Anyone who follows basketball can tell you that Shaquille O’Neal is not a member of the Dwight Howard fan club. In fact, Shaq pretty much hates Dwight. Perhaps he is threatened by Howard’s talent and the fact that he is following directly in his footsteps by starting with the Magic and going to the Lakers. Whatever the case, O’Neal recently criticized Howard’s game once again and said he would take Brook Lopez over him as a center.
“We as players, we always watch people before us,” Shaq said during an NBA.com roundtable discussion last week, according to ESPN.com. “When I came in it was Patrick Ewing and Hakeem Olajuwon, guys who played like true centers who played inside. What we have now are centers that are going to the European style, which is a lot of pick-and-roll. Dwight Howard, who’s a pick-and-roll player, some people say he’s the best center in the league, but me being an old-school center, I’m going to go with Robin Lopez and Andrew Bynum because they play with their back to the basket.”
Of course, Shaq was referring to Nets center Brook Lopez but said “same thing” when corrected.
“Like if you want to go to go to flash and dunking and the pick and roll, you gotta go with Dwight Howard,” he continued. “But me, the last true original dundaughta (slang for big timer), I’m going with Andrew Bynum and which Lopez? Brook. Brook Lopez.”
Yawn. I’m not a Howard fan by any means, but listening to Shaq toot his own horn while downplaying Dwight’s ability is exhausting. Whether it’s the fact that Howard has had to face less double teams or that the competition around the league isn’t as steep, Shaq can’t seem to stop patting himself on the back. And now he’s the original “dundaughta?” Give me a break.
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