Kareem Abdul-Jabbar replies back; Says Shaquille O’Neal didn’t need his help – NBA Update
Hours after the excerpts of Shaquille O’ Neal’s new book, in which he took Los Angeles Lakers great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, to task for not helping him, the legendary Lakers centre has retorted, saying that he tried to help Shaquille
O’Neal, but the latter didn’t really need it.
When O’Neal arrived at Los Angeles, he was immediately compared to Abdul-Jabbar, who is one of the most revered figures not only in Los Angeles but around the entire NBA. Shaq expected Kareem to give him a few pointers and set
him on his way to the success that awaited him, but Abdul-Jabbar never did.
Now Kareem has responded to Shaq’s claims by saying that he did actually try to help, but O’Neal’s minders decided that he didn’t need it. Kareem revealed that he went to work out with O’Neal when he was still at Louisiana State
University and taught him some basics of the game at the request of Coach Dale Brown.
"I went down to LSU and worked with Shaq on the fundamentals of the Skyhook as a favour to Coach Dale Brown. I spent time with Shaq in the gym and gave him some drills he could use to develop the hook shot.” He explained on his
official Facebook page.
O’Neal though was a different breed of centre than Kareem. While Kareem was a glorious player with length and finesse that he used to poach teams in the NBA for decades, Shaq relied on raw power. The Diesel was so imposing that
he could tear apart teams with sheer force and destroy them on the rim. His coach and father realized this at that early stage, and it was they who decided that O’Neal didn’t need to learn the finer arts that Kareem would have taught him.
“But when I followed up with his Coach, Dale Brown, I was told that Shaq's father told his son he didn't need to develop a hook shot and all he needed to ... do was smash everything into the basket. Shaq's fathers felt that he
was so overpowering physically that he should just dunk everything and not worry about developing a finesse shot like the Skyhook," Abdul-Jabbar wrote.
Even without the famed Skyhook or other skilful moves in his arsenal, Shaquille went on to become on best centres to ever play the game. He achieved great success with the Los Angeles Lakers and etched his name as one of the best
to play for the famed franchise alongside that of Kareem.
His stay in Los Angeles came to an end in 2004 due to contractual disputes and a longstanding feud with super star teammate Kobe Bryant.
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