Shaquille O’Neal is one of the most likable players in the NBA. The Big Diesel has taken up the role of chief entertainer for the NBA from the day he touched the hardwood and the situation still stands.
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However, the violent side of Big Diesel has also come out to the public in various instances. Broken urinals and scared teammates were quite common around Shaq, it would appear.
In Superman’s own admission, the threat of physical violence was applied by the 7ft 1″ center with his teammates. Particularly, teammates who seemed “too cool to care.”
And it would appear, even the threat of a 7-foot giant wasn’t enough to convince certain teammates. Shaq opened up about his violent strategy in Shaq Uncut and revealed that his ploy didn’t have a 100% success rate.
How did Shaquille O’Neal describe his violent strategy with teammates?
Big Diesel might seem like a cool guy, but if someone is “too cool”, Shaq seems to not like it. In his book, Shaquille O’Neal talked about ‘such too cool people’ he had an issue with during his time in the league. He also confessed to threatening them.
“Back then guys who were too cool to care drove me crazy. Nick Anderson was like that in Orlando, and Eddie Jones was the same way in LA. He’d freeze up in a tight situation, then act like it was no big deal. So, as a young player, the way I tried to get guys like him to perform was to threaten to put my hands on them.”
Clearly, Shaq’s method of establishing top-dog status in his teams involved a considerable threat. However, as he further reveals, the tactic wasn’t foolproof. The Big Diesel’s belief in the tactic was fueled by his own experiences with his father.
As Shaq put it, “My dad had always motivated me with the threat of physical violence and it always worked. So I guess that was all I knew. I can tell you it didn’t work with Eddie Jones at all. When I towered over him and challenged him, all it did was (1) scare the living s**t out of him, (2) make him conclude I was nuts, and (3) ultimately make him decide to ignore me.”
Even with Eddie Jones, it wasn’t a lack of fear that didn’t prompt a response. Perception apparently matters, something that O’Neal didn’t seem to have considered when coming up with his ploy.
Would Eddie Jones have fared better had he budged from O’Neal’s threats?
Eddie Jones had quite a successful NBA career with Multiple All-Star and All-Defensive nods to his name. However, his career ended ringless.
Jones and O’Neal did not play together for long in the NBA. And a quick divorce followed, possibly prompted by Shaq’s threats(?). Jones moved from the Lakers in 1999, just before a young Kobe and Shaq led the team to a three-peat.
Nick Anderson, the other named candidate, enjoyed a successful spell with Shaq. So, maybe Superman’s threats did hold some weight.
Revelations such as Shaq’s might prompt us to understand whether such trends are popular in the NBA. Regardless, not many people could have escaped fearless from a Shaq threat. O’Neal and his victims alone know how many and how often an occurrence this was.
Also read: Shaquille O’Neal compares his DJ producer to Kobe Bryant calling him a “mad genius”
