Riley on Shaq: "If he wants to give back $10 million and play half a season..."

[Court_vision]

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/2007/05/06/2007-05-06_bummer_vacation.html

"He knows his influence on his teammates," Riley said. "He's going to have to lead by real example. If he wants to give back $10 million and play half a season, then fine. The dialogue has to stop. You can't sell that to your fans."

[toneloc99]

Re: Riley on Shaq: "If he wants to give back $10 million and play half a season..."

Riley is on the money Shaq needs to get in shape if they are going to pay him $20+ million a year. Shaq can still dominate in streches, but his poor conditioning is what prevents him from doing it the whole game like he used to when he was younger.

[bigeastbumrush]

Re: Riley on Shaq: "If he wants to give back $10 million and play half a season..."

It's gonna get ugly.

Shaq is really sensitive.

Not good.

[Court_vision]

Re: Riley on Shaq: "If he wants to give back $10 million and play half a season..."

The key point here is the season ticket and corporate sponsor type people.
Riley knows the Heat need the $ coming in...but it's hard to get these people to pay out again when their 20 million $ man not only takes half the season off each year, but ALSO comes out in public and says the reg season doesn't matter.

[Jasong7777]

Re: Riley on Shaq: "If he wants to give back $10 million and play half a season..."

Shaq is a fat, lazy, piece of ****. With that being said he does have four rings. But he has to see that he is too old to be sitting on his *** eating tacos all summer.

Get it together SHAQ

[jake44np]

Re: Riley on Shaq: "If he wants to give back $10 million and play half a season..."

Riley only has him self to blame, he knew Shaq would not play every regular season game when he signed him.
Maybe he should coach every game too! That might make some of their fans happier if he coached every game they came to. How many other coaches take part of the season off?

[aa2ba]

Re: Riley on Shaq: "If he wants to give back $10 million and play half a season..."

Riley only has him self to blame, he knew Shaq would not play every regular season game when he signed him.
Maybe he should coach every game too! That might make some of their fans happier if he coached every game they came to. How many other coaches take part of the season off?

Difference here is, what Riley does is not a physical activity. Coaching is mental. No amount of calisthenics is going to prep you for 82 games of coaching.

On the contrary Shaq knows how to get his body in shape for a season. He has done it before and could possibly do it again. But he chose to take that 4th ring and sit around all summer and do nothing.

Sure Riley could forecast that he would not be playing 82 games, but it does not make it right to give Shaq a pass for being lazy.

[Brandon13]

Re: Riley on Shaq: "If he wants to give back $10 million and play half a season..."

I'm glad to see Riley call Shaq out on this. This will either backfire and end badly, or Shaq will come into camp in great shape.

[Streets]

Re: Riley on Shaq: "If he wants to give back $10 million and play half a season..."

Difference here is, what Riley does is not a physical activity. Coaching is mental. No amount of calisthenics is going to prep you for 82 games of coaching.

On the contrary Shaq knows how to get his body in shape for a season. He has done it before and could possibly do it again. But he chose to take that 4th ring and sit around all summer and do nothing.

Sure Riley could forecast that he would not be playing 82 games, but it does not make it right to give Shaq a pass for being lazy.

To play devils advocate, you are correct, coaching is a mental thing, and as such, I really see no reason to not coach games unless you have a legit reason (maybe he did, I don't know his story).

The thing is, you're also right in that Shaq knows how to get his body in shape. His coasting during the regular season is not a new phenomenon. He has been doing it for years, and has 4 rings to show for it. Now, this season should be a learning experience that his age won't allow him that luxury anymore. However, I think that even if Shaq gets that, he is not going to work any harder as he has nothing left to prove to his critics or the Lakers organization, as the post-shaq scoreboard reads Lakers: 0, Shaq: 1 and will for awhile. But all in all, Shaq's age nor his work ethic were question marks when Riley traded for him, and he should be happy that in his one year there, Shaq put the Heat on the map, created revenue, made Wade a profitable mega star, made the heat one of the most popular and most televised franchises, made the team appealing to play for for other vets, and oh yeah, helped win them a championship. Not saying that makes his slacking okay, but I am saying should riley of all people really talk?

I know alot of people hate Shaq for alot of reasons, and I'll never advocate his work ethic. However, if the rockets could net us a guy who could guarentee us one chip, and then six years of a mediocre team in salary cap hell, I think I'd take it. And that is essentially what Shaq did for Miami. I'd rather have one chip and 5 first round exits than being a "contender" who never gets over the hump for six years.

[Jimplication]

Re: Riley on Shaq: "If he wants to give back $10 million and play half a season..."

Shaq took less money when he signed his new deal, ultimately allowing the Heat to address other needs and also keeping the team from being a luxury tax team.

Riley should have stopped the criticism as soon as he finished talking about himself and his defeciencies. Once someone starts blaming others after also blaming themself, they lose credibility at a rapid rate.

[imaged]

Re: Riley on Shaq: "If he wants to give back $10 million and play half a season..."

It's gonna get ugly.

Shaq is really sensitive.

Not good.

You're right, this could turn into LA 2004. Riley shouldn't have said this publicly. Even though his point has a lot of truth in it, it just sounds hypocritical after he also took a nice little break himself.

[Sarah]

Re: Riley on Shaq: "If he wants to give back $10 million and play half a season..."

Riley only has him self to blame, he knew Shaq would not play every regular season game when he signed him.
Maybe he should coach every game too! That might make some of their fans happier if he coached every game they came to. How many other coaches take part of the season off?

Well, he make the right move getting Shaq anyway because MIA was very far away from being a championship caliber until he aquired Shaq. The closest MIA ever was for being a championship team was during the prime of Alonzp Mourning and the NY-MIA rivalry.

[Air23]

Re: Riley on Shaq: "If he wants to give back $10 million and play half a season..."

It's gonna get ugly.

Shaq is really sensitive.

Not good.

Yup. So...who do you think Shaq's gonna be playing for next year?:wink:

[aholbert32]

Re: Riley on Shaq: "If he wants to give back $10 million and play half a season..."

Riley is on the money Shaq needs to get in shape if they are going to pay him $20+ million a year. Shaq can still dominate in streches, but his poor conditioning is what prevents him from doing it the whole game like he used to when he was younger.

The Lakers said that 4 yrs ago and were painted as the bad guys...I guess the Heat are seeing what they saw.

[HMcCoy]

Re: Riley on Shaq: "If he wants to give back $10 million and play half a season..."

I don't think this is about the physical, but the mental, guys.

Shaq lost a ton of weight when he came in, and he's largely kept it off, so I don't think his being in/out of shape is the huge issue. Shaq played excellent ball when wade was out, which shows that he can still be dominant when he wants to. The problem is Shaq's attitude that the regular season doesn't matter, and that the Heat can coast.. Phil let Shaq slack off as long as they made it into the playoffs, and now he's gotten the Heat players to buy into that. Remember, that was also a big problem for Stan Van, and he called Shaq out on it, which was the beginning of his end. Now Riles is sick of it also. There is no "switch". Snaq makes way too much bread to only go hard in half the games.

Kudos to Riles for making this kind of statement. He's got the mentality of a young superstar in Wade to worry about. LeBron has setteled into the same mindset, and the Cavs played pretty uninspired basketball this year.