Hey Shaq, if you aren' going to play, then shut the frick up!!

I agree that he probably should've not said it like that, but you have to realize, he was probably asked directly about what he thought of Bibby's selection. I don't blame the man for speaking his mind, something we all have the right to do, regardless of whether he chooses to play on the team or not.

 

i wouldn't at all. sure he hit a lot of big shots (and i was damn happy he did since i hate the lakers) but he was not the biggest factor for the kings, chris webber was. webber outscored him, outshot him, outrebounded him, and even (from the PF position) outassisted him by a wide margin. he was far more integral to the running of the kings offense throughout the course of a game and was more important defensively in terms of getting rebounds since vlade had to focus on shaq so much. people make too much of bibby's glamorous last second/last five minute shots and discount what got them there, which was more webber than anyone else (not saying bibby wasn't good). it's kinda like with shaq and kobe for the last 3 years, kobe is always the one who takes over down the stretch and hits all the big shots (well when horry isn't doing it) and yet no one would deny shaq is the most valuable person in terms of the lakers overall success.

 

AC-

First, I highly doubt that the Bibby comment was made
"off the record" so it was surely intended for public distribution.

Secondly, it is a free country and Shaq is surely allowed to have is opinion or as you put it "speak his mind". But, at what point do we hold grown men accountable for making negative public comments at the expense of others? Is it OK if the comments are funny? Is that the bottomline of acceptability? As long as they're funny, they are OK?

This is the same man who made some kind of babbling sounds that were supposed to be Chinese in reference to Yao Ming...that wasn't offensive either? We saw how classy Yao was in how he handled the comment.

The main point is this...what he said about Bibby (whether accurate or not) is not what I would expect from a truly classy individual. Can you imagine anything like that coming from the mouthes of Dr. J., Magic, Bird, MJ or Hakeem? Or Duncan or Garnett or Kidd?

How about if someone who doesn't think Iverson should be on the US team draws a cartoon depicting some thug playing basketball and pointing a gun at another player and the caption is "AI on defense at the Olmpics"...is this OK?

 

Gater, I understand what you're saying, and a person like you or I would not say anything like that. Most likely, a reporter came up to Shaq looking for a quote about Bibby that people would pay attention to, and he got one. He should've said it better, I agree. I suppose the way it was phrased was downright insulting, rather than simply stating "I think Iverson should've been chosen over Bibby, as he is a better player."