It has been proven - Shaq minus Kobe

[KitchenWitch]

is better than Kobe minus Shaq.

:woohoo:

I was hoping the Mavericks would pull it off, but I am not heartbroken that the Heat won.

[aaronbees]

1. Yep, it's a beautiful thing....

and I'll admit, the thought of that was one big reason I was rooting for the Heat. Sweet, sweet justice.

;)

[KitchenWitch]

2. Methinks Jerry Buss kept the wrong superstar!

[Awsi Dooger]

3. As a Heat fan

I still can't believe we turned it around so quickly. People tend to forget in mid '02-'03 season this franchise was one of the jokes of the league. The Zo and Hardaway era was long gone and we had little scoring and even less talent. Riley's offense was said to be passe, and Riley himself over the hill.

We fluked into Wade with the 5th pick, then a year later the Lakers somehow give us Shaq for a marginal package of players including Brian Grant and Lamar Odom.

Kudos to Riley for those offseason acquisitions which I admittedly questioned, especially Jason Williams.

Now we can go 0-82 for a decade straight and all is well.

[erpowers]

4. Not True

First Kobe did not get Shaq kicked off the Lakers. Shaq chose to leave. Whether people want to claim Kobe made things hard for Shaq or not you have to finally admitt that Shaq made a choice and then when he got what he wanted he decided to cry about it. If Shaq had wanted to stay with the Lakers he could have because according to a sports writer the Lakers did offer Shaq a contract that kept him the highest player in the game, but he (Shaq) turned down the contract. Whether you hate Kobe or not you have to make Shaq stand up an be a man and take responsibility for what he did. He chose to leave the team; Jerry Buss nor Kobe kicked him off the team. Also I have pointed this out again, but it warrants repeating since people still would like to claim that Kobe got Shaq kicked off the Lakers. A few days after the end of the 2004 season Shaq was asked if he would return to the Lakers with Phil Jackson now gone. Shaq responded, "Me returning to the Lakers without Phil Jackson would be like me leaving my wife to marry a women who looks like me". My take on that comment was okay so overnight Shaq has to realize he is gay to come back to the Lakers. I do not think you keep a guy when he says he is that eager to leave your team. Once again you can try to blame Kobe for Phil Jackson leaving, but once again Phil Jackson and Shaq have to both stand up and be men and admit they both chose to leave the team. They made choices and that is it.

People should look at the two teams. If Kobe had a supporting cast like Shaq he could have gone much further in the playoffs and maybe won a championship. Kobe supporting cast is nothing like kobe's supporting cast. Kobe has very few people around that are really good players. On the other hand Shaq has D Wade, Jason Williams, Gary Payton, A Walker, and others. So essentially Shaq was on an Eastern Conference All-Star team. Also, if it was not for D Wade Shaq would not have won another championship. Finally, I think within the next few years Kobe and the Lakers can win some more championships.

[Renew Deal]

5. The difference between Shaq and Kobe is that Shaq is a true champion

Kobe is a chump.