Conventional wisdom so far this season is that Shaquille O'Neal has been more of a hindrance than a help in LeBron James' quest for not only his second consecutive MVP award, but also the elusive title that will one day be required to cement his status as one of the best players ever.
The observations are varied and multiple. LeBron looks uncomfortable with Shaq on the floor, it's been said. Shaq clogs up the middle because he can't drift to the perimeter and shoot jumpers like Zydrunas Ilgauskus. Shaq refuses to defend the pick-and-roll and only occasionally runs the floor.
Was this a massive mistake by Cavaliers general manager Danny Ferry, who should have studied the effect of the move previously made by good friend Steve Kerr?
Or will it eventually work out?
To get the answer, The Race decided to go straight to a few sources who have had more than their fair share of experience with The Big Conundrum: Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson.
If anybody knows how to play with and through Shaq in a successful fashion, it's Bryant, whose contentious relationship with O'Neal was (and continues to be) well-chronicled and dissected.
They did, however, win three titles together, now almost an afterthought in light of the messy divorce.
How, Kobe, can LeBron adjust his game to play with Shaq?
"I clearly know," Bryant said, a wisp of a smile crossing his lips. "But I'm not saying nothing, man."
C'mon, Kob, if anybody can understand what The King is going through, it's you, right?
"That's something that I had to figure out," Bryant said. "I figured it out. That's something that (LeBron) needs to do. I won't give him no (advice). I've given him enough already. That's enough."
The Race suspects Kobe was being more protective of his own sanity than overly competitive with LeBron i.e. he didn't want to get into another war of words with Shaq -- though Kobe was very good-natured about the whole thing, even asking if The Race represented a Cleveland newspaper during the Klieg light questioning
It was interesting, however, that Kobe did not deflect the blame away from Shaq, as his former coach did.
"I think they'll find combinations as they go along," Jackson said of the Cavaliers. "I think it's easy to point to their struggles as evidence of Shaq's presence, but I think it's more than that. There is more than just you can blame it on Shaq."
Such as?
"It's easy to say the middle is clogged up when he is in there. But when he comes out to set a pick, it is almost a double pick. There are a lot of advantages to having Shaq. Plus everybody's defense has to adjust to that. So there are some things there that the team will figure out with time. It is way to early to say anything definitively."
What are you seeing, Phil, that the average laymen doesn't see?
"The things I am privy too I probably want to keep to myself," he says. "But every player presents a lot of positives. Every player has their drawbacks. That is the nature of the game. You have to adjust to those things as a team.
"When I too over as the Lakers coach in 99, I saw Shaq turning to the baseline and shooting jump shots in the playoffs against San Antonio the year before, which was a direct line for Tim Duncan to get a layup at the other end. And so I had to get Shaq back to the middle and taking shots in the middle of the floor so that he can back on defense. It's just those kinds of things. Shaq is a coachable player; he'll be fine."
| G | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% |
| 17 | 36.6 | 28.8 | 5.3 | 4.0 | 2.3 | 0.2 | .489 | .292 | .857 |
There is a very good chance that the remainder of the season settles in this way, Kobe and LeBron flip-flopping between the top spot and No. 2 based on how their teams do collectively or how they do individually. In this case, Bryant earns his first seat in the throne for two reasons: His teams finds itself on a seven-game win streak and, well, he's really good. The win streak has as much to do with the return of Pau Gasol because Kobe continues to play at a high level. But Bryant is incorporating both Gasol and Andrew Bynum into the Lakers' offense, taking fewer shots but elevating his assist total in the last week.
| G | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% |
| 18 | 37.7 | 28.2 | 6.8 | 8.1 | 1.3 | 0.7 | .518 | .333 | .783 |
The Race found it convenient that less than 12 hours after predicting that Shaquille O'Neal could be the one factor that stands in the way of James accumulating every honor out there for the foreseeable future, the Cavs dropped the first game in O'Neal's return from injury. However, they more than redeemed themselves when they forged victories over Dallas and then Phoenix, O'Neal's former team against which you knew he wanted revenge for sullying his reputation. James had 25 and 12 in the Dallas victory, then nearly had a triple-double of 12 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds vs. the Suns.
| G | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% |
| 19 | 38.1 | 27.0 | 8.4 | 3.1 | 1.1 | 1.5 | .473 | .350 | .888 |
If anybody can understand a bit of what Tiger Woods is going through, it's Nowitzki, who had an entire raft of domestic turmoil become public last year. The German seems to have put those issues behind him -- which were easier to do since he never married the girl -- and a weight seems to have been lifted from Nowitzki. He continues to play at an extremely high level, currently averaging career highs in points (27), assists (3.1) and blocks (1.3). Makes one wonder just how good Tiger can be once he gets past this mess.
