Odds and Sods

Shaquille O’Neal has been arguably the most dominant physical force the NBA has ever seen.  In a ten year stretch from 1993 to 2003 he averaged at least 26 points and ten rebounds per game in every season.  He is a fourteen-time all-star and a four-time NBA Champion, three of them being the NBA Finals MVP. At 7′1″ and, at times, pushing 400 lbs, he was an absolute beast of a human being.

The 2007 version just isn’t the same.

There is the obvious physical decline.  Shaq is now 35 years old.  His knees have endured fifteen seasons of NBA basketball.  He can no longer reliably call in his power and explosiveness to save him.

However, the more disturbing decline may be in his mental edge.

The man, who once commented “The East is going to be pretty easy for me.  The Great Chest of the West becomes the Great Beast of the East,” now tells the Boston Globe “They’ve (The Celtics) got three hall of famers out there and they do very well together.”

The man who once said “I’m going to be on a mission.  I’ve handled my personal vendettas and handled them well.  Every challenge you’ve put in front of me, I’ve handled it, dismantled it - ate them, dropped them off in the bathroom and flushed them away,” now is getting ripped by a high-profile teammate for lack of effort.

“Probably this year more so than any other year, I have been more vocal with Shaq, talking to him and trying to motivate him,” Wade said.  “But the main thing is Shaq has got to be self-motivated.  He has got to be ready and willing to do it.”

Even worse, he is agreeing with it.  “He (Wade) was right,” Shaq told reporters.

The Heat are is now 2-8 to start off the season.  If they are planning on making the playoffs in the East, they will need a lean, mean, and downright angry Shaq.  They need the Shaq who is scowling and bowling people over, not the Shaq who is helping little kids lose weight.

The man who has played 70 games in only six out of fifteen NBA seasons, will have to do without his customary mid-season sabbatical, though that is just what he may need at the moment.

Shaq doesn’t have to be “The Pathagorean Theorem,” but he does need to be a viable big man.