Shaquille O'Neal believes he could have dominated on the Golden State Warriors
That's why, during a recent episode of the "Off The Record Podcast," O'Neal made the bold declaration that he would have won six championships if he were partnered with Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors. His comments came as he was discussing his time with Kobe Bryant on the Los Angeles Lakers, and how he would have enjoyed playing next to Tracey McGrady.
"Our guy (Kobe) had room to operate cuz I got 3 people on me…I agree with what T-Mac said. Probably get a lot of flak, but I always said myself, I think I could've got 3 in a row with T-Mac, I think I could've got 2 with Vince, Oh I know I get 6 with Steph"
Curry has rarely had a reliable big man next to him. Part of the Warriors' success was their ability to play small, and how that provided them with the ability to play up-tempo, highly-skilled basketball. However, it's hard to dispute that an inside-out pairing of Curry and O'Neal would have been historically dominant.
Still, there's no guarantee that the partnership would have ended in six championships, even if Klay Thompson and Draymond Green were also on the roster. Nevertheless, it's a fun alternative universe to consider, as O'Neal was doing in that podcast episode.
This post originally appeared on Warriors Wire! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
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Yahoo
25 minutes ago
- Yahoo
I started asking NBA WAGs questions. Now, millions are watching.
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27 minutes ago
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Tyran Stokes or Jordan Smith Jr.? College hoops coaches on their favorite players in 2026
NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. — When it comes to the 2026 recruiting class, two players have separated from the pack: Tyran Stokes and Jordan Smith Jr. Stokes, a 6-foot-7, 245-pound forward, has been the consensus No. 1 player in the 2026 class according to talent evaluators for years now, but he might not be the overwhelming top player any longer. Based on conversations with college coaches last weekend at Peach Jam, Nike's annual championship tournament for its circuit, Stokes is the most polarizing player in this class, and Smith, a 6-2 guard with a 6-9 wingspan, is a player coaches believe can immediately impact winning. The duo dominated our poll when we asked 35 coaches which player they would most like to have from the 2026 class. Advertisement And in somewhat of a surprise, Smith barely outpaced Stokes. This is the conclusion of our Peach Jam coaches' poll, which also included what coaches think about NCAA Tournament expansion and the future of revenue sharing/budgets. Coaches were granted anonymity in exchange for their candor. Below, we also asked coaches whether they believe eligibility rules should be changed to allow for a fifth year of eligibility. Here are the results. (Note: Two coaches picked two players.) Big Ten assistant: 'Motor, impacts winning at the highest level of anyone. College body. Can come in and help a team right away.' ACC assistant: 'Toughest player I've ever seen play the game. Winner, best defensive player, every 50-50 is his. And if you want to have a chance to win a national championship, you get those players.' SEC head coach: 'NBA body ready. He just guards the ball. He just dominates the ball, and he's just fierce.' Big Ten assistant: 'He will change your program.' Mountain West assistant: 'I'm watching Tyran Stokes — I think the kid's an absolute stud, he's awesome — but I'm not saying you're going to take him No. 1 in the draft. (If) that's the No. 1 player in the country? There's nobody. 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So many of these kids, their first year is their most frustrating year, and a fifth year just needs to be normalized in college to where these kids and their people and their circles don't hold programs hostage for first-year success. We've got to get back to where, your first year, it's okay to develop. And if fifth-year eligibility helps the groupthink with that, then I'm all about it.' Advertisement ACC head coach: 'With all the transferring now, most kids need five years now to graduate — if we're still going to even pretend like we're trying to graduate kids academically. I think five years makes a lot of sense. Most college kids — normal college students — take five years now to graduate. So it would make sense, stand to reason, that a student-athlete get five years, too.' Big East assistant: 'In football, 30 percent of a football season, a guy gets to start four games at quarterback and transfer and get the year back. For us, we've had young players that we knew weren't going to play that much, and if we put them in the game for a minute in the opener, they're done for the season. So it's hard to get these guys a true understanding of where they are in the rotation after an exhibition game and a scrimmage. So if you have five years, you have a little bit more leeway there.' SEC assistant: 'You got five years to play five. Don't care how you do it, no more redshirt, no more blueshirt, no more all the shirts.' Atlantic 10 head coach: 'It gets rid of any waiver, any BS. Everybody knows you got five years. It takes out an injury unless you have two injuries. You get five years to play however many years you can. NCAA needs as few things that they can get sued on as possible.' Conference USA assistant: 'I'm OK with it, because it's a money-maker for those (fifth-year) players. It keeps NBA-fringe guys here, in the states, longer, instead of going overseas.' ACC head coach: 'I don't like it. I'd rather still have the option to redshirt, but the fact that we're giving kids five seasons now, I think, is ridiculous.' ACC assistant: 'Everything kind of got screwed up with the COVID year; obviously, a lot of guys got fifth years — and sometimes sixth years — so it appeared we were going away from the traditional way. I think now is the time for us to get back to that, and I like that. Obviously, if it weren't for NIL, from the player standpoint, there wouldn't be this push to stay in college for as long. So we're seeing one affect the other.' Advertisement Big 12 head coach: 'Where does it stop? I mean, if you get a fifth, then what's a sixth? I don't even know where the end comes. It makes sense if we could figure out how to not be more than five, but to me, if it's five, then it keeps going.' Big 12 assistant: 'I just hate seeing 26- and 27-year-olds playing college basketball. I wish they would change it that if your coach left, then sure, you got 45 days or whatever to transfer, but a one-time transfer rule where you play right away or else you got to sit out a year so that it's not just free agency every year like it is now.' SEC head coach: 'They talk about coaches having workarounds and finding workarounds; I think players, families, agents are gonna find workarounds to try to extend their length of college because the majority of them are gonna make way more money in college than they are after college.' West Coast Conference head coach: 'I think the old model of five years to play four worked so well, and you had that extra year in case they got hurt. The academic piece has been totally lost in this. There are guys who have gotten a sixth or seven year with so many waivers. It's crazy. Also, if we gave everyone five years, what's going to happen to all the records we value so much? 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