BasketballShaq was most unstoppable player ever

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Shaquille O'Neal's blend of size and athleticism was unprecedented in the NBA. (Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)

As an idiotic, awkward-looking teen in March of 1993, I walked into a sporting goods store at Millcreek Mall in Erie, Penn., and saw a display model of Shaquille O'Neal's size-22 Reebok. It was at that moment that I actually appreciated just how unstoppable he was.

It's silly in retrospect -- I'd already had The Real Deal Sports Illustrated cover with him at LSU in my locker in grade school, and by March of '93, as a rookie with the Orlando Magic, he'd already brought down -- with a dunk -- the entire hydraulic system of a net in Phoenix and would do the same a month later at the Meadowlands, the shot clock bouncing off his head. But the thought of his athletic ability alongside the visual majesty of this giant shoe made me think, "Damn, this guy is going to be the greatest player ever. How will anyone stop him?"

Of course, youthful naivete and its susceptibility to hyperbole are worth noting here. This was a time and place where I foresaw Shaq and Eric Lindros becoming the greatest players ever in their respective sports. And, fortunately for Shaq, his case could one day at the very least be argued, unlike the injury-ravaged Big E.

But with his retirement announcement Wednesday, it's not about thinking of Shaq as being the best player, or even the best centre, ever. It's about him being the most unstoppable player ever. Bill Russell was a defensive machine, the greatest rebounder in basketball history. Wilt Chamberlain was probably the best all-around centre ever, even if he couldn't beat Russell. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar a dominant force offensively.

O'Neal was different from all three of them. There had never been a seven-foot-one, 320-pound (at his prime) player with his sort of speed or ability. It didn't take long for Don Nelson and other coaches to realize the only way to slow him down was to essentially kick the crap out him down low and force him to take his shots at the line, where he was terrible (career .527 FT%), like most big men.

And. star calls or not, the league and the refs never thought enough about just how many hits he was taking, or how hard they were. There was talk of rule changes, but nothing ever came of it. The abuse from Hack-a-Shaq wore on him mentally over time, like it would anyone. In a 2002 game against the Chicago Bulls, he went postal on Brad Miller after another hack in the paint.

But free-throw shooting was his only weakness, and it actually improved when it mattered. In 2001, the Lakers hired shooting coach Ed Palubinskas, and O'Neal's percentage went up down the stretch. Away from the line, he was at his career apex when this was going on. The ESPN cliché of "you can't stop him, you can only hope to contain him" was an on-point description of Shaq's career between 1997 and 2005. Perhaps the reason an NBA rule change never came about was because he was winning games and titles between 2000 and 2002, and again in 2006.

Which brings me to another point -- it's disgusting that he retires with only one NBA MVP award. Perhaps Allen Iverson deserved it in '01, but you can make the case that any other year of 1999, 2002, 2003 and 2005, Shaq got the raw end. It's one of a few reasons why I view the Maurice Podoloff Trophy in the same vein I view the Oscar for Best Picture: It's a crock, and it's often wrong. We live in a world where Forrest Gump got the nod over Pulp Fiction in 1995, so why expect Shaquille O'Neal over Karl Malone or Steve Nash in 1999 or 2005?

O'Neal's two scoring titles even seem low (it would have been three if David Robinson didn't score a ridiculous 71 points against the Clippers in the regular-season finale in 1994), but in addition to Michael Jordan, Shaq was at his peak in a time of one-man shows like Iverson and Tracy McGrady.

As for the feuds, remember it was Kobe Bryant who basically ratted Shaq out regarding extra-curriculars. You can take him to task for making life difficult for Dwyane Wade and Steve Nash, but in his defence he was on a terrible Miami team in 2008 and was basically a rent-a-player for the last four years of his career. They weren't roles he was used to. Was his ego as big as his body? Yes, he was a professional athlete.

It was difficult at times to watch his game the last couple of seasons, remembering how unstoppable he used to be. If anything, he was smart to retire now with the Achilles issue at hand. I had a bad feeling another season would see the bottom fall out and him play out minutes with a fork in his back.

And the off-court celebrity? Thankfully, that aspect of his career likely isn't going away. You can YouTube two decades worth of antics. Personally, I liked the muffin and the Kobe rap.

There aren't too many transcendent sports stars these days -- as an example, a 75-year-old woman today who never watched a minute of basketball could likely tell you who Shaquille O'Neal is. LeBron James may be getting to that "global icon" level he desires, but I'm not sure he's there yet. And if Kobe's there, he can thank Shaq for at least part of it.

Who replaces Triano?

Jay Triano's removal as Raptors coach Wednesday wasn't that much of a shock, all things considered. It may have been done sooner if Bryan Colangelo's contract had been resolved earlier. I feel for Triano because he's a good coach and a good guy. He just never had the horses.

As for his replacement, Colangelo tried to make it clear Wednesday that he was looking for an established name, or "somewhat of a pedigree," and "somewhat of a defensive-minded presence." This should immediately remove the name of Knicks coach and former Colangelo employee Mike D'Antoni.

But former New York metropolitan area coaches may be in play. I really can't see him taking on a rebuilding project, but Jeff Van Gundy's name has been bandied about (as it has, wishfully, for nine years now), and perhaps more realistically, former Nets bench boss Lawrence Frank. Colangelo did rule out Wednesday night the idea of Raps assistant P.J. Carlesimo taking over.

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