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Barkley's Mouth is all about the NBA as we speak on what's going down in the Association today and what should be happening down the line.  It's all about the glory (and disgrace) of the NBA. Our style is down, dirty, honest, and entertaining, just like Charles Barkley himself. Thanks for peeping what we throw down!

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QTBM Part II: Can LeBron James And Shaquille O'Neal Co-Exist?
Written by Dennis Velasco   
Tuesday, 29 September 2009 00:00

lebron-shaq

Every weekday until the NBA season starts on October 27th, I will be asking a question that's bugging me (QTBM) about the upcoming campaign and attempt to answer my own query.  Comments are welcome.

One has a reputation of being about team-first, but also having zero rings.  The other has proven to be about him, but is the proud winner of four championships.  One draws attention due to his natural charisma and ability to awe on the court. The other now gets attention through dissing old teammates and trying to keep down the next big thing in the post.  One has only played for his hometown team. The other will be playing for his fifth team with relatively short stays in his previous two stops.

These are the main differences between LeBron James and Shaquille O'Neal.  The question now is, will these differences get in the way of the Cleveland Cavaliers winning that elusive championship title that the city, and mostly LeBron craves?  If yesterday's media day is any indication, it's looking like a disappointing no.


During the Cavaliers' media day, the weather ruined the occassion by shutting down the lights due to strong winds downing nearby power lines. For some time, all was left in the dark, which is appropriate considering not many people know what will happen this season, as well as the offseason when LBJ could leave town.  And Shaq will have a good degree of influence on how both will go down.

So can the Chosen One and the Diesel mesh together for one season and win the ultimate NBA prize?  The answer is that they can because both are at the essence, winners, and with different motivations to do so.  James wants that first title as he knows, in the end, his legacy would never be truly complete without one.  O'Neal simply wants to make his legacy stronger. It helps that he would also have more titles than former teammate and feud partner, Kobe Bryant, and Tim Duncan, his big man rival for most of their careers.

The key will be Shaq not just deferring to LeBron, but to the system in place that proved to work so well last season until the taller wings for the Orlando Magic exposed the smaller defenders of the Cavs.  The additions of Anthony Parker, Jamario Moon, and Leon Powe should solve that problem, however.

In any case, as we've seen many times in sports, winning solves a lot of problems.  So, if for some reason, Shaq and LeBron never get close off-the-court as the team genuinely did last season, as long as the W's are being racked up, that's all that's going to matter in this relationship of two huge NBA personalities.  Being friends is easy when you're winning.

My prediction is that O'Neal can't stop his attention-wanting ways, but despite that the Cavaliers keep it together and remain as strong a championship contender as they were last season.  How it ultimately ends up I can't tell you, but hopefully the wind doesn't knock out the power of this duo.

Previous QTBM:

Part I: Can The Lost Angeles Clippers Make A Big Jump This Season?



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Comments (1)Add Comment
The Big Z Factor
written by SoCal Rick, October 01, 2009
I think that a bigger issue than Lebron and Shaq sharing the spotlight will be Shaq and Ilgauskas sharing the floor.

Shaq's never had to share time with another center (I'm not counting Zo at the end of his career in Miami), especially one with a skills that in certain areas are clearly superior to Shaq's.

Big Z will be in at the end of games because of his superior free throw shooting.

If Ilgauskas has a really great year and Shaq has a disappointing one it'll be interesting to see how the Diesel actually deals with coming off the bench. Hopefully if that happens he handles it better than Iverson.

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