| Monday, June 5
By Frank Hughes
Special to ESPN.com |
|
I got an e-mail the other day listing a bunch of idiotic quotes made from
athletes over the years.
You know, like Charles Shackleford saying he can go left, he can go right,
he is amphibious.
|  | | Shaq was pretty happy when it became obvious the Lakers were movin' on. |
Or Karl Malone claiming that things are going to change, he is going to
turn around 360 degrees.
Among those quotes was one uttered by Los Angeles Lakers center Shaquille
O'Neal, who said, "I've won at every level except college and the pros."
I wonder if Shaq still has that pee wee league trophy sitting on his
mantle. Probably right next to his MVP award.
But seriously, while that quote will remain among the stupid quotes
e-mails, the sentiment at least can be changed. Because Shaq is about to win
at the professional level. And win big.
There is no way I can see the Indiana Pacers coming close to competing for
the NBA championship. Rik Smits is virtually retired already. The mismatch at
power forward the Portland Trail Blazers held certainly will not be exploited
by the Pacers, who are in big-time trouble if they are counting on Dale Davis
to score over A.C. Green or Robert Horry. And I think Kobe Bryant is quick
enough, strong enough and willing to stop either Reggie Miller or Jalen Rose,
whichever one Phil Jackson chooses him to cover.
And even if those guys do go off, I always go back to Shaq.
The Pacers have nobody to cover him.
Technically, no team has anybody to cover him. But the Pacers especially.
Smits is not suddenly going to get a healthy body or mind. Sam Perkins is not
going to lose all those years he's piled on. Derrick McKey ... please. He looks
like chicken wire next to Shaq.
I'd be surprised If Shaq does not AVERAGE 40 points a game during this
series -- which should end in five games or less.
And along with collecting the Finals MVP, Shaq will set himself up as one
of the greatest centers of all-time.
Yeah, you could say that now. But had he not won a championship, sticklers
would always have that as an asterisk to place next to Shaq's name.
They do it with Barkley. They do it with Malone. They do it with Marino.
They do it with the Buffalo Bills. And if Shaq does not win a championship,
he will suffer the same distinction.
This season I have become a huge Shaq fan. I'm not sure why. Probably
because he finally has lived up to the expectations that many bestowed upon him
over the years.
I remember when Chris Webber was traded to the Washington Bullets for Tom
Gugliotta and three first-round draft picks.
I stood out in the parking lot at the Bullets' practice facility and asked
Scott Skiles -- the Bullets point guard at the time, now the Suns head coach
-- how good Webber could be. Could he be the best big man in the game, I
wondered?
"He's not better than Shaq," said Skiles, who had played with O'Neal in
Orlando. "Shaq is the best player on the planet."
Skiles was either prophetic or premature, I'm not sure which. Because at
the time, Shaq did not have a lot of game. He had a lot of size, but he did
not have a signature move, he struggled to score in the post, and he did not
play very much defense.
Now as I watch him, I am simply amazed by how dominant he is. How
unstoppable. How clear and concise the argument is that he is the best player
on the planet.
And how fun he is to watch play. When Michael Jordan played, he had that
killer instinct, a lethal, menacing glare that not only let you know he was
going to defeat his opponent, but he was going to beat them, too. Make them
wish they had never stepped on the floor with him. As if it was an insult to
Jordan's greatness that a player -- any player -- would dare step on the
court and think they could compete.
But with Shaq, you get the sense he is out there having fun. He wants to
win, obviously. But he is not out there to step on somebody's pride. How many
times did we see MJ have the type of reaction Shaq did after Shaq threw down
that monstrous dunk Sunday night? Even when Jordan hit six 3-pointers in that
game during the Finals, his reaction was, "What can I tell you? I'm good."
Shaq's reaction was pure joy. Uncontrolled excitement. A childlike
outburst from a child's game, made even more sincere and loveable because it
came from a 350-pound man.
A 350-pound man, it turns out, who will have won on every level except
college.
Frank Hughes covers the NBA for the Tacoma (Wash.) News-Tribune. He is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.
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Hughes: Shaq always plays it cool
