Kobe Saying If 'Shaq's Lazy Ass Had My Work Ethic He'd Be The GOAT And I'd Have 12 Fucking Rings' Is Vintage Kobe
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First things first. If Shaq wasn’t in peak athletic shape, he really is the greatest of all time because that version of Shaq was fucking dominant. I mean think about it. This dude went out and just killed dudes for years. It’s easy to remember him as the Suns/Cavs/Celtics version, but the Magic, Lakers and even the Heat version of him was downright terrifying.
Now I do find it hilarious that Kobe is still calling out Shaq. That’s just peak Kobe. Let’s not forget that Shaq is a major, MAJOR reason as to why Kobe was so damn successful and winning championships. Once Shaq left it took Kobe seven years and Pau Gasol to win another one. It’s not the first time he said something like this. Back in 2014 he said that it killed him how lazy Shaq was
This feud is something that I’m always fascinated by, because of how damn good these two guys were. You’re talking about, in my opinion, a top-10 all time guy in Shaq and a top-15 all time guy in Kobe. They won 3 in a row. Kobe also called Shaq fat and apparently Shaq threatened to murder Kobe, so you have that dynamic.
As for the 12 fucking rings? Yeah, I doubt that. That’s such an outrageous comment but the part of it is you know Kobe believes it. That’s just who he is. That’s that Michael Jordan in him where he thinks he’s going to win everything, every damn time. Something tells me this guy may have a had a word or two about rings
Now I do think Shaq probably could have busted his ass a little bit more. No doubt he let himself get ‘lazy’ and I use that term loosely. He knew he was so damn good he didn’t have to worry about hitting the gym every single day. He was still going to do things like this:
The NBA has plenty of ‘what-ifs’ across league history, I do think the what if Kobe and Shaq didn’t fucking hate each other is one worth talking about. You still had a few years left of Shaq in his prime. You had Kobe in his prime. The ripple effect in terms of the trade to Miami is another one.
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Just still, such a perfect Kobe quote.