Shaquille O’Neal continues to be one tough guy to please.
The retired big man great appeared this week on Sports Illustrated’s “The Crossover” and offered a strange criticism of Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid. O’Neal said that Embiid was not a dominant low-post presence.
“I wouldn’t use the D-word,” said O’Neal of Embiid’s play. “He’s pretty good, really good, pretty good, but I would not use the D-word.”
It is definitely hard to describe the All-NBA center Embiid as anything but dominant, especially after the season that he just had. He scored 28.5 points per game on 51.3 percent from the field (both career-highs) with nearly half of his attempts coming from inside ten feet. In fact, Embiid might have been the MVP if a knee injury had not knocked him for several weeks in March.
Granted, we know by now to take O’Neal’s words with a grain of salt as he is notoriously harsh on today’s stars, especially the big men. Embiid probably won’t mind either seeing as he once thanked O’Neal for criticizing him.
