Shaq Admits What We All Knew About His Early Career Habits

SHAQ COMES OUT AND TELLS US WHAT WE ALREADY KNEW ABOUT HIS HORRIBLE CAREER HABITS

I was never a fan of Shaq, and don’t have any misgivings about that today. Though to be fair he is now a decent personality on TNT’s Halftime Show, and does do a lot of good philanthropy, not all of it marketed to make us like him and his brand. But he’s a big kid, and was an even bigger kid when he was a dominant monster as a player in the NBA. Yet there’s the rub, and why I’m not a fan. Shaq should have retired as the most dominant center of all time, hands down, no questions or arguments from anyone. And his recent admission of his appallingly bad pregame career habits helps explain why he wasn’t, and isn’t.

STAYING OUT ALL NIGHT, EATING A TON AND DRINKING SODA WAS ROUTINE FOR SHAQ

We already knew this, but it’s worth mentioning as he’s giving up the details himself, now. Shaq is admitting that he had horrible pre-game habits, which were bad enough in his early career and didn’t age well. These are the kind of things that drove Kobe literally nuts, and ended up with Shaq leaving the Lakers and that particular, unbelievable dynamic duo power. So what did Shaq do? He’d go to bed late, as late as 4 am the nights before. Sure, MJ did stuff like that. But he was a freak among freaks. For Shaq, it was childish defiance dong what he shouldn’t, simply because he could.

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SHAQ SHOULD HAVE HAD AT LEAST 7 MORE RINGS, BEEN THE ALL-TIME PENULTIMATE CENTER

And then there’s the soda, as in a LOT of soda. That’s bad for everyone, but for a massive 7-footer who didn’t have a high metabolism? Disastrous, in terms of conditioning, energy and an even worse metabolism. But Shaq liked to stay out all night till 4 am, sleep 6 hours, go to shootaround, then come home and have 2 turkey clubs sandwiches, fries, more soda, and then a 4-hour nap before game time. Kobe knew, and said Shaq would have had “12 effing rings” if he’d worked harder. Shake my damn head.

Shaq would have had a few thousand more career points if he’d only kept his free throw percentage where it was when he was a rookie. Worked harder? How about at all?