"We as players, we always watch people before us," Shaquille O'Neal said. "When I came in, it was Patrick Ewing and Hakeem Olajuwon, guys who played like true centers who played inside. What we have now are centers that are going to the European style, which is a lot of pick-and-roll. Dwight Howard, who's a pick-and-roll player, some people say he's the best center in the league, but me being an old-school center, I'm going to go with [Brooke] Lopez and Andrew Bynum because they play with their back to the basket."
Shaq was speaking in a roundtable discussion for NBA.com when he made these comments. Since they were made, Howard hasn't been handling them well, apparently.
"He hated the fact when he played that the older guys were talking about him and how he played and now he's doing the exact same thing," Howard said. "Just let it go. There's no sense for him to be talking trash to me. He did his thing in the league. He's one of the most dominant players to ever play the game. Just sit back and relax. You did your thing. Your time is up. So, I don't really care. I don't really care. He can say whatever he wants to say."
Easy, big fella. Howard has been compared to Shaq in the past after playing for the Orlando Magic and using the nickname "Superman." Everybody knows Shaq is basketball's only Superman, and Howard should have been out of the running as soon as he threw that ball in wearing the cape during the All-Star Weekend Dunk Contest. And now, Howard's career path mimics Shaq's to the T at this stage in his career, starting in Orlando and moving to Los Angeles.
Shaq, never one to let anyone get the last word, all but closed the book on this "feud."
"You have to care to have a reaction," O'Neal said. "I've got businesses to run. I always tell people that in order to step in my shoes you have big shoes to fill. For him, he's going to have to at least win three [titles] to get people's respect."
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