Shaq v. Kobe: The Laker Wars

[Evilmav2]

The Laker Wars

The divide between superstars Shaq and Kobe is so deep nobody is going to put this Humpty-Dumpty team back together again

By Mark Starr
Newsweek
Updated: 3:04 p.m. ET July 01, 2004July 1, 2004 -

A late, great man of my town once uttered the famously succinct, "All politics is local.” The former Speaker of the House, Tip O'Neill, was a major fan of the Boston sports teams, so he would have understood that all sports is local, too.

Here in Boston these days you can barely get anybody to engage in an NBA conversation. Between the perennial despair over the Red Sox’s futile Yankee chase and the eager anticipation of the New England Patriots' title defense, the beleaguered, rebuilding Boston Celtics might as well not exist. But I spent the past week in Los Angeles and, despite the onset of summer with two baseball teams in playoff contention, the sports talk of the town is all Lakers all the time.

After an ugly, bickering season and an implosion on the floor in the NBA Finals, the Laker “three-peat” championship team is breaking up. And breaking up is indeed hard to do. Coach Phil Jackson has already departed. That decision may not have been entirely his, but he clearly had concluded that the breach in the team is far beyond his Zen powers. In truth the divide between the two Laker superstars, Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant, is so deep and the wounds so deeply felt that it would likely prove beyond the healing capabilities of Buddha himself.

With O'Neal repeatedly demanding a trade and Bryant opting for free agency that could have him visiting suitors starting today, nobody is going to put this Humpty-Dumpty team back together again. And Laker fans are bracing for the new reality-that that the team can, at most, keep one of its stars. So while the fans wait for a trade or a signing, there is a civil war-at least a war of words-brewing in the city between the forces who side with Shaq and those who cast their lot with Kobe. And from the sounds of it, at least on talk radio, it is not remotely a fair fight. The fans are overwhelmingly in Kobe’s court, even as he faces trial on sexual assault charges next month in Colorado.

The case against going with Shaq, at a cost of some $57 million for the next two years, seems to boil down to three basic points or grievances: Shaq, at 32, is in his NBA dotage, at least compared to Kobe who, despite eight years in the league, is still just 25 years old; Shaq has, in recent seasons, been a bit overweight and out of shape, which exacerbates his injury problems; and, finally, his basketball Achilles heel, a maddening inability to convert free throws with any consistency, makes the team vulnerable to teams employing the Hack-A-Shaq strategy in critical game. To listen to the fans, it’s almost as if the three-peat never happened. Good riddance, Shaq, and don't let those extra-tall doors on your Beverly Hills mansion hit you on the way out. (The recently renovated home-with its basketball court, recording studio and entertainment center-is now on the market at a giveaway $7.5 million.)

We in the grittier, sports-crazed East have always looked at the Los Angeles sports fan with a fair amount of condescension. These are the folks who arrive late at baseball games and depart early, who somehow believe that Jack Nicholson is an integral part of the NBA action, who have a nearby hockey team named after a Disney movie and who, of course, don't even have an NFL team. But nothing exposes their lack of savvy and sophistication more than the apparent conviction that a championship future can be built around Kobe rather than Shaq.

Jackson recognized Bryant's great skills, but he also knew that O'Neal had to be the centerpiece of the team’s title hopes. The Laker championship quest fell apart not because of Shaq’s weight, but because of the size of Kobe's ego. He refused any longer to play Pippen to the big guy's Jordan. And the coach’s insistence upon trying to fit him into that role earned him Kobe’s eternal enmity and a shove out the door. With first his parents, then his coach and, soon his center all gone from L.A., Kobe will be able to wallow in adulation, from owner Jerry Buss all the down to the team’s fans, who appear to be blinded by glitter.

