The older you get the more you realize how stupid you were in your youth. Kobe and Shaq were both young and headstrong, so of course that led to some major conflicts.
It is very difficult to have two alpha males on the same basketball team. I think in retrospect, if they could do it all over again they would have figured out a way to make it work.
Because, if they did, they both might have more jewelry on their fingers. What’s done is done and Kobe for his part is glad he and Shaq are back being buddies.
“It was good to see him,” Bryant said after O’Neal sat in courtside seats for the Lakers’ 91-85 win over the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday. “I had a chance to kind of catch up with him a little bit after the [Miami] Heat game here at Staples [on Jan. 17], and tonight we got a couple good laughs, a couple good inside jokes.”
“Shaq and I have a really, really good relationship now,” Bryant said of the 15-time All-Star with whom he teamed to capture three straight NBA championships from 2000 to ’02.
“It’s good. I think it’s a good lesson for all of us.”
Dwight Howard is who is now starring in the role of disgruntled big man, had this to say about the Diesel’s presence at Staples Center.
“I didn’t really pay attention to him,” Howard said of O’Neal.
What that means is he was paying a lot of attention. The best way to decipher Dwight Howard quotes, is to take what he says and believe the opposite.