As Howard grows in stature, Shaq shrinks
By Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports LOS ANGELES -
The greatness of Shaquille O'Neal(notes) demands that his name, his legacy, never drifts far from an NBA Finals. Even when he's long out of the league, that'll still be true. For the immortals, the lifetime benefits include the exhaustive examination of the next generation's stars to your standards.

How does Tom Brady measure to Joe Montana?

Kobe Bryant(notes) to Michael Jordan?

And, yes, Dwight Howard(notes) to Shaq.

Mostly, here's how a burgeoning talent is born: A gifted young star emulates his idol and eventually becomes his peer.

So, why does Shaq get such glee out of belittling and ridiculing those centers who came before and after him?
"Sometimes I wonder about his maturity," Kareem Abdul-Jabbar told Yahoo! Sports on Friday. "He doesn't need to do that. He's achieved so much.
"I don't know why he stoops to that."

Abdul-Jabbar doesn't need Shaq's approval, but Howard is 23 years old and Shaq owes it to the league, to common decency, to be civil with this kid. His treatment of Howard has been kind of sad, especially considering that Howard grew up wanting to be him.

Howard marveled at Shaq's strength and roared at his comedy and tried to emulate him in every way. They were drafted into the NBA as the No. 1 overall pick to the Orlando Magic, and turned losers into NBA finalists. Howard always seemed to crave Shaq's counsel, his respect, but Howard has long been the target of humiliating insults.

In the past year alone, Shaq called Howard an "imposter" and insisted that, "Everything he's done, I've invented," and on and on. On opening night of the NBA Finals, Shaq posted a goofy photo on Twitter of what a Dwight Howard and Stan Van Gundy child would look like. After five years of this, Howard still doesn't get the reason that Shaq revels in ripping him.

"I can't tell you why he's said a lot of discouraging things," Howard said Friday at the Staples Center. "I wish he wouldn't say it because he's one of the few guys that we all look up to."

For most, O'Neal's motives are transparent. Somehow, Shaq thinks it diminishes his own legacy if Howard achieves something significant sooner than he did.
"That's why Shaq wants [Howard] to get swept in the Finals," a league source close with Howard and O'Neal said Friday. "He doesn't want Dwight to win a game because he didn't win a game in the Finals when he got there at a young age with Orlando."

It's funny, but Jordan never takes offense that Bryant and LeBron James(notes) and Dwyane Wade(notes) emulate him. To Michael, it was an honor. He embraces it. He always believed that was his responsibility to pass wisdom and encouragement to the next generation's icons. Julius Erving did it for him. And Michael does it for them.

Nevertheless, Shaq has mostly been about, well, Shaq. Now, at 37 years old, Shaq still has a chance to get back to a contender, to get back into the championship chase. He was surprisingly spry for the Phoenix Suns this season, and with his expiring contract of $20 million next season, he will be an intriguing possibility on the summer trade market. Many league executives believe that Cleveland will revisit its trade deadline discussions with Phoenix, and consider making a deal for Shaq this summer. Cavs general manger Danny Ferry knows his team needs a bigger, stronger force to guard Howard, especially in the final season before LeBron James' free agency in 2010.

Where does Shaq want to go? Multiple league sources, including with the Lakers, believe Shaq wants a return engagement with the Lakers. They think that's why he has spent this season trying to repair the damage done to his relationship with Bryant. He tried to buddy up on All-Star weekend when they were co-MVPs, but give Bryant credit: He refused to engage with Shaq on a revisionist make-believe about how it was never so toxic between them.

There's little chance the Lakers would make a move for Shaq, and no chance Bryant would ever accept a return to that hell. Shaq's rap last year about Kobe ended any chance at reconciliation. Bryant is three games away from winning his first title without Shaq, and all he'll want to do next season is win another - without him.

Lost in that the rap, was the line, "That's like Kareem saying to himself that he's better than me." Well, remember this: Abdul-Jabbar averaged 22 points and eight rebounds on a Laker championship team when he was 37 years old. When I asked him how that lyric made him feel, Abdul-Jabbar said, "The gratuitous insult? I considered the source and I slept very well that night."
K
areem Abdul-Jabbar doesn't need Shaq's approval, nor his validation. Yet, all Dwight Howard ever wanted was to be the next Shaquille O'Neal, and when did that become a crime for a young basketball player? Michael Jordan had always been secure enough in his legacy, his greatness, to embrace Kobe and LeBron.
So, yes, you have to wonder: Will Shaq ever be?

Important note: Kobe's reputation as a "killer" at the end of games remains overblown. The site www.82games.com just posted a study of game-winning shots from the last five-plus seasons (regular seasons and playoffs since the 2003-04 season) that revealed Kobe was shooting 14-for-56 (25 percent) with one assist and five turnovers, and made 12 of 15 free throws. So let's say that was 70 possessions total, including Sunday night. ... He only had one assist in nearly six years??? That's why Orlando quadruple-teamed him in that spot. Kobe is a phenomenal streak shooter, and he has a real talent for catching fire with a lead and closing games out ... but you can stop him in one-shot situations simply because he's his own worst enemy. He wants to be a hero, he's shooting it, and that's that.



0:00.6: Funniest moment of the game: Kobe storms back to the bench, whacks the chair in disgust and sits down as Phil Jackson (already sitting) looks at him with a bemused, "Should I point out to him that MJ absolutely would have passed there?" smile on his face. Classic.



My biggest issue with this Lakers team: Normally when teams get over the hump and win the title, everyone pitches in and there's a selflessness that manifests itself as the playoffs go along. For instance, Jordan's Bulls never totally came together until Jackson screamed at MJ to start finding a wide-open John Paxson in Game 5 of the 1991 Finals; from that point on, MJ dropped the Hero Complex and started trusting his teammates. What's weird is that Kobe isn't 100 percent there yet, but the Lakers are going to win the title, anyway. It has never happened in NBA Finals history before. At least as far as I can tell.

11:41: Nelson bricks both freebies, followed by a great "What the eff was that?" face from Hedo Turkoglu. Hedo might have the best "What the eff was that?" face in sports right now. And really, that's the only time you will ever see the words "best" and "face" in the same sentence as "Hedo."