Of course, Kobe could give the team the ultimate shaft by first driving Shaq away, then bolting for L.A.'s minor-league team, the Clippers, or any of the many NBA franchises that would welcome him aboard. But even if he agrees to sign with the Lakers for the maximum it can offer-seven years, $140 million-the team’s fans are in for an unpleasant surprise. They are going to get a taste of what it's like trying to win behind a player who, however gifted, is unpopular with his teammates for sins both on and off the court.

Off it Kobe is aloof and increasingly arrogant. And he hasn’t forged any real connections to his teammates—let alone emerged as a team leader. On the court, he boasts an unconscionably bad shot selection. So while he can carry a team for a stretch, even for entire games, he can sap all the energy out of it too. Too often his teammates stand in place watching-and glowering at-his one-man show. Kobe has been labeled the next Michael Jordan so often that he must believe it, and so do a lot of fans. But Jordan made his teammates better. Bryant just ticks them off and makes them anxious to play elsewhere.

Lakers fans fondly recall some Shaq absences when Kobe went wild, putting up 40-point games on a nightly basis. But Shaq was never gone too terribly long and even Kobe confessed that he was thoroughly exhausted by the time he returned. If you want to have an idea of what a Shaqless season might look like, think less about his previous absences and take a gander at Allen Iverson and the Philadelphia 76ers. He too is a brilliant talent who, without a big man providing an inside option, puts up huge numbers. But rival defenses focus on him and he puts up a lot of 10 for 35 shooting evenings that leave his 76ers the very definition of NBA mediocrity. When Larry Brown propelled that team to the NBA Finals a few seasons back, it may have been a far more brilliant coaching accomplishment than his championship with the Detroit Pistons this season.

The Lakers will certainly get some talent in return for O'Neal. But it's hard to imagine that a Steve Nash or a Dirk Nowitzki can coexist happily on a team where the ball goes to Kobe and doesn't come back again. Meanwhile, if the Lakers make the mistake of trading Shaq to a Western Conference rival, the revenge motive should be sufficient to assure that fans in Dallas or wherever he lands won’t be complaining about Shaq being fat and out of shape. My fondest hope is that Shaq stays in the west. Shaq and Kobe was a pretty good act while it lasted. And when the unheralded Detroit Pistons dismembered the Lakers, it was even better, reaping a ratings windfall for the NBA. Now Shaq vs. Kobe could be best show of them all. My money is on the big guy. I’d pay just to see Kobe drive the lane.

© 2004 Newsweek, Inc.

[MikeB]

B E A utiful story!

This is the reason we won't give them Dirk and that they will happily take some combo of Walker, Laettner, Stackhouse, Fortson, Delk in return.
They HAVE TO TRADE Shaq and I don't think Sac-town will pay him his extension...I think Mark will.

[WayOutWest]

Originally posted by: MikeB
B E A utiful story!

This is the reason we won't give them Dirk and that they will happily take some combo of Walker, Laettner, Stackhouse, Fortson, Delk in return.
They HAVE TO TRADE Shaq and I don't think Sac-town will pay him his extension...I think Mark will.

Keep dreaming. The Mavs may get Shaq but it will be as an FA not in a trade for Mav trash. With a key piece to the Lakers/Mavs trade puzzle gone, Nash, all signs point to the daddy staying in LA.

[irontoad]

Originally posted by: WayOutWest
With a key piece to the Lakers/Mavs trade puzzle gone, Nash, all signs point to the daddy staying in LA.

If that happens, how do you feel about an extremely unhappy Shaq playing for the Lakers, WOW? If he wants to be traded that bad, would you actually want him gone, or take your chances with an unmotivated Shaq?

[Poindexter Einstein]

"all signs point to the daddy staying in LA."

I challenge you to name ONE sign that Shaq is staying. Or that things have changed.

Things have changed in Dallas but not LA. And I still fail to see ANY others who are anxious to take on Shaq's contract. Until someone other than Cuban professes a willingness to give an extension, the Mavs remain a MAJOR player, even without Nash, if they want to be.