Shaquille O’Neal is back in the game of spouting off at someone who plays across the country. This time it isn’t former LA Laker teammate Kobe Bryant..…it is Seattle Sonic Danny Fortson.
Fortson is an NBA throwback to when there were “enforcers” in the league. Guys that gave hard fouls…played tough defense…and got under the skin of the opponent. Dennis Rodman and Bill Laimbeer made careers out of that. Fortson is staying in the league because of it. He is around 6-7 and has gained a few pounds in the past few years. But he is willing to use those pounds to knock the crap out of people, grab boards and just peeve everyone off who he has to play against.
Now he’s peeved Shaq off.
In fairness to Shaq…he normally doesn’t have to deal with people actually trying to be physical with him. Most try to stay out of his way. In today’s NBA…centers are either short chubby guys like Fortson….lanky centers like Camby or big softies like Olowokandi. Guys like Ewing, Robinson and Hakeem are gone to retirement homes. Resident Shaq-flopper Vlade Divac is in the twilight of his career [and took Shaq’s old gig in LA]. So, of course Shaq is angry that someone isn’t moving out of his way. Everyone else does.
Well…Kobe Bryant didn’t. Say what you want about Kobe....but he actually challenged Shaq publicly....and probably privately. Shaq hates that kind of thing…since we all need to bow down to him. At least Kobe was his teammate for 7 years and fellow superstar on the Lakers’ billing. Danny Fortson is, at best, an NBA journeyman that keeps staying in the NBA with his garbage man mentality. The Sonics are his fifth home in his 8 year NBA career. He's been involved in trades with Johnny Newman, Joe Wolf, Ervin Johnson, Eric Williams, Eric Washington, Ron Mercer, Popeye Jones, Dwayne Schintzius, Robert Pack, John Williams, Dana Barros, Bill Curley, Howard Eisley, Donyell Marshall, Bruno Sundov, Adam Keefe, Antawn Jamison, Chris Mills, Jiri Welsch, Evan Eschmeyer, Nick Van Exel, Avery Johnson, Popeye Jones, Antoine Rigaudeau and Calvin Booth.
So, this recent exchange between Shaq and Fortson was quite newsworthy. Don’t be too surprised…these two have gone at it before [Shaq referred to Fortson as a “bum“].
Both players in their "slimmer" years
SHAQ: ''All they do is flop and the referees fall for it. That's not basketball. Big men, Bill Russell and Bill Walton, they should be ashamed to even watch the game.''
FORTSON: "You know something? That is a cop-out. Write this down. If he can't go out and bang, if he can't get two or three feet underneath the basket, he is ineffective. My goal is to keep him out of the paint. That is not an easy task to do. That is easier said than done. But I am going to try to keep him out of the paint and see how good he is. I challenge him to take a jump hook. Take a couple jump shots. I bet you he can't do that. Of course he is going to complain about flopping because he has to be inside to score buckets. If he doesn't get inside to score buckets, he might as well give the ball to Dwyane Wade and move back."
SHAQ: ''Tell him to average more than eight points. That [expletive] knows what he was doing. I don't have to shoot from more than two feet. I'm top 50. I've got 23,000 [points] from where I shoot. You saw the game. You saw what he did. Don't [flop] and then act like you can handle the Diesel.''
FORTSON: "I don't even know what he is talking about. He is the big man. He's the one that wants to go out there and dunk on everybody, like he's been doing. I'm not going to feel sorry for him. He is the biggest man in the world and he's worried about guys flopping? That is kind of crazy, you know. One flop? I only got one flop? Besides that, who wouldn't flop against Shaq? But for the most part, Bill Walton and Bill Laimbeer and Charles Barkley would be proud of how I went head-to-head with him. Especially Charles Barkley. You know what I'm saying? For the most part I was in there battling with him. I am going to play hard. It ain't going to be no different on Sunday. We are going to do the same thing, and it is going to be the same results. We are going to win the game if we play hard. I am going to try to stay focused like I was in Miami. It's no easy thing. It's a work in progress for me. But if I stay focused, it's like David and Goliath, I win again."
SHAQ: "He upset me. He woke me up. You don't want to awaken me."
FORTSON: "He's just another big lug, as far as I'm concerned, that I've got to push around."
