There is safety in numbers. Team sports lend themselves to statistical analysis. To paraphrase scripture, ye shall know them by their digits. Missed games aside, it is safe to say that Shaquille O'Neal is more valuable to the 2004-05 Miami Heat than Kobe Bryant is to the Lakers.
Numbers seldom lie: the Heat are 55-19, leading the Southeast Division's second-place Washington Wizards by 12.5 games. Without Diesel fuel, the Lakers lag at 33-39, a woeful 22 back of the Pacific Division-leading Suns. And the cross-town Clippers are nipping at their heels.
Kobe Bryant is a marvelous basketball player, at both ends of the court. That is a distinction he shares with Michael Jordan. Similarities end there, as he is not a proven leader (or even winner, shed of Shaq). No. 8 has played in 57 of the Lakers' 72 contests, and is averaging a commendable 28 points, 6 rebounds, and half a dozen dimes. He's also only shooting 43%, his lowest mark since 1997-98, when he was a callow (but not gun shy) teen. He averages more than four turnovers, well above his previous season high average of 3.5. Kobe is only shooting 34% from the arc. And in the court of public opinion, sales of his uniform jersey replica disappeared.
What about the New King of South Beach? Shaq's only Achilles' heel is he wasn't hip to Carlos Delgado. In 69 games, he's averaging 2.4 blocked shots, 23 points, close to 60% from the field (his highest since 1993-94), and 10.5 boards. He's healthy, fit, and well-matched with Dwayne Wade. No team, even Phoenix, leads their division by as many games as the rejuvenated Heat, who are on track to win 60 games. No doubt, the Diesel will put it on cruise control as we near playoff time.
In the East, he'll face no Tim Duncan's, Kevin Garnett's, or Amare Stoudamire's. The Big Fella won without Penny Hardaway and is winning without Kobe. Tinseltown, for its part, will finish out of the playoffs. What must Magic Johnson think?
What does it all mean? For one, talented centers are rare, and Bryant's lack of appreciation thereof initiated the Laker downfall. Shaq's post presence caused defenses to sag, providing perimeter opportunities for Bryant as it now does for Wade. The Lakers also lack interior defense, no small weakness in the West. Wing talents come along relatively often, but even Dwight Howard and Emeka Okafur will never be Shaq. Rarely is an older superstar more valuable than a younger one, but it is plain to see a 33-year old O'Neal is not expendable, a 26-year old Bryant has yet to prove such. A post player himself, Phil Jackson had to know this.
Winning is about more than talent, it is about getting the best performance from oneself and one's mates. To arrive, and remain at basketball's summit, the elite must recognize the importance of player roles. Bill Russell had this awareness, as did Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and Michael Jordan. No man, not even Dominique Wilkins or Allen Iverson, can do it all. To this day, Yao Ming's Rocket teammates have not learned how to mesh their talents with his, though Yao is no Shaq.
What a star pivot player can do though, is attract defenders, and find open teammates with passes out of the double-team — an O'Neal skill that elevated the three-peat Lakers. As Bryant ages, his ability to elude wing defenders will fade somewhat, as will the spring to leap over the trees inside. The Shaq-Kobe inside/outside game stretched a defense beyond reasonable limits, and made the game easy. No NBA team had enough talent to double-team both players, which would occupy 4/5 of its team.
The (Late) Lake Show drove Rudy T to resignation (he a man who endured Vernon Maxwell, and the Charles Barkley/Scottie Pippen feuds). It appears, rings and all (not counting the makeup rock he copped for wife Vanessa), Kobe Bryant's legacy will not be the Jordan-esque one he aspired to, but one of team-wrecker.
In a rare twist of fate which turns the tables on Wilt Chamberlain's favorite saying, in the case of Shaquille O'Neal, everyone roots for Goliath.
April 4, 2005
Joe Johnson:
A long, long time ago the Orlando Magic refused to pay Penny Hardaway less than Shaquille O’neal. Penny had endorsements, all-star appearances, finals MVP hopes, and a green light to run the team when Shaq left. No one remembers that because few people even remember Penny Hardaway these days but it was true. People thought Penny was a sure-fire hall of famer who couldn’t lose.
Then Shaq left. The magic lost in the first round that year. Penny’s field goal percentage dropped to 44% and eventually 38% later on. He lost his green light to shoot, his all-star appearances, his chances of even getting to a finals, and his entire legacy. Penny will never be a hall-of-famer. Penny never WAS a hall of famer. He was just an average basketball player that Shaq made great.
Right now, Kobe Bryant is just a Penny Hardaway with a green light to shoot, a guy who scores a lot of points because he takes a lot of shots. He’ll always be a 42% or below shooter who has to waste the opportunities of teammates in order to get his own points. And worst yet, his defense has been exposed this year. You can risk and go for steals if Shaq’s waiting in the middle- but not if Chris Mihm is there.
This isn’t a surprise to me at all. I already saw this happen once in Orlando. Shaquille O’Neal makes other players better. His winning percentage is over 70%, something few players have. He will have gone to three finals with three different teams after this year. He will have made three different guards look like the next Jordan.
Shaq is the real Jordan. He’s a guy who gets a lot of points without hogging the basketball. He’s efficient, he’s scary, and he makes the entire team better. This is something Kobe Bryant will never do.
Did the Lakers watch the Detroit series? Did they see Kobe Bryant insisting on shooting through his slump during a finals? Did they see him pass up Shaq over and over again, even though it meant that his team was going to lose? Kobe shot 38% from the field that series, routinely hurting the lakers. He continues to hurt them.
Kobe Bryant not only doesn’t make other players better, I believe he makes them worse- by turning the ball over, by hurling up ridiculous jump shots when no one is expecting it, and by shooting at the worst possible times, and passing when teammates don’t expect it (When DO they expect it? Never?).
This lakers team is a re-run. The only surprise is that Penny Hardaway was able to take his Shaqless team farther than Kobe will ever get his lakers. I guess Kobe should begin his repenting by thanking Shaq for sticking around as long as he did, even after Bryant was wrecking the team’s chances of winning. He should thank Shaq because he stayed long enough to give Bryant a legacy of winning, a green light to shoot even though it hurts the team, and of course, his very own team…
Had Shaq left a bit earlier, the newest Penny would have been exposed sooner and would have never even been elevated to Jordan’s status in the first place. He certainly isn’t deserving of the title…
Sadly, even 40 year old Jordan’s better than Kobe Bryant. No one ever noticed that in La. Shaq casts such a long shadow, maybe no one noticed the real Kobe at all.
April 4, 2005
Bijan C. Bayne:
Well stated Joe. Basketball teams aren’t all-star teams (witness Philly before Moses, or Portland w/ Rider-Rasheed-Pippen-Strickland-Stoudamire-Dale Davis-Kemp), but units.
BCB
April 7, 2005
tina bates:
This was well said! Now this piece confirms, in better written language than I could have said it myself!
Thanks, Bijan for your imput.
May 25, 2005
Daniel:
These were some of the most ignorant comments i have ever seen. Shaq is without a doubt the most dominant player of this era, but Penny Hardaway was a great player who did not achieve the greatness his was thought to reach due to injuries and and his demenor and Kobe is one of the top 10 player in the game today with or without Shaq. So for this person to talk about these players like this must have some sort of dislike of these two players, and he should go out to the court and try taking them on then he would see how bad they really are.
June 27, 2005
Jared:
Well said. The real blindless is of Kobe fans not wanting to see of hear things like this. Kobe is great. But he has a way to go, a lot to learn.