I think Shaquille O’Neal is an annoying has been. And even when he was great, I never thought he was great. Dominant? Check. Huge? Check. Hard as all hell to defend? Definite check. Great basketball player? Not so sure.

Sadly, I found Shaq less irritating when he ran his mouth and was actually good. As his career has descended and he’s bounced from team to team, I figured he’d just go away (or become a cop or something). But he hasn’t. And there’s a good piece on Yahoo! Sports that touches on Shaq and all of his annoyingness. A little bit from the piece in regards to Dwight Howard:

In the past year alone, Shaq called Howard an “impostor” and insisted that, “Everything he’s done, I’ve invented,” and on and on. On opening night of the NBA Finals, Shaq posted a goofy photo on Twitter of what a Dwight Howard and Stan Van Gundy child would look like. After five years of this, Howard still doesn’t get the reason that Shaq revels in ripping him.

“I can’t tell you why he’s said a lot of discouraging things,” Howard said Friday at the Staples Center. “I wish he wouldn’t say it because he’s one of the few guys that we all look up to.”

It goes on to state the obvious: That Shaq is rooting for Kobe and the Lakers because he doesn’t want Dwight Howard to do something in Orlando he could never accomplish — win a game in the Finals. There’s been rumors that Shaq might end up in Cleveland or LA by the beginning of next year, but I can tell you that I highly doubt Kobe wants Shaq back given the surge that Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom have provided — truthfully, Shaq would just slow them way down.

[Yahoo!]

Shaq says he’s never been dunked on…. maybe that’s because he’s 7′1″ and 330 pounds. A little different than, say, Robin Lopez, who’s 7′0″, 255 pounds, and makes Greg Ostertag’s defense look menacing.

[The Big Lead]
[Shaq Is Going To Turn Robin Lopez Into A Tough Guy]

Only another billion lucky shots by a billion different contestants, and the economy might just be turned around. This guy won $77,777.00 on a half court granny heave. Shortly after the heave, he signed a $250,000 contract with the Memphis Grizzlies.

The latest Power Rankings are out, and since I’m too lazy to do one myself, I’ll just link you to theirs. A couple of notes:

• The Celtics are back to No. 1. Yay. I just love the Celtics, with overglorified players like KG, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce. Please, LA or Cleveland, please beat them in the playoffs.
• The Nuggets are No. 6. How is it that one good point guard can change a team around so much? No AI, insert Chauncey, and this team is rolling.
• At 23-19, the Heat are No. 10. I know they’ve been surging, but c’mon. No. 10?
• In the same conference and same division, and three games up on the Heat, the Hawks are No. 11. This is the power Dwyane Wade has on a team.
• Beware the 76′ers, who sit at No. 12. After their terrible start, they’ve come on strong and are looking like the playoff threat they were last year.
• At No. 30, is there really any hope for the Kings? They don’t have the worst record, at least, which belongs to No. 26, the 9-35 Thunder.

Shaquille O’Neal recently rapped about Kobe Bryant, and some of the things he said have now been interpretted as racist and uncalled for. So uncalled for that he’s been stripped of his badge.

“I want his two badges back,” Arpaio told The Associated Press on Tuesday. “Because if any one of my deputies did something like this, they’re fired. I don’t condone this type of racial conduct.”

Shaq free-styled about Kobe not being able to make it without him, and also made mentions about not being able to breed anymore because he’s been fixed. Why he felt the need to mention that is a bit confusing to me — it’s got nothing to do with Kobe, and any girl that sleeps with a 7′0″ basketball player is going to know their vagina will be way too mutilated to ever re-produce, unless that basketball player is this oaf.

ESPN is reporting that the Bulls are in talks, and it appears the Suns are splitting ways. It wouldn’t be a bad fit, given that the Bulls are a young, energetic squad that would fit well with D’Antoni’s style of play, and the Bulls, young and energetic as they were this year, also stunk.

I hardly doubt he’ll be able to turn Kirk Hinrich into Steve Nash, but the Suns weren’t the Suns until he took over. He’ll get to work closely with Tyrus Thomas, Ben Gordon, Joahkim Noah and Luol Deng, just to name a few. And in the East, as the Hawks have shown, all it takes is 37 wins to make a little noise come May.

