Miami Heat

MIAMI (AP) ― If he were so inclined, Shaquille O'Neal could quit basketball right now and depart with a legacy unlike almost any other in NBA history.
  
He's one of the 50 greatest players of all-time. He's got four championship rings. He's been selected to 14 consecutive All-Star games; no one has been to 15 straight. And his Hall of Fame spot was secure long ago.

It's more than most players even dare to fantasize about.
 
And somehow, it's not enough to leave O'Neal satisfied.  So that's part of the reason the 7-foot-1 center is here, 30 minutes after the Miami Heat ended practice, working. The arc of sweat on his workout jersey is getting deeper by the minute, now stretching all the way to his waistline. Jump hooks, drop steps, baseline jumpers, over and over, all with one goal in mind.

"My legacy," he said. "Not what people write and create about me. My personal legacy, the one I want to leave for my kids. I'm not done with that yet."

Whoa.

Is he not aware of what he's done in his first 15 NBA seasons?  The 25,454 points?  The 11,379 rebounds? The 25.9 point-per-game scoring average?  The 58 percent career field-goal percentage?
  
Of course he's aware of all that. But for whatever reason, he doesn't yet view himself in the same class as a Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson or Bill Russell -- three of the first names that typically enter the discussion of greatest players ever.  He says another championship -- or two, or even three – will change that.
  
"People talk about who the greatest players are and right now, my name is in a subcategory," O'Neal said. "I'm in the big-man category. See, Mike is the greatest player of all time. I want to be up there in that spoken word of players.  How?  Six championships. I've got four. If we can get five or six, maybe I can get in that conversation -- if only for a couple of sentences."

Prognosticators, frankly, think O'Neal is nuts for thinking that way.
  
The Heat stumbled their way to an injury-marred 44-38 record a year ago, then got swept in the first round of the playoffs by the younger, healthier and, well, better Chicago Bulls -- ending Miami's championship defense with a quick thud.  So now, Miami isn't looked at by many as a contender in the ever-improving Eastern Conference. Some say Cleveland, especially after the way LeBron James took the Cavaliers to the finals last season.  Some say Boston, which acquired Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to play alongside Paul Pierce.  Some say Chicago, which has oodles of talent.  Some say Detroit, for no other reason than the Pistons always seem to find a way.
  
Few, if any, are saying Miami -- which endured a tumultuous title defense a year ago.

"There were a lot of problems last year, but whenever you start talking about your problems, it turns into excuses," said O'Neal, who missed half the season with a knee injury and wound up averaging career-lows in points (17.3), rebounds (7.2) and minutes (28.4). "And I've never made an excuse. So you won't ever hear me mention it again, unless of course you ask me. But there were a lot of problems last year."

This year isn't getting off to a flying start for Miami, either.

O'Neal has been slowed by a bruised thigh; he was kneed in a preseason game last week and the protective pads he wears aren't large enough to protect every portion of his massive legs. Dwyane Wade won't be in games until mid-to-late November at the earliest, as he continues to recover from knee and shoulder surgeries.  At least 10 -- yes, 10 -- other Heat players have had an injury of some sort since camp began Oct. 1.  So when the games begin for real on Nov. 1, Wade will be in a suit, and the Heat will ask O'Neal to carry the load.  O'Neal says he's up for that challenge, but Miami will likely be leery of leaning on him too much early in the 82-game season.
  
"You've got to be realistic about it," Heat coach Pat Riley said. "He's going into his fourth year with us. Eastern Conference finalist, world championship, then last year he missed 44 games.  I think at 36 years old, this summer he did everything he could in just about every aspect of training to make sure he was right.  He's got more flexibility, I think, than he's ever had."

That's a byproduct of O'Neal's long summer away from basketball.

He spent some time traveling, tending to business interests. He waded a mile into the water off the coast of Trinidad and Tobago, mesmerized that it was never deeper than his waist.  But most of the time, he was swimming or boxing or doing something to get his body ready for the challenge of winning another title.

O'Neal knows most people believe it can't happen for him anymore.  He loves the doubters.

"We as men, we have to accept that or change that," O'Neal said. "I'm not real good at accepting anything. I have my own rules. I'm not used to people telling me I'm not going to make the playoffs. I take that personally. Am I angry? No. That's not the right word. But I have something to prove, we have something to prove, and we're going to do it the right way, the way I know best."

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