Shaq's comments on Kobe

[ballorama]

So I'm on edge because I don't have a new deal, and Kobe is on edge because he might be going to jail, so we're taking it out on each other. Just before the start of the '03-'04 season the coaching staff called us in and said, "No more public sparring or you'll get fined." ... Phil was tired of it. Karl Malone and Gary Payton were sick of it. ... So what happens? Immediately after that Kobe runs right out to Jim Gray and does this interview where he lets me have it. He said I was fat and out of shape. He said I was milking my toe injury for more time off, and the injury wasn't even that serious. (Yeah, right. It only ended my damn career.) He said I was "lobbying for a contract extension when we have two Hall of Famers playing pretty much for free." I'm sitting there watching this interview and I'm gonna explode. Hours earlier we had just promised our coach we'd stop. It was a truce broken. I let the guys know, "I'm going to kill him."

 

Kobe stands up and goes face-to-face with me and says, "You always said you're my big brother, you'd do anything for me, and then this Colorado thing happens and you never even called me." I did call him. ... So here we are now, and we find out he really was hurt that we didn't stand behind him. That was something new. I didn't think he gave a rat's ass about us either way. "Well, I thought you'd publicly support me, at least," Kobe said. "You're supposed to be my friend."

 

Read More: http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/In-new-book-Shaq-explains-how-his-relationship-;_ylt=AqviebnpUoks1UwdnSNw.4K8vLYF?urn=nba-wp9983

 

 

Thoughts? I know Shaq's only telling one side, I remember when all this happened.. talk about drama haha. I've gained strong interest in reading this book now.. he also talks about him and Pat Rileys altercation :o

Edited November 2, 2011 by ballorama

[Real Deal]

[Flash]

Everything he said is probably true, and there's a lot of stuff in there on Kobe. That doesn't mean Shaq isn't a huge bitch himself though.

[AboveLegit]

Deadspin has a few interesting excerpts from the book. http://deadspin.com/5854904/

 

This one about LeBron in Cleveland is definitely hilarious.

“LeBron was a huge star,” O’Neal wrote in the autobiography. “He was as big as I was in 2000 in L.A. when I was dominating the league.

 

“Our coach, Mike Brown, was a nice guy, but he had to live on edge because nobody was supposed to be confrontational with LeBron. Nobody wanted him to leave Cleveland, so he was allowed to do whatever he wanted to do.

 

“I remember one day in a film session LeBron didn’t get back on defense after a missed shot. Mike Brown didn’t say anything about it. He went to the next clip and it was Mo Williams not getting back and Mike was saying, ‘Yo, Mo, we can’t have that. You’ve got to hustle a little more.’ So Delonte West is sitting there and he’s seen enough and he stands up and says, ‘Hold up, now. You can’t be [expletive]footing around like that. Everyone has to be accountable for what they do, not just some us.’ Mike Brown said, ‘I know, Delonte. I know.’ Mike knew Delonte was right.

 

“I’m not sure if Kobe [bryant] is going to listen to Mike Brown [now Lakers coach]. LeBron never really did.”

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/216276/Shaq_Cavaliers_Allowed_LeBron_To_Do_Whatever_He_Wanted#ixzz1cZfsbf2j

 

What a joke..

[Real Deal]

Everything he said is probably true, and there's a lot of stuff in there on Kobe. That doesn't mean Shaq isn't a huge bitch himself though.

Skip and Smith pretty much said all that needed to be said, though.

 

And as far as Shaq making it sound like he left LA because of Kobe, everyone should know the truth by now. It was very, very clear from the beginning that Buss was not going to give him that massive extension. He would've been up to $32-33 million in the 2005-06 season, and a max extension would've been ridiculous. His first season in Miami, he made around $28 million.

 

Buss sat down with him, told him he wasn't going to get the max extension, and Shaq demanded the trade in the office. Buss wasn't going to pay Shaq $32 million as he continued to put on weight and piss off Phil, Winter (Tex even stated that) and the rest of the assistant coaches.

 

Kobe and Shaq both messed up, over the years...but, Shaq needs to get over it and grow up.

[Real Deal]

Deadspin has a few interesting excerpts from the book. http://deadspin.com/5854904/

 

This one about LeBron in Cleveland is definitely hilarious.

 

What a joke..

