Good Bye Shaq!

by blue-blood on Jun 10, 2009 8:47 PM EDT Comment 17 comments

I've waited a VERY long time to be able to say . . .

"It gives me GREAT PLEASURE to declare your reign as Orlando's most accomplished superstar officially OVER!"

You once stated that "Everywhere Dwight Howard has been, I've been there." Well, with last night's victory in the finals you have been OFFICIALLY USURPED by a young superstar who's legacy here will FOREVER be greater than yours!

Dwight has now led his team to a finals victory, something you could NOT do and I believe he's far from being done.

Your ego and greed led you to abandon us in lue of shinier, flashier opportunities but your moment in the sun is now long gone. Dwight has not only filled your shoes, but he has also buried them deep in the Magic's closet.

Whether you ever admit it or not, the torch has been passed and Dwight Howard will always mean more to Magic fans than you ever did . . . .And the best is yet to come!

GO MAGIC!!!

This FanPost was made by a member of the Orlando Pinstriped Post community, and is to be treated as the opinions and views of its author, not that of the blogger or blog community as a whole.

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Good riddance

Think my sig says it all. He’s outlasted his stay in the NBA, nowadays hes just making a fool out of himself.

Shaq sucks.

by Paul Finger on Jun 10, 2009 9:15 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

?

how can you say he has outlasted his stay in the league. He was All-Star game MVP this year…That is hardly a sign that he now “just makes a fool out of himself”. Granted, he says some stupid non-pc things, but he is still a very solid NBA center.

by willthehawk on Jun 11, 2009 7:05 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

he’s only an all-star because most all-star voting done by fans is based on name recognition, he no longer serves up the caliber of play worthy of an all-star

by Rebounder on Jun 11, 2009 8:29 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

are you kidding me?

Look at his 08-09 stats. Everyone just ASSUMES he’s washed up because he is old and out of shape. Compare his Stats to other centers in the league. He is easily top 5- worthy of All Star consideration.

REMEMBER- he wasn’t voted in by fans this year. He was voted in by COACHES! so, you can’t say that he isn’t a high enough caliber player to be in there.

by willthehawk on Jun 12, 2009 3:54 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah, Shaq was solid this year

Helped that his was in something resembling shape and the Suns ran their offense for him in the first half of the season, but that’s not the point.

by eltharion_doa on Jun 12, 2009 4:28 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Shaq deserved to be an All-Star last year but ..

.. that wasn’t the crux of Paul Finger’s comment.

His “outlasting his stay in the NBA” statement has nothing to do with his play on the court.

I'm the other guy at Third Quarter Collapse, with a Twitter account.

"Never hate your enemies. It affects your judgement." - Michael Corleone

by erivera7 on Jun 12, 2009 6:03 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Well, between Dwight and Shaq..

The best difference is that Dwight has a real team leadership role about him. He sets the tone every night as the anchor on BOTH ends. I always felt Shaq was the team leader through scoring the most mainly. Both are always with funny personalities, but Dwight is closer to his team, motivates them more, and is being a more mature and vocal leader than Shaq was back then. Dwight has that true franchise player personality and talent (esp/ from the potential end) about him, he looks like he is going to be a Magic for life, and grab some titles in the process before he is done a la Duncan for the Spurs. Spurs did a good job of putting the team around Duncan, and now the Magic developed Dwight and the right team around him too. Its just a matter of winning 3 games right now, and building on whatever happens afterwards to repeating it or getting it next season. Starting with the 1st day of offseason, improving Dwight offense, resigning Turk, getting everyone/Nelson healthy and working on improving, etc. Dwight is bringing that championship mentality to the Magic every day now period.

by derekk on Jun 10, 2009 11:39 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Good post.

I'm the other guy at Third Quarter Collapse, with a Twitter account.

"Never hate your enemies. It affects your judgement." - Michael Corleone

by erivera7 on Jun 11, 2009 1:30 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I have to agree.

While Shaq was the player that made me a Magic fan, I can´t stand him now.

A big difference between Shaq and Dwight is that, for Shaq, it´s all about him. He expects everyone to bow down to him: teammates, coaches, the media, etc. He still continues to say that those 4 championships he won on his own. He never was, and never will be, a team player. I’m sure Dwight also enjoys the limelight (name one superstar who doesn’t… Duncan, maybe?), but he also seems to truly care about his teammates, he knows basketball is a team sport.

Shaq is a “me, me, me” type of player. He was like that in Orlando, in Los Angeles, Miami and also in Phoenix (where they went as far as to change their game style to accommodate the Big Cactus, or whatever stupid nickname O’neal is using these days). Great, dominant, historically important player, sure, but also annoying.

Magic Fan since the 1992-1993 Season.

by North of the South on Jun 11, 2009 12:18 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

That's a solid assessment of the two players.

I'm the other guy at Third Quarter Collapse, with a Twitter account.

"Never hate your enemies. It affects your judgement." - Michael Corleone

by erivera7 on Jun 11, 2009 1:30 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

not true about PHX

I really don’t think PHX changed its style of play FOR Shaq. I think Kerr made a conscience decision to play more defensive oriented, slow-paced basketball. So, the front office traded for Shaq. Shaq didn’t kick out D’Antoni, Steve Kerr did.

by willthehawk on Jun 11, 2009 7:08 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs