't find any of this funny and for a while they went their separate ways. Shaq's career was over and when he remembered the explosion, he said he. He was just defending himself that it wasn't his style to get people's attention. I disagree but that's okay, meanwhile Van Gundy ran the magic until the 09 finals but things got ugly from then on. Stan's reputation suffered in large part because he and Dwight had a fight. that ended rather awkwardly with Stan telling reporters that Dwight wanted him fired, followed by Stan being fired shortly after, was history repeating itself or was it a year before Shaq had published a book and insisted that he not had nothing to do with Van Gundy leaving Miami. in 2005 that it had more to do with a breakup between Van Gundy and Pat Riley, there's definitely something to that, but I should note that Shaq also mentioned Van Gundy's displeasure with his behavior and claimed that Miami wouldn't have won the title in 06 if Van Gundy remained his coach and now, after the book was published, Shaq intervened in Stan Dwight's breakup in 2012, even though Shaq publicly despised Dwight Howard, he took Dwight's side in the first place, Private conversations should never be made public.

I think it was a Bush League move. Stan Van Gundy really personally, first of all, has lost his team forever, now that players can never be fixed, respect guys with proven resumes. You know Stan's been there for a while, he's a good coach, but as you know, in this league good isn't good enough. It's about winning championships and I think because they sometimes don't respect his decision making, those things are a lot like the reasons why people believed Shaq preferred Pat Riley to Van Gundy in 2005, when he talks like that, it's It makes it hard to believe that.

Shaq had nothing to do with Van Gundy's sudden departure back then, perhaps he was simply a smoother operator than the young Dwight, which would certainly fit with the low level of provocation it took for Shaq to verbally dismember his former coach. just a couple of years later. There are a lot of beavers, but he tends to groom them on his own terms and have fun with them. This put him on the defensive and he took a much harsher tone than we are used to. In any case, things went pretty well. Van Gundi kept getting jobs and kept having unpleasant outings in between and since you'll sometimes see him on TV working alongside Shaq with minimal and awkward acknowledgment of their time together, I'm also going to need some stories about Dwade and Check, no .

Don't do it, so this was a short issue and mostly a sub-surface issue, but don't forget that it included some unusually nasty words and may have helped shape NBA history at first. Stan Van Gundy actually plays a role in our next issue. His job after coaching the Heat was coaching the Orlando Magic, where he worked with a player Shaq saw as a kind of pirate version of himself andShaq didn't like that Shaquille O'Neal and Dwight Howard had a lot in common, like a true Creepy. same amount same draft situation same Mentor same career decisions fights free throw problems and fundamentally the same cultural references those similarities provoked a lot of ridicule from Shaq and how Dwight's career has not lived up to its initial promise that the distinction has provoked many taunting by Shaq 2, let's begin In the summer of 2004, the Orlando Magic, after years of disappointment in the playoffs, finally collapsed for real.

Last season had been a disaster. They completely lost veteran star Grant Hill due to terrible medical issues. They fired coach Doc Rivers after a horrible start and won only 21 games. Young superstar Tracy McGrady became increasingly dissatisfied. The silver lining to that terrible year was winning the draft lottery with the first pick. Orlando took a risk by selecting high school big man Dwight Howard over the more established NCAA Champion Center in Mecca okur, but what's next despite Howard? begging him to stay, T-Mac wanted out, Magic had to make a trade, and there was one obvious potential partner, the LA Lakers, who were dealing with a similar problem.

Shaquille O'Neal had demanded a trade after 8 wild but successful years in Los Angeles. With a lot of drama, Shaq, of course, was drafted by Orlando in 1992, became an All-Star rookie, there he became a true superstar under coach Brian Hill and even reached a final before leaving for Los Angeles in 1996. Orlando's return was attractive for both parties. and the idea of ​​a Dwight Shack tandem was fascinating, but the trade fight just wasn't the right fit, especially since Shaq was more attracted to the idea of ​​playing with McGrady, in the end McGrady was demoted to the Rockets for a huge package centered on Steve Francis.