SHAQ: "You can't get into my head. I've been through it all. You learn through experience and you adapt to certain situations. I've been through the changing of the rules, the changing of the defenses. But you can't get into my head. It's locked, sealed, super-glued shut."
As the game ended in yet another Seattle Super Sonics victory over the Miami Heat…..Shaq did something odd. He sought out Fortson and gave him a hug.
Imagine if he did that to Kobe.
28 comments:
Good quote about Fortson, from Rick Pitino:
"He thinks of every missed shot as a pass to him"
Shaq gets hammered from three, and even four, players at a time.
Any player who takes the abuse he takes, and has taken, his entire career would complain as well.
Shaq gets bear hugged and has his arm(s) hit while he is in the act of shooting and there is rarely a foul called. However, if he does the same in return on defense, he gets called for the foul.
I am not claiming that Shaq does not use his shoulder or create contact, but if one looks objectively at the calls, and the "no calls," I believe one can understand why Shaq is upset.
"I used to be a BIG SHAQ fan since he came out of LSU and I've been a Laker fan since guys like Michael Cooper wore their socks up to their knees. But I lost total respect for him in the Finals. He(Shaq) let all the stuff going on in L.A. get in his head and plain and simple gave up!!! Ben Wallace made him look like a chump. That wasn't the diesel out the that was more like a hybrid car. But I guess now he's rejuvenated but for how long ????"
Shaq foul all the time. He's a big man and he just run over people all the time and hardly ever get call for files. People complain about players trying to defend Shaq, but they don't complain when Shaq just forces his way to the basket. He could be called for a file most of the time that he goes to the basket, but doesn't get called. Some of you say that players flop against Shaq. They don't have to flop because Shaq will run over them. Shaq shouldn't be crying about people defending him because he gets more non calls on him than anyone in the NBA since Michael Jordan days.
Shaq, your not in college anymore, remember.........learn to take the heat when you step in the oven.
Who the hell is Danny Fortson???? Shaq is right...he is a top 50, and Fortson has not scored 23,000 all the way back to little dribblers!! Fortson, please...shut the hell up!!!!!
AT FIRST I DIDN'T LIKE SHAQ BUT NOW I DO. PEOPLE FOUL HIM ALL THE TIME AND IT IS NOT CALLED BECAUSE HE IS SO BIG. I AGREE, SHAQ CAN'T EVEN TOUCH ANOTHER PLAYER WITHOUT GETTING CALLED FOR A FOUL. LETS BE FAIR. SHAQ CAN'T HELP THAT HE IS SO BIG SO DON'T PUNISH HIM FOR IT.
Shaq thinks hes all that but fouled out and the game with Kobe.Me personally I think he just a big 7feet somthing cry baby
Shaq has never admited to being outplayed by anyone, anywhere, he always finds someone else to blame when his team loses. I'm saying to D. Wade now "you had better watch your back." (Remember P. Hardaway & K. Bryant). Actually, I too used to be a big Shaq fan. Later I realized that Shaq is really just a media darling, and if you look at his stats you will see this to be true. He has not shown himself to be in the Russell, Chamberlain, Abdul Jabbar league. He did not win anything without Kobe and I predict that he won't win again without him. He has a big mouth, which the media loves, so they make him out to be twice what he actually is as far as playing basketball is concerned.
Rick P Why are you saying garbage drivers are stupid It is an insult. Maybe you should haul your own.
Respect is what a person must earn not trying to put down people around you, so other can feel pity about you. That is what i feel about SHAQ. I am totally agreed with Kobe. Shaq is a too selfish; he demand so much money and is not make himself available and for the team first. He is the one first to demand to be traded, and then making a big fudge about being traded from the francise which he'd helped to build. He is fogetting that he is being WELL PAID for what has done. Sorry, big baby will not get any pity from this deep down LAKERS FAN.
Why don't you just get a life and get off Shaq's back. He already has deal with enough of that in the game. But you can keep on being a hater, we are not hurt, just makes you look St-p-d get me. Plus it's just a game noone getting payed but the players get it !
