Natebishop3
Don't tread on me!
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I remember it well. They literally chased him out of town. They vilified him in the press before, during and after he left. First, he was the reason they got swept by HOU in the finals. Sure Hakeem had a great series, but he was one of the greatest centers of all time in the prime of his career (won the MVP the year before). Shaq was only 22, but still held his own against Hakeem (28.0 ppg, 12.5 rpg, 6.3 apg, 2.5 bpg). Yet the ORL management and press made him a scapegoat.
Then he was the greedy young player who was only concerned about money and not winning. Then when he was signed by the Lakers, he cared more about the shallow glamour of the Hollywood lifestyle than the good people or Orlando.
I have never been a huge Shaq fan, because I thought he could have been even better if he would have worked on his game in the off season (or at least stayed in shape), but I couldn't believe how stupid ORL was to run him out of town. They were dumb enough that they actually WANTED him to leave so they wouldn't have to pay him.
BNM
Well, and they pretty much ruined Penny's career because of how they handled this injuries.