A couple of weeks later, Shaq landed 200 million away in Miami, in Orlando, Dwight's first pair. The seasons didn't go the way Shacks had done, for one, Magic didn't immediately treat him as a centerpiece or even a center, the 610 is Howard played power. forward alongside players like Tony B and Kelvin KO, he struggled to get touches between scorers like Francis and Hill and hio turkalo, that was the big story around Dwight's first game against O'Neal in the heat that Shaq dominated and then he He offered some advice to a young man. Dwight, who was sad that he wasn't getting the ball, but Brian Hill, the same guy who had coached Shaq in Orlando, took over Howard's second year and gradually realized that Dwight should play center.

He was a little short for the position, but he was quickly gaining strength at that point. The Heat and Magic met in back-to-back games in 2006. Dwight faced Shaq quite a bit with mixed results. The Heat dominated those games and ended that year by winning Shaq his fourth ring, but Howard was starting to break out and by the next season, Magic knew they had another star center on their hands with Francis gone and more scoring opportunities. Dwight fought his way to his first All-Star selection in 2007, although not the starting center spot that went to Shaq. Even though he barely played that year due to injury, the two had a fun little dance on the court. practice in Las Vegas, then Dwight played wonderfully in the EV main event, no problem detected, not yet, if 0607 wasn't Dwight's breakout season, then the next one definitely was.

Orlando hired Shaq's former coach from Miami, Stan Van Gundy, and gave Rashard Lewis a big contract to serve as Dwight's co-star. Dwight got better, the magic got better, and Shaq's heat battles started to lean the other way. Shaq was slowing down a lot at this point more and more. Prone to injuries, foul trouble and clashes with coach Pat Riley, he got so bad that in February 2008 Miami pulled the plug and traded Shaq to the Suns. Dwight looked like everyone else was stunned, but he pointed out that Shaq was Superman and Superman would make it all work. in Phoenix and Dwight didn't choose that honorific at random from all of Shaq's self-cultivated nicknames.

Superman might be his favorite. He has a Superman tattoo. He surrounds himself with Superman stuff. The guy even got his start in a movie based on one of DC Comics. Superman. spin-off characters, Dwight was clearly well aware of this nickname, which made for an interesting Allstar Weekend later that month. It was a great weekend for Dwight. He had been elected to the Eastern Conference as a starter. The center spot became vacant when Shaq was traded to the West, in fact, for the first time in his career Shaq wasn't an All-Star at all and Dwight took over as the weekend's headliner, although he missed the presence of Shaq there.

Howard also participated in the dunk contest and as part of the presentation he teased the possibility of a Superman costume. and was separately considered a tribute to shah. Dwight took the Superman route. He showed up with a cape and a big s for the dunk that won the contests, but it wasn't really considered a tribute to Shaq. Dwight was introduced as Superman in the main event the following. night and he sort of apologized to the absent sha because, you know, infringing on his Persona, sha wasn't interested in making fun of Dwight claiming the title without having won anything bigger than a dunk contest.

Let's pause quickly to acknowledge that grown men fight over who gets to stay. Cosplaying as a comic book character is extremely silly and this will get sillier, but Shaq's actual point was interesting and he echoes much of what's to come. Shaq is very interested in the mythology of great men, the true centers that he idolized when he grew up. Kareem and when he came into the league he felt like he had to earn the respect of greats like Hakee and Patrick. Those '99s centers put the young upstart O'Neal through a lot before he emerged as an elite big man.

He went through an epic situation. playoff battles and even he had some problems along the way. Shaq earned his legendary status because he put up incredible numbers against legendary bigs for teams that won it all. It's not like Shaq was calm and humble before proving himself as a winner, but especially with the benefit. In retrospect, Shaq feels that the more superficial trappings of superstardom must be earned, so yes, Dwight winning a dunk contest and leading Orlando to a playoff series victory later in 2008 wasn't enough for O' Neal, the big guy, practically spit on the suggestion that Dwight could be the next Shaq or even that such a thing was possible again healthy and productive in Phoenix.

Shaq returned to the 2009 All-Star Game and did his best to embarrass Dwight, who simply laughed with him after he had leaned even heavier on the Superman stuff in the dunk contest the night before, when they finally got back together. find in an actual game, Shaq showed up wearing a Superman jersey and denounced young Dwight's lack of championships in a previous Sports Illustrated interview. He belittled Dwight as a big guy like everyone else, a guy who could run and jump but had no championships, an imitator whose early career was just a cheap replica of all the things O'Neal did when he was in Orlando. .

