Shaquille O'Neal well past his prime is now with the Celtics. 4-5 years ago this woudl have been a blockbuster signing but now Shaq takes close to a $29 million dollar annual pay cut and why not. He certainly is not much of a contributer anymore.
Shaq lacks committment. Either he played very lackadisically last year or he has nothing left in the tank. Shaq can still not shoot free throws and his rebounding is less evident than Celtic point guard Rajon Rondo. Give Rondo credit outside of Jason Kidd he is the best rebounding guard let along point guard in the NBA. Given the recent history Shaq has hurt teams more than he has helped them. Shaq also seems allergic to the Boston environment of playing defense which has been the cornerstone to the Celtics success the past three years. The only good Shaq appears to be is a fill in while Kendrick Perkins is recovering from a torn ACL and eventually a big part of the Celtics bench when Perkins returns as "Bib Baby" and fellow LSU alum Glen Davis is looking for more time with the Celtics and certainly has earned it with his play the past two years in the playoffs.
In Phoenix Shaq's while Shaq was running the floor with the Sun speedsters led by Steve Nash the Suns missed the playoffs for the only time in the Nash era with the Suns. Without Shaq the Suns were a game 5 Ron Artest put back away from taking a 3-2 series lead over the Lakers heading back to Phoenix and possibly putting the World Champion Lakers out of this past year's playoffs before they won the title over the Celtics. Shaq did look rejuvenated though in Phoenix with some solid statistics but those might have been inflated playing with Steve Nash who makes all players look better, look out Amare in NY.
This past season in Cleveland Shaq continued to struggle with shooting free throws, playing defense, rebounding and having any impact on the game. As a matter of fact the Cavs with the best record in basketball for two years running were ousted in the 2nd round of the playoffs instead of the conference finals as they were the year before by Orlando. Without Shaq in Cleveland the Cavs will be a better team but unfortunately the Cavs will also be without probably the most talented player in the NBA, Lebron James who has taken his three ring circus to South Beach in case you didn't hear the news.
The only good thing Shaq brings to the Celtics will be three quarters of a high shooting percentage. He will get in the way camp under the basket. Shaq's best asset will be to adjust his game. If he is going to be worth the 2 years $2.8 million to the Celtics he will probably play no more than 12-15 minutes per game and during that time it might be time for Shaq to give back to the NBA what the NBA has thrown on his with the Hack a Shaq defense popularized by Hall of Fame coach Don Nelson. Shaq is still 7'1" tall and weighs probably in excess of 350lbs with pythonesque arms and a physically imposing body. Shaq needs to use up at least 5 fouls and possibly six fouls a night during his limited court time. Hey it worked for the 1972 Broad Street Bullies in Philadelphia no the ice rink it would be well served if the Celitcs take that approach with guys like old Shaq teammates Dwayne Wade and Lebron James in Miami to unnerve them as they try to come through the lane.
Who knows if Shaq cannot show his worth by the time Kendrick Perkins is healthy which should be around February after a couple of months of getting used to the NBA speed Shaq could be released outright by the Celtics because for a guy his size he is less productive than Erick Dampier.
No comments:
Post a Comment