DANNY FORTSON, WHO IS THAT. WHAT IS HE TRYING TO DO GET HIS NAME OUT THERE BY ANY MEANS EXCEPT HIS ABILITY TO PLAY BASKETBALL. NEVER HEARD OF THE MAN. MUST NOT BE ANY GOOD EXCEPT TO TRASH TALK
I have a little respect for O'neal as an african american, and that's where the respect ends. I'm 39 and I've watched Chamberlain,Jabbar,Lanier,Thurmond,Parish, Robinson and Olajuwan. These guys were all intelligent and fundamentally sound skilled ballplayers. I've watched O'neal play at LSU and I've viewed his entire pro career. He is the most underskilled and overrated center I have ever seen in the NBA. He travels and charges on 2 out of 3 offensive possesions. He is basically just a dunker. He has no instant offensive scoring capability outside the paint at all. The referee's allow him to travel and commit offensive fouls all night and day, because if they called the game with atleast 70% accuracy the man would be on the bench, and that would cause major problems with fans and the sponsors of the NBA itself. O'neal has faced only 1 truly great center in the NBA finals, and that was Olajuwan, who was only 6-10 250. O'neal was dominated, and swept from the finals in grand fashion. Also, look what Jordan's centerless teams did to O'neal in the playoffs. O'neal is great when you measure him by todays standards as a ballplayer. but if you made O'neal and all the other centers that I mentioned 6-1 to 6-4 and about 215 lbs. then people would really see just how much pure basketball skill and savvy her really has. He's 7-1, 320+ and he's overhyped and defintely overrated. For now, he's using size and brute strength to dominate centers who don't have any true great knowledge and skill for the game. I will admit, that he is a little smarter than he was 10 years ago. and losing that little extra weight has helped him to become a little quicker, but a man that can't hit his free throws with consistancy and can't hit with any true consistancy outside the paint can not be counted on to make the big offensive play at the end of a big game, and who is pulled out of games so that the opposing team won't send him to the free throw line is an utter joke.
I CAN'T STAND SHAQ. HE IS JUST A BIG BABY WHO THINKS EVERYONE SHOULD BOW TO HIM. ALL HE IS , IS MOUTH! KOBE IS RIGHT SHAQ IS SELFISH. IF YOU LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEWS DURING THE FINALS ALL SHAQ TALKED ABOUT WAS BEING TRADED. I THINK HE WANTED TO BE. BUT KNOW HE CHANGES HIS MIND AND SAYS KOBE RAN HIM OUT OF LA. I THINK SHAQ SHOULD GROW UP! I SAY GO LAKERS! KOBE YOUR THE GREATEST!! LALAKERSFAN....
You tried to put a negative spin on this. Forgot to mention Fortson said "He loved Shaq" after Shaq and him talked after the game eh.
danny is my man. without danny, the sonics would only have 18-20 wins. danny is responsible for 5-7 wins!
Danny an real player, Shaq is OUT/Yao Ming is IN, and that real reason he left the WEST COAST. Yao was the leader in All Star Vote. Mr O'Neal could not take it on the court also. Yao was scoring more point and more media on ESPN. Everything was not about SHAQ> Ask KOBE. Shaq is a whinner.
you duffus...of course yao got more votes at last years all star balloting...he had all of china running repeater programs on the vote....yao...yao...yao...yao...yao...that fool is the official poster child for the slam dunk.who in the n.b.a. has not flushed it on that waste of space.shaq is no god,but yao????.....please.
PART 1 ------- POSITIVE SPIN
You read the negative spin, now here's the Postive side,
FORTSON: "I don't even know what he is talking about. He is the big man. He's the one that wants to go out there and dunk on everybody, like he's been doing. I'm not going to feel sorry for him. He is the biggest man in the world and he's worried about guys flopping? That is kind of crazy, you know. One flop? I only got one flop?
O'NEAL
''All they do is flop and the referees fall for it. That's not basketball. Big men, Bill Russell and Bill Walton, they should be ashamed to even watch the game.''
OPINION,
Fortsons acknowledges Shaq's claim, and may have felt it was an effective way to play against Shaq, as even Fortson acknowledges Shaqs ability, in a respectful manner.
FORTSON
"You've got to kind of lean a little bit on him, too," Fortson said. "He leans on people so you've got to give him a little bit of the same thing he does. I think at the end of the night, we both were just out there sucking wind."
