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Ready to rumble: now that Kobe and Shaq finally are separate, each is eager to prove they never were equals. How the former Lakers—and a few other new rivals—settle their scores will shape the season

Sporting News, The, Oct 18, 2004 by Sean Deveney

At 8:30 Tuesday morning, a black Mercedes-Benz driven by Jerome Crawford pulled into the parking lot of AmericanAirlines Arena in downtown Miami, carrying in its passenger seat Shaquille O'Neal, the new Miami Heat center reporting for his first day on the job. The car still bore license plates from California, just another reminder of O'Neal's tumultuous recent history on the West Coast--his chronically fractured relationship with former teammate Kobe Bryant, the preference of Lakers owner Jerry Buss to cater to Bryant and the subsequent trade demand that led to O'Neal's arrival in Miami. As O'Neal, blessed with a heavyweight's build, unfolded himself from the car, one notion seemed palpable: The first day as a functional, practicing member of the Heat would help bring closure to his eight controversial years with Bryant in Los Angeles. When, after more than four hours, the Heat's first practice was over, O'Neal said of himself, Bryant and the Lakers, "It's in the past now."

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That's easy to say now, but for much of the summer, O'Neal conducted a verbal dismantling of Bryant and the Lakers. O'Neal has not only grown into the physique of George Foreman, he has developed the mouth of Muhammad Ali, making him the NBA's biggest mound of talent and entertainment. Apparently, what O'Neal declared is now in the past was plenty in the present during the offseason, when he let fly a series of scathing gems that would have had Ali taking notes.

Talking with media after it was reported that Bryant told police in Colorado that O'Neal paid women as much as $1 million in hush money after sex, O'Neal said, "(Bryant) just let out his true colors. ... He's a clown. He's the only one buying love right now. I don't need that."

When asked what went wrong in L.A., O'Neal pointed the finger at Buss and Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak, saying, "It was guys upstairs who can't step up and do what they're supposed to do. They've got to have a scapegoat. Who's going to be the scapegoat now?"

And there was this, when O'Neal was asked about the Lakers letting go nine-time championship coach Phil Jackson after last season, then pursuing Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski: "Phil took us to The Finals (four) out of the five years, and you want to fire him and bring in Mike Krzyzewski? Come on, man. That's like being married to J.Lo, then dropping J.Lo for a girl that's 5-10, 480 pounds. They asked me, 'Why do you want to be traded?' I said, 'Me staying here is like divorcing my wife and marrying someone who looks like me.' That's backwards, man."

Of course, maybe marrying himself would not be so bad. O'Neal is not exactly calling himself "the greatest," All-style, but he has said, "I'm the sexiest 7-footer in the NBA, 12 years running."

The divorce of O'Neal and the Lakers has the necessary elements to create an instant bare-knuckle rivalry--a public falling-out and a motor-mouthed star player who feels betrayed by his former team and has had months to ruminate over how to get revenge. But O'Neal's situation hardly is unique, not after an offseason in which four members of last season's All-Star teams were traded, three other All-Stars issued trade demands and one All-Star (Jason Kidd) simply said he "dreamed" of a trade. In the process of shipping all that top notch talent, resentments and rivalries have taken hold quickly.

Never has the league entered a season with so much juicy new enmity. Kenyon Martin vs. the Nets. Tracy McGrady vs. the Magic. Steve Francis vs. the Rockets. Carlos Boozer vs. the Cavaliers. Forget trainers and Gatorade, the NBA needs cut men and spit buckets. Perhaps P.A. announcers should open team introductions with, "In this corner ..." The summer of the blockbuster trade has led us to a season in which the league is ready to rumble.

None of these new rumbles matters more than the Lakers vs. the Heat. At its core, it is a rivalry between Bryant and O'Neal, but it extends beyond those two. After waging a very public battle over which player should be the Lakers' leader and go-to guy, Bryant and O'Neal have gotten their wishes--Bryant will be the unquestioned epicenter of the Lakers, and O'Neal will play the same role for the Heat. If the Lakers fail, it will reflect not only on Bryant this season but will call into question just how valuable he really was to the Lakers and their three league championships. The same goes for O'Neal in Miami.

When the teams face each other, the importance of the game to O'Neal and Bryant will be under stood by their teammates. Think of it as 5-on-5 for 15 rounds. "It's going to get played up" says Heat point guard Dwyane Wade. "If you're on this team with Shaq, and you're out there fighting on his side, then whoever he is mad at, you're going to get mad at."

And O'Neal has left little doubt about the focus of his anger.

The dream scenario for the NBA is obvious: Bryant leads the Lakers to the Western Conference championship; O'Neal carries the Heat to the East championship, and the league's Finals are ratings gold. That's merely a dream, though. The two teams are flawed, and there are better teams in each conference.

Ready to rumble: now that Kobe and Shaq finally are separate, each is eager to prove they never were equals. How the former Lakers—and a few other new rivals—settle their scores will shape the season

Sporting News, The, Oct 18, 2004 by Sean Deveney

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