Tuesday, November 29th, 2011 at 9:40 am  |  361 responses

Shaquille O’Neal: Kobe Bryant is the Greatest Laker Ever


Shaq continues to promote his new book, and tells KTLA that his former teammate and nemesis Kobe Bryant is the greatest Los Angeles Laker of all time: “Here’s one area of disagreement between Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant that won’t further fuel the divide between them: debating who deserves to be named the all-time greatest Laker. Bryant has long insisted that Jerry West holds that honor for his role as both a player and a general manager. But O’Neal counters that the recognition should go to Bryant himself. ‘Based on what he’s done, he’s probably the greatest Laker of all time,’ O’Neal said of Bryant on KTLA Monday to promote his book, ‘Shaq Uncut.’ ‘If he gets another championship, he’ll tie with Kareem. That will put him up there.’ … ‘It’s a different kind of great,’ O’Neal said of Bryant. ‘He had the skills to be an all-around player. I’m just a big man so I just do big-man stuff. I’m just in the big-man category.’”

(H/T: LA Times)

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  • Justin

    I think it was easier for Magic to lead the team he had compared to Kobe. Magic’s team was one of the top teams that ever played. Those Lakers teams that Kobe and Shaq were on can’t make that claim. Also, Shaq was always the man on his team. If he were to have gone to the Bulls and joined Michael, don’t think for one second that MJ wouldn’t have torn into him as much as he did everyone else, especially if he came in out of shape. Phil has said many times the triangle is built for centers and together they would have done more than 3peat. The Bulls would have won 8 in a row if Michael hadn’t retired the first time and that was with Bill Cartwright and Luc Longley as the centers.
    The Magic vs. Michael argument is dumb, especially when you have Magic himself saying “There’s Michael Jordan and then there’s the rest of us”. Magic and Kobe are probably 1 and 1A at this point but it’s a lot closer than most think. It just depends on what you’re basing your argument on. Accomplishments or skill set as a player

  • shutupallenp

    lmao thanx for that

  • BBaller

    Who gives a Sh*t, better things to discuss ATM. The NBA is back on, 352 comments really!

  • Justin

    I’m just smh @Gametimeweezy for saying Amare is a better post scorer than Ewing

  • http://www.facebook.com/#!/joe.l.brewer3 BlackPhantom

    *sigh* of course the greatest Laker is Magic

  • http://www.slamonline.com UNFROZEN CAVEMAN LAWYER

    ENIGMATIC, ONCE AGAIN, PROVING WHY HE IS THAT DUDE. CHILLIN UP NORTH.
    LOOKS LIKE THIS THREAD GOT CRAZY.

  • hushabomb

    Let’s start with some questions. If you are playing basketball, do ya wanna play with a guy who gets 20 points or 10 assists. Most would play with a guy who gets 10 assists. Now if you had a chance to play with Kobe or Magic, who would ya pick? I’d say Magic. Why? Cos his ability to make plays. Cos 10000 assists over his career. Cos Byron Scott, Coop, Worthy, Green, Kareem, Rambis and Wilkes and all the other Lakers made money off of his assists. Cos he knew where and when to get a player the ball and will always exploit a match up. And most of all, he made you believe that whatever you did will win you a ball game. He put the team on his back and made it “our team”.

    Kobe is a very skilled player, has evolved time and time again to be the best player bar none. Yet an argument can be made that Kobe made the Lakers successful due to the triangle offence. What I mean is that Kobe tried to have individual success (06-07 in particular) and yet it didn’t work.

    I’d have more fun and success playing with Magic then Kobe.

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ys6VpgI9BHA datkid

    yeah justin… that comment by him was questionable… REAL questionable.

  • BBaller

    No wonder why this story has so many hits, when ever the words KOBE,SHAQ and the Lakers are mentioned everyone gets there knickers in a knot, like little school boys squabbling over petty Sh*t.

  • Shifty

    How did Kobe make all those 1st defensive teams. I don’t rate his defense at such a level. Ecspecially when u have people like decade having a block a game. Or gaurds pocketing 2 + steals a game. Seriously…..how did he get all those defensive 1st team selections!

  • Shifty

    Meant to say dwade. Not decade.

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