Secret Playing With Shaq? Kobe Won't Share it With LeBron

Conventional wisdom so far this season is that Shaquille O'Neal has been more of a hindrance than a help in LeBron James' quest for not only his second consecutive MVP award, but also the elusive title that will one day be required to cement his status as one of the best players ever. 





The observations are varied and multiple. LeBron looks uncomfortable with Shaq on the floor, it's been said. Shaq clogs up the middle because he can't drift to the perimeter and shoot jumpers like Zydrunas Ilgauskus. Shaq refuses to defend the pick-and-roll and only occasionally runs the floor.

Was this a massive mistake by Cavaliers general manager Danny Ferry, who should have studied the effect of the move previously made by good friend Steve Kerr?


Or will it eventually work out?

To get the answer, The Race decided to go straight to a few sources who have had more than their fair share of experience with The Big Conundrum: Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson.

If anybody knows how to play with and through Shaq in a successful fashion, it's Bryant, whose contentious relationship with O'Neal was (and continues to be) well-chronicled and dissected.

They did, however, win three titles together, now almost an afterthought in light of the messy divorce.

How, Kobe, can LeBron adjust his game to play with Shaq?

"I clearly know," Bryant said, a wisp of a smile crossing his lips. "But I'm not saying nothing, man."

C'mon, Kob, if anybody can understand what The King is going through, it's you, right?

"That's something that I had to figure out," Bryant said. "I figured it out. That's something that (LeBron) needs to do. I won't give him no (advice). I've given him enough already. That's enough."

The Race suspects Kobe was being more protective of his own sanity than overly competitive with LeBron i.e. he didn't want to get into another war of words with Shaq -- though Kobe was very good-natured about the whole thing, even asking if The Race represented a Cleveland newspaper during the Klieg light questioning

It was interesting, however, that Kobe did not deflect the blame away from Shaq, as his former coach did.

"I think they'll find combinations as they go along," Jackson said of the Cavaliers. "I think it's easy to point to their struggles as evidence of Shaq's presence, but I think it's more than that. There is more than just you can blame it on Shaq."

Such as?

"It's easy to say the middle is clogged up when he is in there. But when he comes out to set a pick, it is almost a double pick. There are a lot of advantages to having Shaq. Plus everybody's defense has to adjust to that. So there are some things there that the team will figure out with time. It is way to early to say anything definitively."

What are you seeing, Phil, that the average laymen doesn't see?

"The things I am privy too I probably want to keep to myself," he says. "But every player presents a lot of positives. Every player has their drawbacks. That is the nature of the game. You have to adjust to those things as a team.

"When I too over as the Lakers coach in 99, I saw Shaq turning to the baseline and shooting jump shots in the playoffs against San Antonio the year before, which was a direct line for Tim Duncan to get a layup at the other end. And so I had to get Shaq back to the middle and taking shots in the middle of the floor so that he can back on defense. It's just those kinds of things. Shaq is a coachable player; he'll be fine."