| Thursday, June 7
By Frank Hughes
Special to ESPN.com |
|
|  | | Imagine what Shaq could do to opposing players if he was meaner. |
It's more than the points that impress me.
It's more than the rebounds.
It's more than the blocked shots.
It's even more than the alarming physical specimen.
No, the thing that impresses me the most about Los Angeles Lakers center
Shaquille O'Neal is his composure.
His poise.
His self-awareness.
Imagine if this guy, who is listed at 330 pounds but is probably closer to
350, maybe even more, lost his cool and hauled off and hit somebody.
I mean hit somebody with malice, with intent to maim.
Take a look at his arms. A good look. They could do some serious damage.
And yet, in all the years I've watched Shaq play this game, never once
have I seen him lose his temper and take a swing at another player.
Remember what Kermit Washington did to Rudy Tomjanovich? That would be
child's play compared to the damage Shaq could heap on a person.
As I watch the Portland Trail Blazers go to their hack-a-Shaq strategy, I
watch with mild humor as Steve Smith plays patty cake on Shaq's torso,
lightly tapping him so he doesn't get the Big Fella angry.
But sometimes you have to see it from Shaq's point of view, and wonder
what it's like to always be Goliath, always be the guy getting whacked,
always be the punching bag.
It would get old.
And still, really, the only altercation I can remember Shaq getting in was
the one with Charles Barkley, where Barkley picked him up and basically
dumped him on the ground.
Even then, Shaq didn't lose his cool. You think if he wanted to go after
Barkley, one or two guys could have held him back?
Hardly. And yet Shaq allowed himself to be restrained, to latch onto and
check both his pride and his ego while allowing Barkley to get away with a
sneaky little wrestling move.
Somebody deserves credit for this.
I don't know who. Perhaps it's Shaq's father, who may have sat him down
one afternoon and said, "Listen, son, in case you haven't noticed, you are a
lot, lot, lot, lot, lot bigger then everybody else, and you can't go around
hitting them because you can really, seriously injure somebody."
Perhaps it is Shaq himself, who knows exactly how much power he possesses. Maybe he is scared of how much force resides in that mammoth body.
It was the same way with Wilt Chamberlain. He was gargantuan compared to
the players of his era, and he was the nicest, most fun-loving, warm-hearted
guy around. He reveled in being the big lug. And while he obviously used his
size to his advantage, he did not use it as a weapon.
Karl Malone is a bully. And in a way, he has to be. He is not the most
skilled player, but he has built his body and developed himself into a hell
of a player. Being more physical than the next guy is how he succeeds.
Could you imagine what Shaq would be like if he had the same mentality as
Malone? Going into the lane with legs and knees flying recklessly. Swinging
elbows without a single concern for an opponent's welfare. It would be
complete carnage on the basketball court.
And yet Shaq takes beating after beating, pounding after pounding, and he
rarely loses his cool.
He has threatened to over the years. When he has a particularly poor game,
probably because three guys were crawling all over his back and the officials
didn't see fit to call any fouls, invariably Shaq has come out and declared,
"If the refs aren't going to call anything, I'm going to take matters into my
own hands."
In a way, sometimes, I wish he would. For the same reason people go to car
races to see the wrecks. And the same reason people stay to experience a
hurricane. It's a sort of morbid curiosity. Wouldn't it be interesting to see
what would happen if Shaq suddenly did get mean?
And then the next game Shaq comes out and plays like he normally plays,
shedding people off of him and throwing in a jump hook, the big teddy bear he
has always been.
Perhaps in between those games he reminds himself of what it is to hold
his temper, because how badly would he feel if he ruined somebody's career,
or worse, somebody's health, because he got fouled a few times?
Perhaps he got a call from his father.
Or perhaps he realized that it comes with the territory of being 350
pounds.
But there should be a lot of people who feel fortunate that Shaq is so
generous and benevolent with his territory.
Frank Hughes covers the NBA for the Tacoma (Wash.) News-Tribune. He is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.
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