[外電] Shaq On Heat: 'I Love Those Guys'
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/sfl-1128-heat-shaq,0,848496.story
PHOENIX - Revisionist history has Shaquille O'Neal convinced there is no bad
history when it comes to his departure last season from the Miami Heat.
Addressing the South Florida media following this morning's shootaround at
U.S. Airways Center, the Phoenix Suns center said only misconceptions clouded
last February's parting.
"I don't really have any bad feelings," O'Neal said, as he looked ahead to
tonight's game against the Heat. "I love all those guys down there."
Of harsh comments attributed to him toward Heat President Pat Riley, the Heat
medical staff and even supporting players on last season's team, O'Neal
claimed they were fabrications.
"I'm not that type of person," he said with a smile.
If anything, O'Neal, who had pulled himself from the Heat lineup weeks before
he was dealt, said Riley pushed him out the door, in a bid to rebuild around
guard Dwyane Wade.
"I understand that business had to be taken care of for him to rebuild and
rebuild around D-Wade, and that's the perfect guy to rebuild around," he
said. "I understand that. I've been a businessman my whole career."
But he also acknowledged he has not spoken with Riley since the trade.
"No I haven't talked to him," he said. "I haven't talked to anyone in
management, but it ain't no hard feeling there. Again, I understand business.
"If I was the first guy that it ever happened to, it'll probably be a sad
situation. But it's happened before."
Yet while casting himself as a victim of the trade, he also appreciated how
his personality can have an expiration date, just as it did with the Los
Angeles Lakers.
"That's how I was raised," he said. "Every four years, we were out. My
father's a military man. Every four years, we're gone. So, I'm used to that.
"I've been in this league a long time and I understand. It's never personal
with me, so there's nothing there."
The thoughts O'Neal did have on the Heat were about subjecting Udonis Haslem
to playing as an undersized, 6-foot-8 center.
"Everybody likes this small lineup," he said. "I don't know why, but
everybody wants to go with the small lineup things. Maybe that's their
philosophy.
"He's definitely not a center. He's really a top-rated power forward. But he
won't quit. He won't ever give up. He will stay down there and battle."
While O'Neal has been in steady contact with Haslem, he admitted growing
apart from Wade.
"You've got to understand, you could be friends without communicating all the
time," he said. "He has family; I've got family. I've got work. I've got
school. So it ain't like we're going to call each other once or twice a week.
"His mom and my mom are best friends, so it ain't no bad blood there. He's
one of the greatest players in the country and I wish him well.
"He's coming into his prime; I'm on my way out. But we'll always be friends."
And yes, he said the break from South Florida is official: He has reached a
deal to sell his Star Island home.
"We just sold it, closing next month," he said. "Nobody got the price they
wanted, but I made a little profit."
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