Dwight sounded genuinely hurt, he wanted guidance from him. Shaq doesn't belittle anyway, the younger of the two Supermans held his own that night and Orlando was victorious. Shaq turned in an admirable performance for a guy who was about to turn 37, but the highlight of his night was this far-from-a-shack flop that lit up a mini-meat. between Shaq and his former coach Van Gundy Howard mostly tried to stay out of it, but seemed to enjoy saying that he respected his elders. Magic finished season 09 with 59 wins. Dwight would take home Defensive Player of the Year and as the playoffs approached, Sports Illustrated ran a big cover story on Howard that started with an anecdote about Shaq calling him an imposter.

That article singled out Howard as goofier and smilelier than the stereotypical big badass Shack impersonates, but did point out that Superman stuff wasn't the only way Howard seemed to imitate Shaq. He was also, for example, prone to celebrating difficult endings by looking at his hand. Dwight also literally impersonated Shaq, so hello to Kil. I can't shoot free throws but I can make a basket. ball but dumb or not copy cat or not Dwight was threatening to invalidate Shaq's main talking point was winning Howard's magic made it through the first two rounds of the playoffs and then surprised LeBron James and the Cavs to face old friends of Shaq for the championship O'Neal He handled the occasion like any adult would by posting on Twitter the night of the first game of the finals.

A few days later a column appeared in Shack. Kareem himself questioned the maturity of the 37-year-old Howard, once again expressing his dismay. midway through the finals and anonymous sources proclaiming that Shaq wanted Magic swept in the finals just as his own Magic 95 was swept so Dwight could have no claim on him, Orlando took a victory in a final loss that otherwise way would be uneven, so take That Shaq I guess the following season Shaq joined LeBron in Cleveland and fully embraced the role of the anti-Dwight villain. His Vendetta had only flared when Dwight went commercial with Superman.

Person you really like. The man Superman was so close in just a few minutes. Shaq. He played during the first matchup between Cleveland and Orlando. He insisted on guarding Dwight one-on-one, courting alcohol from an Orlando crowd that once loved him, and, in fact, helped push Dwight into foul trouble when the Cavs were victorious. O'Neal played well with Howard again later. that season he got physical at every opportunity and then taunted him after the game about who the real Superman was, which once again hurt Dwight's feelings and invited a thoughtful critique of LeBron Shaq's main objection that he had changed , he was angry because Dwight wouldn't always protect him. -to one, that magic sent him double teams while he had spent his youth protecting guys like him and Ying directly.

LeBron once again said that yes, he's just in a bad mood about the Superman stuff, which yes, later in February we were treated to an exciting matchup where Shaq and Dwight went head-to-head, each of whom had great moments in what ended up being a Magic win, the Celtics interrupted a potential magical Cavs playoff rematch on their way to the 2010 Finals, so they're desperate to spend one last ring. In his next and final season in Boston, he was too old and beat up to be around younger players. Dwight took him down in their first matchup, and in their final matchup he dropped 33 points in a flurry of dunks, post moves, and face-up baskets.

Shaq said goodbye. At the end of that season, he used his retirement press conference to highlight Superman and the in-ring stuff, but he also said it was all marketing and gave Howard some credit as a great man and then Shaq and Ed toward the end. sunset enjoying your gaming position. career in silence and out of the public oh no, sorry, I'm actually finding out that Shaq immediately took a job at TNT and spent the rest of the decade criticizing Dwight in 2012, when Dwight was in his wing. Peak Shaq was calling Andrew Bham of Los Angeles the superior.

Player Andrew Bam is a real big man at the back, jump hook Dwight, how does he have a move or two on the block? Dwight was just tired of Shaq at this point, disappointed that the guy finished playing and was still talking, you know, I would suggest that he just sit down. and move on with his life, he doesn't play anymore, so what's the point of talking trash? Dwight hadn't stopped doing impressions, even though every day impr, that is, that regular season ended with the super awkward fight between Howard and Van Gundy. That would end with the coach being fired.