| G | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% |
| 19 | 36.0 | 30.2 | 5.9 | 3.4 | 1.4 | 0.3 | .489 | .353 | .869 |
Anthony continues to be the only player in the league who has scored at least 20 points in each of the game in which he's participated this year. His worst game, in fact, may have come this week, a 22-point, three-rebound, one-assist effort in which he shot just 6-for-17. However, it came during a blowout victory over Dwyane Wade's Miami Heat, which came two days after a 28-point blowout of Golden State. Anthony has helped the Nugs win six of their past seven games and he continues to expand his arsenal. An interesting matchup comes this week, when the Nuggets and Anthony happen to face Philadelphia and newly acquired guard Allen Iverson, Anthony's former teammate.
| G | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% |
| 19 | 32.6 | 18.2 | 12.3 | 1.5 | 1.0 | 1.8 | .652 | --- | .568 |
Howard has been oddly quiet this year, perhaps in part because he is trying to figure out how to mesh with three other quality players on the floor at the same time. He went two consecutive games without a block a few weeks back, unheard of for the defensive player of the year. But he has been a monster of late, recording 10 consecutive double-doubles, including a 25-point, 20-rebound, four-block effort in a win over Milwaukee last week, a game in which he actually took (and missed) a 3-pointer. The Magic have won nine of 10 to sit atop the East, and Howard's recent contributions should not go unnoticed.
| G | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% |
| 19 | 32.3 | 16.5 | 2.8 | 11.5 | 0.4 | 0.2 | .523 | .441 | .944 |
The Suns and Nash have hit hard times, Phoenix getting thumped on back-to-back nights by New York -- yes, the Knicks -- and Cleveland in a matchup against Shaquille O'Neal. The Suns lost by an average of 22 points, and for only the third time this season Nash had back-to-back games of less than double-digit assists. He had a combined 10 turnovers to just 13 assists in those games, an unheard of ratio for him. The Suns get a likely reprieve against Sacramento on Saturday, but the next day they get the Lakers, against whom Nash had one of his worst games of the year.
| G | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% |
| 18 | 39.3 | 27.7 | 7.1 | 3.3 | 1.7 | 0.9 | .457 | .288 | .867 |
Unlike Milwaukee's Brandon Jennings, who made a brief appearance in The Race, only to then shoot 30 percent and average 11 points less in his next five games, Durant has actually played better. Here is a statistical oddity with him, however: He is averaging a career-high 27.7 points a game, yet his 3-point percentage has gone from 42.2 percent last year to 28.8 percent this year, a significant drop-off -- which means he is required to score far more points inside the arc and at the free throw line. Coincidentally, it is the exact same 3-point percentage he had his rookie season, a difficult anomaly to achieve given the number of shots that are hoisted.
| G | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% |
| 18 | 38.3 | 26.7 | 5.1 | 5.7 | 1.9 | 1.1 | .427 | .250 | .763 |
Wade obviously remains one of the league's top talents, but, like the Suns, the Heat is struggling. (What is it with the Thermal teams in the month of December? Somewhere in that question is a statistical analysis.) Miami has lost three of its last four and its record has dropped to 10-8. Wade has actually been pretty pedestrian in the recent stretch, and he has shot less than 50 percent from the field in nine of his last 11 games. The Race still doesn't think Wade has a great deal of talent around him; perhaps he – or his opponents -- is starting to realize that.
| G | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% |
| 14 | 31.9 | 18.4 | 11.1 | 3.6 | 0.4 | 2.0 | .534 | --- | .739 |
It is obvious that Duncan -- and this incarnation of the Spurs for that matter -- is in the twilight of his career. But after struggling early on, Duncan has manufactured some very impressive games of late, eclipsing 20 points in seven of his last nine games and allowing the Spurs to win five of their past six. He is shooting a career-high 54.9 percent from the field and his rebounds and assists both are up over a year ago. Keep an eye on Duncan as a sleeper -- but that is assuming his teammates remain healthy, a big part of his success at this point.
| G | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% |
| 20 | 37.0 | 20.0 | 4.5 | 5.2 | 0.6 | 0.2 | .443 | .342 | .800 |
This spot could go to a number of people really, and Toronto's Chris Bosh deserves a mention somewhere along the way. But as well as Bosh is playing, The Race finds it difficult to consider among the MVPs a player on a team with a 7-13 record, which should be far better than that. Paul Pierce and Joe Johnson have been downright average, which means that Roy gets this spot almost by default. Roy actually had a very good statistically, averaging 23 points and six assists, but his Blazers are in the midst of a three-game losing streak. Monta Ellis's recent exploits also deserve a mention in here.
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