Shaquille O'Neal won't mention Kobe Bryant by name. But in a recent telephone interview, it wasn't too difficult to figure out to whom the big man was referring.
O'Neal said that he didn't think Bryant ever asked management to keep the team together. And O'Neal told the media that he thinks Bryant wanted him out of LA.
"Be careful what you wish for, buddy," O'Neal said several times during the 15-minute interview.
The 32-year-old O'Neal said he may have "six dominant years" left in him, especially in the relatively weak Eastern Conference.
"The West is loaded," he said. "Denver's got Kenyon Martin and 'Melo (Carmelo Anthony). San Antonio's got "(Tim) Duncan and (Tony) Parker. Minnesota's got KG (Kevin Garnett). Sac's got (Chris) Webber and (Mike) Bibby. In the East, all they've got is the two O'Neal boys (himself and Indiana's Jermaine O'Neal)."
"We're gonna be straight," O'Neal said. "I was down here the other day working out with the kid from Vanderbilt we got (second-round pick Matt Freije), and I told him, 'I'm gonna come across the block, and if I get doubled, I'm gonna pass the ball to you and you're gonna have a wide-open jumper, or (forward) Udonis Haslem is gonna come down the lane and he's gonna get a dunk, and you're all gonna get big contracts.' He said, 'What do you mean?' I said, 'Just look at the history. Travis Knight. Horace Grant. A.C. Green.' He said, 'Shaq, you're one of the coolest guys I've met.'"