Vlade Divac says Shaquille O’Neal was really strong, not talented
Centers Vlade Divac and Shaquille O’Neal spent many nights battling against each other in the late ’90s and early ’00s during their time with the Sacramento Kings and Los Angeles Lakers, respectively, so it would seem safe to assume that both former rivals know each other’s strengths, weaknesses, and tendencies pretty well. Furthermore, the two are now co-workers in their roles with the Kings — Vlade as vice president of basketball and franchise operations, Shaq as a minority-stake owner — so they would figure to hold mutual respect and appreciation for their accomplishments over their lengthy and successful careers.
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It was somewhat surprising, then, to hear Divac saddle O’Neal with an old stereotype that appeared to have ceased to be part of his reputation long ago. In an interview with the Associated Press regarding the state of the Kings, Vlade stated that All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins is the most talented big man he’s ever seen. In doing so, he ended up suggesting that Shaq was lacking in that area:
”I’ve been in basketball a long, long time and I have to say [Cousins is] the most talented big guy I have ever seen,” Divac said Monday. ”Shaq wasn’t talented, he was just strong. I was talented, but I wasn’t strong.”
Divac went on to call O’Neal one of the most dominant players ever. O’Neal, who knocked Divac and the Kings out of the playoffs in three straight seasons from 1999-2001, is now a minority owner with the team and one of Divac’s bosses.
”He always was my boss,” Divac said.
The context makes it clear that Divac did not mean to insult his former foe, because his binary demeans his own strength and identifies that Shaq got the better of him throughout their careers. Nevertheless, he does end up perpetuating the idea that O’Neal got by on his natural gifts rather than any technique or skill, as if he won the genetic lottery and didn’t ever work on his craft. It’s hard to knock Vlade too much for his statement, because he probably knows that it’s very reductive, but that doesn’t mean it’s correct.
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This criticism followed Shaq for much of his career, especially in his pre-championship seasons and the various years in which he appeared to struggle with his conditioning. While these comments regarding his lack of skill carried an implicit air of awe-struck appreciation — how could someone dominate so thoroughly without developing so many core skills of the sport? — they also depended on the idea that Shaq was lazy. That stuck to Shaq during his slow return from a toe injury in the fall of 2002 — featuring the infamous “I got hurt on company time, so I’ll heal on company time” comment — and has him Shaq into retirement, in part due to continued comments on the subject from Kobe Bryant. (It should be noted that even Kobe, now beset by injuries, saw fit to identify with his former teammate and adversary’s point of view on this matter in a GQ interview this year.)
No matter your opinion on Shaq’s conditioning, though, he was anything but a marauding oaf with no idea how to play the game. O’Neal was possessed with excellent footwork, a keen sense of how to get himself into proper scoring position, and enough sense to thrive in the famously demanding triangle offense under Phil Jackson. Here’s an in-depth breakdown of just one of his most effective moves:
The Big Aristotle even turned into a fairly good post passer by the end of his career. No one will confuse Shaq for an overwhelmingly intellectual player, but learning how to use natural talent is a skill that must be honed and adjusted over many years. Plenty of players are lucky enough to be both big and athletic without seeing 1/100th of the success Shaq experienced in his career.
Again, this overly basic point of view did not start with Divac, so let’s not act as if he’s committed an unpardonable sin. But his reductive view of what made Shaq special stands as the latest in a long line of oversimplifications of his career and, by extension, the history of his era. It has become common to lament the qualities that made Shaq win only one MVP award (a questionable metric) and four titles when he stands as one of the most dominant players in the history of the sport. However, it would be far less miserable to take stock of everything that allowed him to achieve a Hall of Fame career where so many other high-potential prospects fail. Turning every debate into a binary does no one any favors.
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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
