NBA Update: Shaquille O’Neal expects Dwight Howard to win multiple championships
Recently retired NBA superstar centre, Shaquille O’Neal has given his blessings to Dwight Howard to be successful in the pursuit of NBA World Championship rings. Shaq, of course, knows all about winning NBA Championships, he had
four rings.
Shaquille O’Neal was arguably the most dominating centre in the history of the NBA during his heyday, when he used his strength and size to tear apart team after team. His career saw teams constantly resorting to “Hack-a-Shaq”
tactics, just to slow him down. In a league bereft of real dominating big men these days, Dwight Howard one man, whose game most resembles that of “The Diesel”.
Howard started his career at the Orlando Magic, just like Shaquille O’Neal did. He has also so far failed to win the NBA World Championship and seems short on quality help at the Orlando franchise, again like Shaq. Now Shaquille
has given his views on the young Howard’s future career path, and he believes that the new “Superman” is destined for a lot of success in the coming years,
“I expect him to win three or four championships,” O’Neal said. “If he doesn’t win three or four championships, I’ll be disappointed.”
Where Howard wins those championships is anyone’s guess at the moment. After Orlando’s first round exit in the playoffs at the hands of the Atlanta Hawks, where it often seemed that Dwight was up against the entire Hawks roster,
there is a lot of speculation regarding his future. Various sources have commented that Howard would be looking to leave the Magic as a free agent in the summer for greener pastures.
Los Angeles Lakers have been touted as the most likely destination, with Shaq having gone the same route in his career to achieve great success. However, the player himself has so far refuted any suggestions of leaving Orlando
and said he wants do things his own way,
“I’m not trying to run behind nobody like Shaq or be behind somebody else … I want to start my own path and I want people to follow my path and not just follow somebody else’s path. I want to have my own path, and I want to start
that here in Orlando.”
Shaquille O’Neal also settled a long standing dispute between the two big guys at his official retirement party, that of the nickname “Superman”. Shaq announced that with his departure from professional basketball, he was also
retiring all his nicknames,
“In light of today I am retiring all of my nicknames,” O’Neal said. “The Big Aristotle, Shaq Fu, the Big Shamrock, the Big Cactus, the Diesel and finally, the one and only, original, never to be duplicated or replicated, Superman.”
Now there is only one “Superman” in the league.
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