You know, when it comes out, one of the highest-profile guys in the league has called for his coach to be fired. I mean, it's going to be a story, yeah. What is worrying man at this moment? Another eerie parallel between Dwight and Shaq, even with Van Gundy out. Dwight made another shack-like move demanding a trade and eventually joined Kobe and the Lakers as Magic found a way to move forward without him. “Shaq,” Dwight said. I had big shoes to fill and found another big man critique to insist that Dwight was a pick and role player, not a true old-school center like, say, a Lopez twin, er, Dwight Howard, who He's a pick and a role player, you know, some people say he's the best. but since I'm a big old school man, I'm going to go with Robin Lopez and Andrew Bnam and if he wasn't talking about Dwight, he was rapping like I said before, they'll eat you up, but don't ever call me Dwight Howard.Dwight was still very fed up with all this, just sit back and relax, you know you did it, your time is up, but something interesting and unexpected was happening.

Dwight clashed with Kobe and not in the sense that we hate each other, but we're still winning. Did Howard's performance signal that the Lakers never really came together under Mike Danton and fizzled out early in the playoffs all season? Shaq insisted that his speech about Dwight was meant to motivate him to inspire him with anger in the same way that Shaq's Elders had motivated him. They taught me to play with ferocity. I need to be upset, you know, something has to be said and in an article or on television about me for me to respond, but I think Dwight correctly identified that his personality was not like Shaqs nor his style nor was it his.

In the environment he played in, he wanted honest advice from Shaq, not a motivational message, but he got none of that, not even when Shaq came to Los Angeles to retire his jersey. Shaq rejected the idea of ​​connecting with Dwight and continued attacking from a distance, which continued like Howard's. His career plummeted further. Dwight moved to the Rockets. Shaq criticized him for continuing to insist that he was trying to motivate the big guy to not mess with him, but I don't know, this just feels like picking on him. In early 2016, Dwight hired Shaq's agent. leading to rumors that the two greats would work together to rehabilitate Howard's reputation, but when Dwight visited the TNT studio for a rather intimate and vulnerable interview, Shaq was posting elsewhere on Twitter, the issue only got sillier in the years since, during which Howard bounced around.

Team to team alternating injuries with a decent performance Dwight still goes by Shaq, really good you gotta get his name right uh uh Charles Shaq is still rapping about Dwight, the last man who called himself Superman still doesn't have rings and when Dwight got burned on an episode of Wild and Shaq jumped on him, igniting a very stupid back-and-forth when Dwight started the 1819 season with an injured butt. Shaq loved it and just to add insult to injury, he went on to testify. Janis Seda Copo, the new Superman of the NBA. I'm denouncing my ship of Supermans and giving it to The Greek Freak and that's basically where the meat is after over a decade of moving the goalposts.

Dwight Howard first Drew Sha's ey by imitating some of what made Shaq Shaq the fact that Dwight's entry into the spotlight coincided with Shaq's disappearance only made the big man more likely to attack by changing his target with every move that Dwight made, of course, the truth is that despite the first appearances, some of them intentional, Dwight is not Like Shaq, among other things, he has not fulfilled the initial promise of his career, but Shaq does not has backed down at all. This is an ego dispute. The older player found the younger one to be disrespectful.

The younger player found the older one. cruel, neither one is particularly graceful in making their point, so we end up with a very long, very public, very stupid fight, so we've seen how Shaq can pick on NBA centers who he thinks are an inferior version of himself when a center is even worse than Shaq can get pretty cruel Clara will explain to Javil McGee and Shaquille O'Neal, two NBA great men of different generations, different body shapes and different skill levels, that they didn't particularly care about each other for the other. Shaquille O Neil has been an analyst for most of the java. career, but Shaq and Javil don't have your average analyst-player relationship, they have a Big Brother little brother kind of relationship, not in the sense that Shaq was looking for Java or anything, no, no, certainly not any more in the sense of Shaq making fun of Javil. until it turned into a real fight, such a cruel mother had to intervene seriously, her mothers got involved, although this fight took place after tying, the centers knew each other a little as players in their first meeting on the court .

