"My last AAU tournament, he coached into a championship” - Shareef O’Neal believes his father Shaquille O'Neal can be a good coach in the NBA, says he’s coached a few of his teams
Former LA Lakers superstar Shaquille O'Neal recently made headlines after declaring his intention to coach a team in the NBA. His son, Shareef O'Neal, a budding basketball player, believes that his father can become a good coach.
Speaking to TMZ, Shareef O'Neal spoke about the prospect of his father coaching in the NBA. He believes that Shaq can pull it off and bring success to whichever team he takes over. Shareef said:
"I mean, he's coached a few of my teams. My last AAU tournament, he coached into a championship. I don't know, you got to ask him. I don't know what he wants to do, I know he'll coach if he wants to. But he knows basketball pretty well as people can see.
"He's coached a few championship growing up, like, I know that worked. It could translate to the higher level. I know it works in middle school, high school, for sure."
Shaquille O'Neal recently spoke about how he wouldn't mind coaching the Lakers for $25 million a year, amidst the search for a new head by the Los Angeles Lakers.
Shaquille O'Neal's son, Shareef, tells TMZ Sports his father could be a fine NBA head coach. tmz.com/2022/06/05/sha…
Which was Shaquille O'Neal's best regular season?
Unarguably the most dominant player to ever play the game, Shaquille O'Neal was a man amongst the boys in the NBA. Gifted with incredible size and coverage, Shaq truly made his presence felt during his illustrious career spanning well over 15 years.
Shaq's best season of his career came during the 1999-2000 campaign for the Los Angeles Lakers. Having signed for the Lakers as a free agent a couple of years prior, the pressure was mounting on Shaq to take the franchise to the promised land. Shaquille O'Neal duly delivered and went on to three-peat with the LA-based franchise.
"The Big Diesel", as he is nicknamed, won everything there was to win during the 1999-2000 season. O'Neal was named MVP, en route to winning his first ring and picking up his first of three Finals MVP awards. It was a truly dominant season from the most dominant player to grace the NBA.
The Lakers, led by Shaq, had the best record in the NBA, which read 67 wins and 15 losses. O'Neal's best performance of the regular season came in a demolition of the Los Angeles Clippers, where the big man dropped 61 points.
He also grabbed 23 rebounds while shooting the ball better than 68% from the field. In fact, Shaq recorded 40 or more points nine times during the regular season.
But the Lakers were hunting for a championship and as great as Shaq was in the regular season, the playoffs were the stage the Lakers needed him to be at his best.
The NBA Playoffs saw the Los Angeles Lakers go up against the likes of the Portland Trail Blazers, Phoenix Suns, Sacramento Kings and Indiana Pacers in the NBA Finals. O'Neal and the Lakers dispatched all these teams with relative ease barring Portland, as the Trail Blazers took the Lakers to seven games.
Shaq had five games in the playoffs where recorded at least 40 points. It has been an incredible season for the franchise from one of the greatest players of all time. Turns out, it was just the start as Shaquille O'Neal and the Lakers would go on to create a dynasty.