http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ap-lakers-heat-shaq-buss&prov=ap&type=lgns Shaq not pleased with Buss' weight-loss remark MIAMI (AP) -- Nearly a year after the trade, the verbal jousting between Shaquille O'Neal and the Los Angeles Lakers is still going strong. One day after Lakers owner Jerry Buss said O'Neal found motivation for losing weight only after being traded by Los Angeles to Miami, the Heat's All-Star center took issue with the remark. ``I didn't need motivation,'' O'Neal said. ``I needed a real owner. ... I needed a real owner like Micky Arison. You can quote me on it.'' Buss also said he doesn't regret trading O'Neal to Miami. ``And I don't regret him losing money and his not making the playoffs,'' O'Neal said. On Wednesday, Buss said O'Neal was not willing to get into shape when he played for the Lakers. O'Neal, who played at an estimated 370 pounds during his final season in Los Angeles, is down to about 325 in Miami. ``It seems that the motivation for him to lose weight was to trade him,'' Buss said Wednesday. ``I suspect if I knew he was going to lose 60 pounds, I might have made a different decision.''
How many championship banners does Micky Arison have hanging from his arena? Now that Shaq came up again around here... As a Shaq hater, I'm hating to see the Heat play right now, they're GOOD, REALLY REALLY GOOD. DEEP. TALENTED. They can play defense if they need to. They disposed of the Nets easily and Shaq didn't even play that big of a role in that series. Now he gets to rest up his injuries and if the Bulls manage to win that series against Washington the Heat will sweep them too! They play the Bullets and they'll sweep them because they showed they can control perimeter players, actually better perimeter players in Vince and Kidd. Shaq, I think, gets too much credit for his on the court play but I think he gives that team an insane amount of confidence and "swagger". It's like they expect to get to get to the Finals and win a championship this season. A bunch of guys who haven't done much of anything in the NBA and Shaq makes them feel like they will, that part of Shaq's game doesn't get much play. OH! Lets not even mention ZO! He's what Shaq never ever had, a legit back up center, an ex-MVP canidate, ex-DPOY backup! I hate Shaq, I'm going to hate watching the Heat in the Finals...
Yeah, he started being stupid when he let West walk. The Lakers demise began with West leaving the organization.
Jerry West isn't god. He's not doing too well at this moment in Memphis, is he? I've always said that Kobe is not the reason why the Lakers let Shaq go. Dr. Buss's checkbook is.
It is disgusting how the Lakers still manages to sneak into the headlines when they didn't even make the playoffs.
LMAO...an organization that had never won more than 23 games ever before him has gone to the playoffs two years in a row. Was he supposed to win a title in 3 years or less? ...and Dr. Buss told you the reasons but nobody is listening. (1) Kobe was not going to play with Shaq anymore and for whatever everyone thinks, when you are a FA you get that right to choose, (2) Shaq had shown no hint of dedication in which Buss would have selected keeping him over Kobe.
You do know their previous futility, right? You do know they finished ahead of the Lakers this year without a player nearly as talented as Kobe right? Buss had to run Shaq and Phil out because he though Kobe might leave. I love the eggs on Buss and Kobe. I never despised the Lakers from the Kareem to Magic to Shaq era (it is pretty clear now it was the Shaq era, not the Kobe era, and not really the Shaq-Kobe era), but now they are about my favorite team to watch fall apart.
I still think Bryant is probably a slightly better basketball player than Drexler at his peak (though Clyde was much more likable). But I never said he was the key to the Lakers title's teams, I have always insisted Shaq was. Neither Clyde nor Kobe could carry a team to a championship by themselves.
With the current influx of superbly talented backcourt players in the league (T-Mac, Kobe, Iverson, Lebron, Wade, etc.) I wouldn't be surprised that if the NBA doesn't expand that "50 Greatest List" and had to bump someone off in the next decade or so, Clyde would be one of them. I just never got to like the guy, sure he is nice and professional and all, I just don't think his skill level was ever that great, he was just a very athletic guy that took it to the basket a lot and was a half-decent jump shooter. But I think his IQ level is lower than any supposed "great player" out there. The guy just made bone-headed decisions on the court all the time. Lucky for him that there just weren't that many great shooting guards in the league during his era (MJ was pretty much the other one). I never liked Clyde, never liked Barkely either. The only players I had/have affinity towards are Hakeem, Horry, Elie, Max, Cassell, and Kenny Smith from those 90s teams. Of course, my favorite now are T-Mac and Yao, whom I genuinly like and root for.