McGee was a rookie that Shaq was on. He was 17 years old and Shaq was unstoppable. He played so well that he rejected the idea that he was getting too old for consecutive games. He totally destroyed JaVale, who lines up Shaq. He was a 14-time Allstar with four rings. McGee was a rookie still learning. To handle his giant body there were no harsh words or exchanges of words or fights on the court, but Shaq wasn't going to be on the court much longer in 2011. Shaq retired and joined Inside the NBA and just because of the way in which he was introduced is It is clear that he was not going to be the typical analyst.

Note the t-shirt design in which Shea is not only a Greek god, but the other hosts are feeding him grapes. He soon debuted in a completely new segment. where he and the other hosts make fun of the players for making fun of things, could be seen as mean and I'm sure the players don't love showing up, but it's packaged as nothing more than a funny joke and, come on, the Mistakes are fun, laughing at others makes me feel better. about me and I'm not the only one because Shack din a fool is super popular and has grown to include several 30 minute segments over the years.

Shaq went after everyone, from the bottom of the bench to the best, no one was safe and the guy. who wasn't especially safe, Javil McGee from this authority Goen to this reckless pass without looking at this Bobble ALU McGee was shacked on many occasions, in fact, Javil McGee has been in the most shacked in episodes of any other guy that have had. He's been on the show repeatedly, but Shaq called Javil his favorite and even had a signature cadence when announcing clip number three of his. Jav Javil often appeared more than once in an episode, sometimes instead showing five different players.

Shaq was only showing five different errors from Javil. McGee. he is the only player to beat Sha in a full MVP more than once. He appeared so much that the other hosts began defending Javil by pointing out when Shaq's clips were a little over the top as this questionable guy. It was actually a pretty good block. Don't know. I think it was golden, I don't know, but his protests weren't heated, Shaq was probably laughing too hard to hear anything. How did JaVale feel about all of this? In 2013, he did an interview on Inside the NBA. and it seemed like everything was fine Shaq was nice all the kind of things you used to do I used to do in the past so we just want to say uh continued success and we love you brother Jil it was funny no press it's bad press that's all I got What to say Javil used loaded language What do you like about fucking the fool?

I don't know why Shack the, I mean, but that did nothing to slow Shack down, even the jail got hurt. t slowed down Shack in the 20134 season. Javil fractured his tibia and only played five games, but he appeared in Shakon four times and received two midseason awards. The worst moment at the Lifetime Achievement Award. The special award was in March. Javil had not played. Since November Javil really deserved all this ridicule, he was making all these mistakes, but as a player he wasn't that bad with the Wizards, he gradually improved until he became a starter. He was in the dunk contest in 2011 and I have to say he didn't look like the incarnation of clumsiness when he dunked three balls at once in 2012.

He was traded to Denver, where he played fewer minutes, but had some big games, especially one playoffs in which he grabbed 14 rebounds and scored 21 points. around the league and battled injuries for a while, but in 2016 he joined the Warriors and played the best basketball of his burgeoning career and, even though Javil appeared more than most players, he didn't turn the ball. On top of that, much more than other players, his turnover percentage during his Shakon years was in the 12-17% range, even dropping below 10% when he joined the Warriors. In contrast, Kendrick Perkins, another frequent Shakon star, had a turnover percentage in the 20s even. reaching 32% towards the end of his career, but what the stat sheet doesn't reveal is how spectacular he was when Jil fumbled or made a mistake, he wasn't a terrible player, but my goodness, falling is one thing. , but why throw the ball as hard as you can while falling?

What is the instinct? Plus, it's not like prison had a perfect reputation before Shaq pursued him in college. He once kicked the ball into the stands because he was upset about a foul. but hey, I'm sure we all have things we regret from college to the pros, when McGee got his first triple double, it took a long time to get that 10th point, even though the Wizards were running plays for him when he finally got it. He celebrated by hanging on the rim and receiving a technical while the Wizards were down 20. He blocked 12 shots, but that wasn't the story that came out of the game, the story was Javil.

