Shaq’s Setup Wasn’t Magic

The very public breakup, culminating before the world because the news conference to announce Shaquille O’Neal had left the Orlando Magic for the Lakers came in Atlanta the day before the Olympics, really wasn’t all that public.

Only recently have Magic officials revealed that they believed O’Neal had become self-centered, in personality and play.

O’Neal, speaking in detail on the subject for the first time, said he viewed the organization as largely unsupportive, while his agent came to consider the front office unable to handle a negotiation of this magnitude.

As for speculation that O’Neal had a problem with one of the other Magic starters? True. Only it was Nick Anderson, not Penny Hardaway.

Something that seemed so right--the young superstar loaded with potential and personality being drafted by the young team that quickly became loaded with possibilities--had gone terribly wrong.

“I was concerned that I’d be hearing from his camp, in the midst of a 60-win season, personal concerns about needing more shots, needing others to know their roles,” Magic General Manager John Gabriel said.

Said O’Neal: “I’m just glad to be playing now for people who know the game and know the business.”

Said a Magic official: “I would say there was a noticeable [negative] change in him over the last year.”

Said O’Neal’s agent Leonard Armato: “The Orlando Magic organization made a series of bungles that ended up in them losing the most coveted player in the NBA.”

To think they still wanted each other.

O’Neal seemed so sure he would be staying that he went Robert Trent Jones, tearing up the front lawn of his 25,000-square foot home in the ritzy community of Isleworth about a month before the end of the regular season to turn it into a miniature golf course. Seriously. In the end, it stayed as and the other hazards were put on hold.

The Magic certainly wanted to keep him. Orlando offered $115 million for seven years, front-loaded to include more than $20 million in 1996-97, with the chance to opt out after the fourth season.

In the eyes of O’Neal and Armato, though, that wouldn’t cut it. For one thing, they had told the Magic that nothing less than a seven-year deal would do and Orlando didn’t move from a four-year offer until the final hours before the final decision in Atlanta. For another, they wanted the out clause for after three years, not four.

For another thing, maybe it was just too late.

The player and agent had already become soured on the organization for reasons that were emotional, not monetary:

--The episode last season when O’Neal attended the funeral of his grandmother, with whom he was very close, in New Jersey on a Saturday. He flew to Atlanta that night with thoughts of going to Louisiana to get away for a while in hopes of gathering himself, then decided to return to Orlando the next morning on the advice of his mother, but showed up late for a Sunday day game against the Bulls on national television.

The Magic got reports he was at a nightclub in Atlanta on Saturday; he says it’s not true. In the end, the explanation by various Magic officials to NBC for the absence/late arrival left O’Neal feeling they had hung him out to dry in what was already a difficult time.

--The start of the free-agent negotiations. O’Neal and Armato were surprised when DeVos called the first day after the moratorium had been lifted and, they said, started talking about financial constraints instead of how much he wanted his center back. O’Neal wanted to be wanted. In the meantime, they saw the Lakers doing everything possible to complete the deal and ultimately offer $120 million and the three-year out. “It wasn’t an aggressive negotiation by any means,” Armato said of the Magic. “It was more of a dance.”

Said O’Neal: “Money isn’t everything. I don’t play for money. I can remember days growing up when I didn’t have anything. I didn’t have sneakers, I didn’t have shorts, nothing. But I played. The money is there [with the Lakers]. It’s great, don’t get me wrong. But it was the best offer because of the players surrounding me, the staff, the organization.”

Surrounding him in Orlando?

A general manager, Gabriel, he likes and an owner, Rich DeVos, he holds in high regard. Many players, from starters to role players, he likes, especially Dennis Scott. An assistant coach/scout, Brad Ceisler, he likes and turned into someone who would travel the country to oversee offseason workouts.

But also a team president, Bob Vander Weide, with whom he felt he had a poor relationship “because I’m not Amway soap,” he said, referring to Vander Weide’s association with the company. And a player, Anderson, who greatly frustrated O’Neal because of what O’Neal saw as an inability to accept a role as one of the supporting players.

