Shaquille O'Neal Wants to Play for the Spurs
At 38, centre Shaquille O’Neal seems to show no signs of wanting to retire from the National Basketball Association. The basketball world has been abuzz with news of O’Neal being in contractual talks with the Atlanta Hawks, but apparently O’Neal could be headed elsewhere.
NBA FanHouse has reported through a source that Shaquille O’Neal’s number one choice would be to play for the San Antonio Spurs.
Tim Povtak of FanHouse reported Monday of the talks between O’Neal and the Hawks. San Antonio indicated on Wednesday that they also have interest in the 7’1” 325-pounder.
O’Neal’s interest stems from wanting to play with Tim Duncan, as he considers it his best opportunity for one last NBA Championship hurrah. Oddly enough, unlike O’Neal’s other wayward transfers, this is actually a downright brilliant move.
O’Neal is essentially finishing his career as a player; much in the manner the Spurs are finishing theirs as a basketball dynasty. If the two disintegrating entities united for one final attempt at glory, it would be both lovable and dangerously effective in terms of basketball.
The addition of O’Neal would immediately help jump-start Tim Duncan’s production back to, or at least approaching, the numbers he used to put up. Duncan’s main problems have stemmed from San Antonio’s inability to provide him with a real centre. Duncan has been forced to play at the 5 spot, which often puts him into foul trouble and gets him worn through physical play.
With O’Neal clogging up the lane, Duncan could return to his favoured power forward position. There he would be able to score more off his preferred turnaround jumpers rather than getting swallowed up by double teams in the paint.
Also, with O’Neal’s nice guy mentality, the pairing would remind fans of the glory years where Duncan played side by side with David Robinson. Quite frankly, who doesn’t want to be reminded of that?
The move is also mutually beneficial in terms of speed. O’Neal’s latest forays into winning a title have been plagued by being on teams that are too fast-paced. O’Neal’s running days are far behind him, and have been for quite some time. He would fit in perfectly with the Spurs extremely slow, grinding offence and defence.
Without having to exert himself on transition runs, O’Neal will actually get to set himself up in the paint and muscle his way to the high-percentage shots that have made him so effective.
Last season, O’Neal averaged 12 points per game with Cleveland. If he is worked into the Spurs offence, he could easily raise that to 15 while increasing his shooting percentage. He would also create a lot of shooting opportunities for Duncan as well as Manu Ginobili. The slow pace would also make him defensively more effective as O’Neal will be able to actually set up his massive frame rather than struggle to get back, as a fast-paced offence often requires.
If the Spurs do need to open up their offence, O’Neal still can run for short periods of time and would set up some very effective pick-and-rolls with Tony Parker.
With the Spurs core coming back from an injury-plagued season and super coach Gregg Popovich still at the helm, the addition of Shaquille O’Neal to the team would really make them impressive.
More importantly for basketball, it makes them a likeable team. With the formation of the Super Miami Heat and the general despicable nature of the hyper-competitive Los Angeles Lakers, it’s time for the NBA to have a talented, yet likeable franchise, which is just what O’Neal could turn the Spurs into.
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