O'NEAL
"O'Neal didn't score a point after getting a dunk and a free throw with 7:38 left. He acknowledged Fortson wore him out."They get it going on the pick and roll and he just bulldozes his way in there," O'Neal said.
FORTSON
"I love Shaq," Fortson said. "He's a great guy and I admire him. Any time I'm out there on the court with him, it's an honor."
you duffus...of course yao got more votes at last years all star balloting...he had all of china running repeater programs on the vote....yao...yao...yao...yao...yao...that fool is the official poster child for the slam dunk.who in the n.b.a. has not flushed it on that waste of space.shaq is no god,but yao????.....please.
PART 2 ----------POSITIVE SPIN
OPINION;
I think Shaq tried to improve Fortsons game, and the game of Basketball itself....clean calls, for real fouls...and Fortson stepped up to the challenge, and played better Basketball for it.
FORTSON
"It's good," the 6-8 Fortson said. "It gets you ready to play, for one thing. You got some guy you're going against, the strongest guy on earth. You're going to be ready to play."
At game's end, after his teammates had gone in the locker room, Shaq found Fortson on the court and hugged him.
TROOMAN
Now that's the positive spin.....take your pick, on which one is better for the NBA!
Original article seemed more of a character assassin, then sports assassin....
PART 3 -------POSITIVE SPIN
Published January 12, 2005
It was a small moment in a small game. And it didn't involve a player dropping imaginary drawers after a touchdown or telling a cameraman to get out of his face by way of introduction to a new city.
So a lot of people didn't hear what Heat center Shaquille O'Neal did when some smart-buttoned scoreboard operator put O'Neal's mug beside Shrek's green one in Seattle, as if to suggest some ugly, cartoonish, separated-at-birth component.
This is how Shaq reacted:
He laughed.
Laughed at the scoreboard. Laughed at the joke. Laughed at himself, too, which was most refreshing of all.
And so Seattle fans in the sold-out arena did something equally surprising in this hate-thy-opponent age.
They applauded.
You see, those fans appreciated that Shaq got it, just as he seems to get everything about the flame of fame.
SHAQ IS BY FAR THE BETTER PLAYER BETWEEN SHAQ VS FORTSON. I SEE SOME OF YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT SHAQ AND YAO. YAO IS A YOUNG MAN THAT CAN'T RUN THE COURT. WHAT'S WRONG??? EVEN SHAQ CAN BEAT YAO DOWN THE COURT AN SHAQ IS MUCH OLDER. YAO DOESN'T PUT OUT MUCH EFFORT. HIS BACKUP PLAYS HARDER THAN YAO AND HE ALSO IS MUCH OLDER.
Shaq is just a crybaby!. I have grown so tired of his nonsense. Him saying Bill Russell and others should be ashamed to watch the game is the truth! A man that is considered one of the greatest players of alltime, cant shoot from outside of 3 feet, and cant even shoot 50% on freethrows. Your right Shaq, they should never watch again!
what are going to do? pass a law, NO BIG, POWERFUL, AGILE, ATHLETIC, ALTRUISTIC, SELF - EFFACING, PERSONABLE, TALENTED, HUMBLE player is allowed to participate inthe NBA. Thats Cincinnati Baby!!! Fortson is a burger and a Bum just like all Bearcats, including Mr Huggins. Shame on him . If he had to write those comments down I dont think he would be able to. Danny, SHUT UP!!!!
Shaq has gone downhill and everyone knows it. He thinks hes a big timer, and thinks everything should go his away. All I have to say is, remember when he tried to rap? Shaqfu? My point exactly. Shaq sucks. He even admitted on MTV Cribs that hes very lousy at free throws. Lets see him make a miracle happen with a 3 pointer? All he does is dunk. As if that were to take any skill? Hey shaq lets stand under the basket and wait for the ball. ha. Everyone just sides with shaq because--"theyve heard of him."
Danny Fortson just got aggressive. Go cry about it Shaq. Go Sonics.
it doesnt matter what anybody says about shaq all he does is put up numbers and wins championships when he has the right pieces(not last years team).he is the modern day wilt chamberlin.rules have changed because of him(zone defense).the grestest center ever point blank.
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