Shaquille O'Neal calls out Bill Simmons in Esquire interview

As long as he is in the spotlight, Shaquille O’Neal will always give us things to talk about, and he has set his sights on Bill Simmons.

ESPN Films recently made a documentary on Shaquille O’Neal’s early years called Shaq and Dale, and Esquire was able to catch up with the big fella to talk about some things from the documentary and more.

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O’Neal opened up and shared a lot of great information, and here are some highlights from the best stuff of the interview.

The former NBA center was asked about his first experience meeting Dale Brown (his college coach) and said, “So one day I go and he asks me, ‘How long have you been in the army?’ And I told him I’m not in the army, I’m only 13.” Holy crap, that’s amazing. O’Neal is known for being one of the largest NBA players ever, and that didn’t just happen overnight. O’Neal said that at 13 he was already 6-foot-9. Yes, nearly 7-feet as a young teenager. It’s almost hard to believe, and Brown definitely gets a pass for thinking he was a grown man. Brown probably turned away from their conversation and was overjoyed from the thought of O’Neal’s future.

O’Neal has never really shown to care for Dwight Howard, and he was able to throw another jab his way when he was asked about which big men he likes in today’s game. “I like DeMarcus Cousins. I like watching Anthony Davis and how he plays and Brook Lopez. Those guys play at a different level.” Lopez has been playing pretty well as of late, but come on, it’s just disrespectful to put his name ahead of Howard’s – even if the latter has been hurt a lot this year.

Karl-Anthony Towns and Jahlil Okafor will probably go first and second in the upcoming NBA draft, and O’Neal’s take on them was a bit surprising. “I probably go with Okafor first, but Karl-Anthony Towns is pretty good too. This draft is similar to the ’92 draft, Okafor is me, Towns is Alonzo [Mourning] and [Frank] Kaminsky is Christian Laettner.” This is surprising because you would think if O’Neal saw his game in anyone, it would be Towns. Okafor is currently known for being a big man who can really only score, but Towns can do it all (at a very high level): score, defend and rebound. It was fun to see his comparison of draft classes, though.

O’Neal had some really strong words when asked about his analyst career. “I think people really like our show because of the resume of the guys. Like, when I see certain people talk, I’m like, How do you know? Like, the guy from Grantland, Bill Simmons—how do you know? And you can quote me on that.”

This seems to be a popular opinion from a lot of former players, and while I get where they are coming from, I still don’t get it at all. Why the heck would a person have some unbelievable insight to a sport just because they played it professionally? Wouldn’t a person who has dedicated their life to always being around it, talking about it and studying it know as much as you, possibly more? Certainly a player brings a unique perspective.

If anything, it would be logical to assume athletes know a little bit less because they were so focused on their job and not what every single person was doing. A lot of people have a problem with Simmons for who knows what lame reason, but you can hear him talk about basketball and know he is extremely knowledgeable. It doesn’t matter that he is a little average white guy that never played in the NBA. He knows what he is talking about. It sure would be nice if athletes like O’Neal could open their minds for just a moment and come to the realization that anyone can be knowledgeable of the sport they played, but I doubt that will ever truly happen.

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Shaquille O’Neal calls out Bill Simmons and more in a recent Esquire interview

By Andrew Ross | Apr 15, 2015

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