Shaquille Ö'Neal: Howard cannot take the Rockets to the next level

Also in the article.

 

We'll show Shaq how it's done.

 

Shaq thinks it won't work? Now I know we're going to be good!

 

Shaq is a bit like Charles Barkley when it comes to running his mouth. You can almost bank on the opposite coming true.

 

Even last year (when he was coming back from surgery), I thought Howard did fairly well. This is year 2, and I expect that when the real games start, Howard will shift in a higher gear, and show us he is worth every penny of the $22M bucks the Rockets are paying.

Morey is no fool (irt to Howard), and if you bet against Morey, you might end up being the fool.

 

Man the Pacers got so overrated, so quickly.

 

I think it is because they pose the greatest threat of dethroning the Heat.

Their regular season wasn't outstanding, and they turned it on when it counts in the Playoffs.

But I think most people tend to look at Indiana and say "hey they're nearly good enough to beat the Heat - that must mean they're one of the top tier teams in the league"

Understanding match-ups is never as important as in this context.

No I don't personally think the Pacers are a top 5 or so team in the league. However they would be my #1 bet in eliminating the Heat in a Playoff series.

 

Cool.

 

Shaq isn't knocking the team, just Dwight. Which based on this pre season is understandable (at least offensively).

I still think the Rox can reach the WCF this year with Dwight having an "off" year (ie. his Lakers season).

 

I think they rate them based on conference. Pacers only have to worry about the Heat and Nets. So their odds of reaching the finals is a lot higher than ours merely because of the caliber of teams in the west. When you get to the finals, anything can happen.

 

Yea I remember in 06 when Charles picked us to win it all...we didn't even make the playoffs.

 

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say...

Spoiler

He wrong!

 

nothing to see here Shaw is basically saying what he's always said about Dwight

 

Barkley is usually pretty good in his basketball analysis. People think he's stupid... but he knows basketball.

Shaq, however, is really dumb when it comes to basketball.

 

Shaquestionable... smh.

Shaq needs to strop trollin! He just jealous.

 

it won't be this year... he's right... it'll take time

 

The Pacers are the best bet for the team to knock the Heat off their throne this year because they are virtually guaranteed to meet the Heat in the playoffs. Western teams don't get a playoff series against the Heat unless they come out of the West. Oh yeah, the Pacers also match up pretty well against the Heat.

Unfortunately for the Pacers, after they beat the Heat they're going to have to take out the Western Conference champion team. IMO last year the Pacers would have lost in the Finals to any of the West's second round teams.

 

The Rox aren't looking for Dwight to put them on his shoulders. They matched up pretty well against the Thunder and Spurs last year without him. Harden, Parsons, Lin, and Beverley all will be even better this year. If Dwight plays well and does NOT carry the Rox, they could get as far as the finals.

 

So he thinks Kobe is better than Lebron, Durant, Rose bascially. That's basically what he says...

For thinking that Kobe is still better than Lebron or Durant shows major bias there or just plain insane.

I think by the end of the year Harden will be undoubtedly the best SG in the NBA and he'll be backpedaling.