And a coach, Brian Hill.

“Brian Hill’s OK,” O’Neal said. “I never had a rift. But sometimes I spoke my mind. I’ll say what I have to say.”

So he wasn’t thrilled with Hill.

“Sometimes,” O’Neal said. “His actions. Everyone knows that all the great teams had a great one-two punch. Bird and McHale, Bird and Parish. Our one-two punch was supposed to be me and Penny. He [Hill] was worried sometimes about getting other guys plays.”

Meaning Anderson.

“Yeah. His boy. We talked. Those guys got to be role players--I’m the first option, Penny’s the second option. Our offense was so easy: guys are going to double me. If guys do what they’re supposed to do and guys know basketball, they’re going to get shots. They [defenses] are going to have to double me. If they don’t double me, I’m scoring 50 points a game. They’re going to double me.

“Instead, they’re worried about, [whiny voice] ‘Oh, you’re getting too many calls, you’re getting all the media attention.’ You know what I’m saying. Dumb stuff. I used to tell him [Hill]. I used to go in the locker room and get on guys, and he would say, ‘Don’t do that. You’re gonna hurt his feelings.’ I said, ‘Look, man, this is the professionals, bro. You’re the coach. They’ve got to do what you say. If they don’t do what you say, there’s two places they can go--either the bench or to a new team. Period.’ That’s what I’m saying.

“But I’m 24, I don’t know what the hell I’m talking about, I like to do rap and I like to do movies. Hey, I know how to win. I’ve been winning all my life, from Little League. I’ve never, ever played on a losing team. I might not have won the championship all the time, but I know what it takes to win.”

It wasn’t just conflicts over shot distribution. As much as anything, O’Neal felt the Magic didn’t sufficiently back him.

“See, that’s the thing I’m talking about,” he said. “Those guys down there, they never stood up for me. I got fouled a lot and they never said anything. I’m not a prima donna player. I’m one of those young, upcoming stars, but you never hear about me doing dumb stuff.

“They should have just said, ‘Shaq’s grandma died. Whenever he wants to come back, he can come back.’ No, they have to go on TV and start talking about [and he changes his voice to an authoritative tone] ‘The rule is you have to call.’

“What do you mean call? My grandma died on a Thursday, I saw John Gabriel on Friday, the funeral was Saturday, I played Sunday. [He lowers his voice again] ‘We have rules and he didn’t call.’ Call what? I was crying all the time. Call why? They just never stuck up with me.”

More like those moments stuck with him.

“I thought we did everything we could for Shaquille,” Gabriel counters. “The incident in Atlanta, I let it be known he was on an excused absence. It got blown out of proportion. I thought there were a bunch of small challenges throughout the season, from when Shaq hurt his thumb and then asked to be away from the team to the Atlanta situation. It wasn’t a matter of covering for him. But we hadn’t heard from him. When NBC’s ready to go on the air with a marquee player absent, they want some answers.

“Unfortunately, it got turned into a coach-against-a-player thing, which was unrealistic. It almost seemed peculiar in that it seemed to be a series of situations that postured themselves--Shaquille against us. I don’t know if it was for leverage or what, but it seemed like there were fires to put out when there really weren’t any. I think it’s documented we have a first-class organization with first-class people.

“I think they were hard pressed to find a hit list of things that indicate we have a poor organization. So Brian became a target, I guess. He became a guy people were knocking--’He’s coached a good quarter.’ [Armato’s famous comment on NBC during a playoff game] You talk about not getting any support, he got plenty of support.

“I think he’s genuinely a great guy. I really do. I was always surprised how he can handle as much as he did and still be level-headed. But as I began to hear from more people around him about how he should be treated different and special, you always get a concern when one of your leaders is more me than we, and I’ll leave it at that.”

Said Armato, who had previously declined to discuss the topic but decided to respond after hearing the critical comments: “I’m bothered that they would even make those suggestions or intonations. They had a chance. You’ve heard the term that the deal was their’s to lose? Shaquille was their’s to lose. Their conduct last season and at the end of the season lost it for them.”