In what must be labelled Retirement 2.0, Shaquille O’Neal announced his retirement using social media services Tout and Twitter. It was a very cool and very modern way to make such a big announcement. It used to be that athletes would contact an important journalist or an established news outlet to leak this kind of information. These days a lot of athletes — and their marketing teams — are taking advantage of social media services for a new kind of buzz that connects them with their fans more directly.
As for the player himself, Shaq was the most dominant center I’ve seen live. At his prime, his combination of speed and power were ridiculous. I’d rank him as the fourth-best center of all time behind Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
What do you boys and girls think of Shaq’s use of social media to announce his retirement? How will you remember him as a player? Where do you think he ranks among the all-time greats?
As a player, he makes the all time starting line up if I had to put together my "dream team". I can live with the low FT shooting since he was such a hassle for the other guy to defend. Most centers didn't have his build, none really, and that will wear on someone for 35 minutes per game. I rank him above the 3 you mentioned in the article.
I could see that argument for a single game, but Shaq's career is a notch below the three centers I mentioned — less scoring, less championship rings, less MVP trophies, etc. Shaq had a pretty significant drop-off starting with his last season with the Lakers.
Bill Russell was amazing but I also think he was ahead of his time. Shaq played against pretty tough big men in his prime.
Though this is a debate best had over beers.
After thinking about this…this makes me feel old. I remember watching him play at LSU. My grandfather actually brought me to one of the games.
Damn…20 years give or take. Getting old.
Dude, I watched Jeter play in the minors. I hate that he's now awesome at ground outs and showing off his receding hairline.