Obviously, I hate defending LeBron...but I doubt Shaq cared what Brown had to say, either. This is the same Shaq that disrespected both Phil Jackson and Tex Winter, two legends of basketball.

 

I mean, it's Mike Brown. I'm not saying it's right to disrespect your coach, though...but Shaq doesn't have much room to talk.

[AboveLegit]

Obviously, I hate defending LeBron...but I doubt Shaq cared what Brown had to say, either. This is the same Shaq that disrespected both Phil Jackson and Tex Winter, two legends of basketball.

 

I mean, it's Mike Brown. I'm not saying it's right to disrespect your coach, though...but Shaq doesn't have much room to talk.

Well I'm not only directing this to Mike Brown, I think everyone knew he was a push over from the start, but it's the franchise itself that's a joke for saying that no one was allowed to be confrontational with LeBron. It's a joke, they were completely afraid that he was going to leave town, which is beyond me, because quite frankly, they put themselves in that position by not surrounding him with better talent.

 

I can't remember, but wasn't Shaq the one that blamed Jerry Buss for his weight gain? Didn't he say the organization asked him to do so?

 

This really sticks out to me

 

He was so young and so immature in some ways, but I can tell you this: everything Kobe is doing now, he told me all the way back then he was going to do it. We were sitting on the bus once and he told me, "I'm going to be the number one scorer for the Lakers, I'm going to win five or six championships, and I'm going to be the best player in the game."

 

That is awesome.

[Lkr]

I really don't think Shaq is trying to start shit in his book, I think he's just giving his account of it. Most of the stuff he has said is true, and I honestly think he and Kobe have got past it.

[AboveLegit]

I really don't think Shaq is trying to start shit in his book, I think he's just giving his account of it. Most of the stuff he has said is true, and I honestly think he and Kobe have got past it.

He also talks shit about Dwight Howard, and talks about how the Lakers were disrespectful towards Brian Shaw by letting him go. Clearly he's just trying to sell his book, but he's having a tough time not being the center of attention anymore.

[Real Deal]

I can't remember, but wasn't Shaq the one that blamed Jerry Buss for his weight gain? Didn't he say the organization asked him to do so?

I have no idea, really...but if he said that, he's lying. The Lakers needed him to lose weight many times, not only to help with his mobility and to improve his pick and roll defense (and help), but to also recover from his toe injury. He was at 356 pounds, and that was just what was reported...some say he seemed to be a bit heavier than that.

[alcstarheel]

A lot of this isn't too unexpected. I think Shaq is going to be mostly truthful. He just has to be slightly controversial to sell. His name is big enough and he has been interesting enough throughout his whole basketball career.

 

Sad thing is this should be dead and gone. It keeps getting regurgitated. I hope when it's all said that Kobe does NOT write a book about all this stuff. We're really not meant to know.

[Dash]

He also talks shit about Dwight Howard, and talks about how the Lakers were disrespectful towards Brian Shaw by letting him go. Clearly he's just trying to sell his book, but he's having a tough time not being the center of attention anymore.

 

Well its working because I really want to get it.

[Nitro]

Oviously he's trying to sell the book, but I believe most of those quotes, although I think certain things are a tad skewed, which is to be expected since he was directly involved in these situations. It's very hard to be completely objective in a book like this. I don't care about the Kobe stuff...that's been analyzed for so many years that it's sickening. The Heat stuff is a little intriguing, as is the LeBron stuff, and what he thought of his time with the Magic/Celtics.

[ChosenOne]

I really don't think Shaq is trying to start shit in his book, I think he's just giving his account of it. Most of the stuff he has said is true, and I honestly think he and Kobe have got past it.

 

Agreed, but it is interesting to read shit that never really was made public.

 

I wanna buy!!

[YugoRocketsFan]

Who would have known, B-Neal with 4 posts in this thread.

[Real Deal]

Who would have known, B-Neal with 4 posts in this thread.

Weird...ABL has three.

 

Thanks for leading me to my fifth...by acting more and more like ECN, for some reason.

[ballorama]

As much of a marketing scheme this is.. I'm definitely gonna buy it.. stuff seems so interesting, especially that excerpt about Kobe and how he knew he was going to be great before. I'm interested in seeing what he says about D-Wade tho.. seems like things fell of after Miami won in 06?

[Newman]

Well, I definitely want a copy of the book now.