McGee is unpleasant, whether he deserved it or not. McGee finally. revealed that he actually didn't agree with being made fun of on national television night after night, but Shaq didn't care and continued to put Javil on the show sometimes for fairly minor infractions when Kenny tried to defend this clip of JaVale getting a steal but failing. a layup Shaq just screamed his lack of journalistic integrity on him, that wasn't bad. I know, it doesn't matter, you know what I have on staff. Ken then noted McGee's new haircut in response, Javil accused Shaq of acting like a minstrel by comparison. the chicken suit from him to that worn by Bert Williams Bert Williams was the first black comedian on Broadway, but he also had to wear blackface and play roles degrading to all white audiences.

Shaq responded in what I assume was an attempt to lighten the mood without losing the edge, so Shaq responded a little louder, he aired a new segment just for Javil McGee, it was a loose parody of the Doctor Strange movie trailer that joined during a minute of jav McGee's lowlights, much of which we had previously seen on shacked in. a goofball that included this Fallen throwing move from his days in Denver, the segment was too much for Dvil, who returned to Twitter with an expressive message for the veteran big man. He also hinted that Shaq was weird for thinking about him first thing in the morning, but he was tweeting all this at 4:00 a.m.

Shaq responded and while it's never a good idea to put threats of violence in writing, you have to remember that Shaq threatened to slap people all the time, especially Charles Barkley Javil responded with the loaded language we've seen from him before Shaq accused Javil about being confident just because he's on the Warriors and said Shaq makes fun of him whether he's on a good team or not, in his own words of course, Javil also called himself a grown man in the same sentence that talked about crazy people. in the mouth through Emoji, something I found interesting.

Shaq hinted at some violence again, like he wants to do, and added some hashtags calling McGee different types of butts. 5 minutes later he hit JaVale with a nickname and a Photoshop job that is rude but impressive for only 5 minutes he had to get the photos and all later that day during business hours the Warriors contacted Turner Sports to talk on Shaq bothering Javil and Turner said: yeah, we know that After Warriors practice that same day, Steve Cerr defended his center and went on to say that Shakon, a fool, was actually damaging Java's reputation by using himself as an example.

Kevin Durant also answered Javil's questions by defending his teammate and adding that Shaq had some unfortunate moments of his own and definitely didn't want this meat spilled. He moved on to KD, but had no intention of firing Javil while Kerr and Durant couldn't get through to Shaq. There was one person he could. The his mother. Lucille O'Neal told Shaq to leave Javil alone. She was defensive of her son's program, but she felt it. the Twitter feud crossed the line since moms were allowed to participate in beef javal mom also spoke out Pam McGee is a former WNBA player and college star who won back-to-back NCAA championships;

Her reputation had protected her son from criticism in the past. and she didn't exactly agree with Lucille O'Neal's characterization of Shakon as a fool. Shaq said that he would listen to his mother, although it should be noted that he also did not admit that he had done anything wrong a few months later, Javil did more than simply not make a mistake. won a championship, contributed off the bench during the playoffs, including scoring 16 points in Game 3 of the Western Conference finals, and perhaps best of all, Shaq kept his word and left Javil alone, although you might think that he sprayed champagne directly at a camera at close range would be too much for Shaq to ignore the following year's Javil and the Warriors won it all again, but he still hadn't escaped the damage Shaq had done to his reputation; his statuschampionship was often an afterthought in his time as Shakon's reluctant star, he joined the Lakers in 2019 and his younger teammates look up to him, but they also say things like he's actually a student of the game, he really knows basketball , these things should be appropriate to say about a center with two rings.

Despite lingering effects, it seems that the flesh has run its course. Shaq has gone so far as to say that he has no beef and that things never got out of hand with Javil despite written evidence to the contrary and to this day Shaq has not introduced Jav to Sha. a fool again, he even complemented a Javil highlight moment in 2018, this is a great play right here, javil mgee he's back, jav McGee he's back, this playful, nasty beef got put in a tubberware container and It was pushed to the back of the refrigerator, sure there will always be a slight smell in Javil because of the shakon, but the meat will never be fresh again.

Thank you so much for watching or re-watching all of these Shack steaks and if you're wondering, what's up with that really big, famous beef Sha ate with teammate Kobe Bryant guess what we made a whole movie about it we did at once, understand it