Dallas Mavericks 94, New Orleans Hornets 99: The Mavericks made a late push at the end of the game to try and salvage the season, but it was an oh-so-feeble attempt to end their imminent doom. Chris Paul had 24 points and 15 assists — 11 of which came in the first half alone — and David West led all Hornets with 25. Dallas exits in the first round for the second year in a row, and there’s speculation that Avery Johnson’s job may be on the line. I’d squash the speculation: If you’re looking for a finger to point, point it at the guy that pulled the trigger on the Jason Kidd trade. Wait. He’s the owner. Bye, Avery.

Philadelphia 76′ers 81, Detroit Pistons 98: Three games into the series, it looked as if Philly may actually steal one. Five games into the season, it doesn’t look like they stand much of a chance. Detroit manhandled Philadelphia, going up 12 at the half, 20 by the third, and then coasted to victory through the fourth. Chauncey Billups led the Pistons with 21 points, followed by Rip Hamilton (20), Rasheed Wallace (19), and Tayshaun Prince (17). Detroit now has a 3-2 lead heading back to Philadelphia.

Utah Jazz 69, Houston Rockets 95: It’s odd the Jazz swept the first two games at home, went back to Utah, where they had a 37-4 record through the regular season, are playing Tracy McGrady — who’s known for choking it up in the first round — and this thing is still going on. Not only going on, but Houston is beating the ever living hell out of them. Utah was 36 percent from the field and 22 percent from beyond the arch. Carlos Boozer led the Jazz with 19 points on 8-18 shooting. T-Mac led the Rockets with 29 points. The series is 3-2, and resumes Thursday night in Utah.

Phoenix Suns 87, San Antonio Spurs 92: They said it would be one of the best first round series ever, and I agreed. Problem is, it wasn’t. The Spurs won the series 4-1 last night, on the back of two solid performances by Tony Parker (31 points), and Tim Duncan (29 points and 17 rebounds). Shaq finished with 13 points and nine boards in only 29 minutes of play, posing the question: Why the hell did they trade for a guy that can’t run the court for more than 29 minutes? Good call, Steve Kerr, it’s nice to see you’re still helping the Spurs win Championships.

Cleveland Cavaliers 100, Washington Wizards 97: I wasn’t able to watch the game because I was busy, but it sounded like it was a good one. Delonte West, not LeBron James, hit a three pointer with time winding down, helping the Cavs to a 3-1 series lead, and the series now shifts back to Cleveland. LeBron James had 34 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists, proving that he’s the most overrated player in the league and isn’t good at all. Gilbert Arenas played 32 minutes and managed only 10 points on 3-8 shooting.

San Antonio Spurs 86, Phoenix Suns 105: The series isn’t over yet. Though it’ll probably end in a couple of days in San Antonio, Phoenix fended off elimination and lives to see another day. The Suns shot just 42 percent from the field, but were able to hold San Antonio to 39 percent. Raja Bell led all Suns players with 27 points.

In Progress: Detroit Pistons @ Philadelphia 76′ers. Those pesky Sixers are hanging around. If this thing goes to 3-1, then you may want to stop saying, “Well, Detroit’s going to win the series,” and start saying, “Well, Detroit may be fucked.”

With the NFL Draft, I kind of lost track of the playoffs, even though I did attend the Hawks/Celtics game last night, a game that truly demonstrated the Hawks are the best team in the NBA (I’m not getting too ahead of myself, am I?).

Today the Spurs and Suns meet and, surprsingly, this could be the end of the series. Game 1 had you believing this thing would go seven, six at the least, and we’d be in for one of hte best first round series ever. Three games later, the Spurs are up 3-0 and looking to close this thing out.

My guess is the Suns win this one and the Spurs finish them off at home in five.

As mentioned below, Duncan’s three was insane. The guy was wide open, it was completely uncontested, but still: Any three Duncan makes with the game on the line is pretty freaking insane.