That’s right folks; it was a moment so incredible that it gets its’ own headline: A good idea from Shaq. Last night, after becoming the fifth player in NBA history to score 28,000 career points, Shaquille O’Neal came up with an idea that would generate a lot of fan interest, global interest and even raise some money for a worthy cause. It could be called:
The Big Diesel proposed that teammate LeBron James throw down on all-star weekend – you know, like he said he would last season – along with former champ Vince Carter and Kobe Bryant plus another all-star high-flyer. The winner of the event would take half of the prize, the other portion going to a charity to help those affected by the disastrous earthquake in Haiti.
There is no way possible that this idea could fail and it would be an amazing opportunity for the NBA to gather even more eyes to their showcase event. And when you consider how poor the Slam Dunk Competition’s lineup is this year (see yesterday’s post), this could be a real (pardon the pun) slam dunk – something the NBA might need this year when you consider the even from Dallas is going up against the Winter Olympics.
Another note from last night’s Cavs’ win over the surprisingly hot Raptors, it is truly astounding at where Shaq could be in the record books had he not been an absolutely atrocious free throw shooter.
“I’ve missed like 5,000 free throws,” O’Neal said. “If I had at least hit half of those, then I would be at 30,000 right now.”
Well, he has missed 5,189 in his career so far, to be exact. Had he made half of those, as he suggested, he would already be past 30,000 and very close to passing Wilt Chamberlain for fourth in all-time scoring. Playing one more season would even put him past Michael Jordan for third. Oh, to think, just what if the Big Aristotle was a 75% free throw shooter instead of a 52% shooter.