Shaquille O’Neal sat down for an interview with SLAM magazine and of course gave some pretty interesting answers. Â He touched on players that annoyed him, how he feels he should be ranked, and addressed the comparison to Kareem Abdul-Jabaar. Â Read more after the jump.
SLAM: When you entered the NBA, you didn’t know exactly what kind of career you would have. Now, looking back on it, did it go about the way you thought it would?
SHAQ: Yeah, it actually did. Before I got that first ring, I thought I never was going to get one. Then I met Phil, changed my philosophy and knocked out three: bang-bang-bang. Then lost it for a while, then got another one in Miami. Even though I got four, I felt I should have six or seven. The first, with the Magic, we shouldn’t have lost that one. Then when the Lakers lost against Detroit, we shouldn’t have lost that one. And we should have made it to the Finals the year I played with LeBron, but we never quite got that far. In my mind I should have seven rings; in my mind I should be number two in scoring; in my mind I’m the most dominant big man to ever play the game.
SLAM: Who did you hate playing against?
SHAQ:Â Nobody.
SLAM: I mean, not players who could stop you, but guys who annoyed you.
SHAQ: Yeah, OK, that would be Oakley, Barkley—the little strong guys. And the guy from Detroit.
SLAM: Rodman?
SHAQ:Â No, big guy.
SLAM: Laimbeer?
SHAQ:Â No, big butt guy. He always used to pull the chair in the post.
SLAM: Mahorn?
SHAQ:Â Rick Mahorn! He always used to pull the chair! Aw, yeah, Rick Mahorn.
SLAM: Now that you’re retired, how do you think you compare against some of the all-time great players? How would you have done against someone like Kareem?
SHAQ: You know, a lot of people try to compare stuff that can never be compared. I mean, it’s different. I look at his game and the way he played and the way I played, and I think I would kill him. But he was the man of his time, and I was the man of my time. His numbers are up there.
The only thing that upsets me about numbers is that if I wouldn’t have missed those 300 games, I would have passed his numbers by leaps and bounds and then that would make me the number one dominant center ever. Can’t ever get those back. I would have held my own. I’m not really known for defense, so he probably would have got his numbers, but I would have got my numbers, too, because I always got great numbers against great centers. But truthfully, that question can never be answered. We’ll never know. People can always say Kareem would’ve killed me, but in my mind, I think Kareem was too light. I would have given him the one-two, boom-boom, elbow, throw it down.
