Boston Celtics: NBA Teams that had Shaquille O’Neal when he was at his best (Part 1)
About two months back, one of the gigantic names of the National Basketball Association Shaquille O'Neal, who had earned four rings and tallied 28,596 points in his career decided to finally announce his retirement.
With his retirement comes to end an era that was full of fame, cash and a colourful career, as he had a tremendous time while playing in the NBA. O’Neal with a doubt is a living legend who had proved that the centre position matters.
His name will surely make place in the Hall of Fame record one day.
The seven foot one giant started his professional career back in 1992, when he was picked by the Orlando Magic as the first overall from the draft. The heaviest player ever played in the history of the league, immediately gained
a spot among the top centres of the NBA with his pure hard work and dedication.
All the way through his career Shaq used his exceptional vigour to dominate his opponents for wrecking the points and clutching the rebounds. Shaq was the first player ever to introduce a new style of backboard shattering and rim
hanging skills after each dunk.
The veteran didn’t just won several awards in his career, but also set records. During his pro career Shaq won the 1992-93 Rookie of the Year award, three Finals Most Valuable Player awards, three All-Star game MVP awards and two
scoring titles. Shaq was rated fifth all-time point scoring and field goal shooting player. When it comes to shot blocking Shaq ranks No. 7 and in clutching rebounds the big man is at No. 12.
Shaq is among the only three players in the history of NBA, who had won NBA MVP, All-Star game MVP and Finals MVP in the same year. O’Neal got selected for the All-Star game on 15 occasions, 14 times included in the All-NBA team
and three times in the NBA All-Defensive team.
Along with these good rankings Shaq also made it to the worst in free throw shooter in the game so far. However, Shaq had covered this deficiency with his supremacy down low.
From college till his retirement Shaq had represented seven teams. Let’s catch on which fortunate team had O’Neal when he was in full flow.
Boston Celtics
The major stake holder of the Boston Celtics Wyc Grousbeck decided to bring the big man into their side, when he saw the opportunity created by Los Angeles Lakers All-Star Kobe Bryant, who said that he had won more championship
rings than O’Neal.
Wyc was enabled to defeat the other contenders for Shaq and eventually land him in Boston for the 2010 season. However, during this final season of Shaq wasn’t able to fully recover from the knee injury, as he pulled it twice in
his come backs.
Due to injury Shaq was able to participate in only 37 games for the entire 2010-11 season. Moreover, the veteran centre failed to make an impression during his stay on the court, as his scoring average remained 9.2 points per game
while spending 20.3 minutes on the hard wood.
Therefore, the C’s were the most unlucky team that acquired O’Neal at a time, when he wasn’t able to deliver his 100 percent and his impact was also not up to the mark. However, the C’s were lucky enough to have the honour that
O’Neal decided to retire when he was with them
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