"When I got swept it ain't got nothing to do with the coach, it was all me, cause' I'm driving the bus" - Shaquille O'Neal debates with Inside The NBA crew on coaches being held responsible for a team's peformance

Inside The NBA analyst Shaquille O'Neal [Source: Sports Illustrated]

Former NBA superstar Shaquille O'Neal got into a heated debate with fellow TNT analysts Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith on coaches being held responsible for a team's performance. O'Neal emphasized that players not stepping up to the occasion is the main reason behind a poor run, and it's unfair for coaches to take the blame.

Here's what the former MVP said regarding this on-air during Wednesday's edition of 'Inside The NBA':

"I keep telling y'all, y'all be putting too much onus on the coaches anyway. If we lose a 3-1 lead it ain't cause' of the coach it's cause' we didn't step up, period... If we're up 3-1 coach ain't got nothing to do with us losing 3-4 games in a row, that's on us."

"Coaching matters man!"

The Inside crew debates the importance of a head coach to their team. https://t.co/cvD2yECJ7b

Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley oppose Shaquille O'Neal's opinion

Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley disagreed with Shaquille O'Neal's opinion on coaches being held responsible for a team's performance. Smith and Barkley believe coaching does matter a lot in situations like a team blowing a 3-1 series lead or getting swept. Smith gave a hypothetical example to prove his point, saying:

"If a team in Boston lose 3-1, a team in Orlando lose 3-1, a team in Denver lose 3-1, a team in Miami lose 3-1, and they have the same coach on each team, you've gotta say, well the coach has a common knack."

However, Shaq was adamant about his argument and continued to highlight that players need to take on more responsibility, especially if their team blows a 3-1 series lead.

The 'Big Diesel' gave his example from back in the day when he was swept in the playoffs multiple times. The 50-year-old said he never blamed the coaches for those losses.

"When I got swept, it ain't got nothing to do with the coach, me, it was all me, cause' I'm driving the bus."

Coaches have always had to endure the bulk of the criticism. A recent example could be Frank Vogel's situation with the LA Lakers this season. Vogel led the team to their record 17th NBA title in October 2020 but was fired this year, just after LA's final game of the season against the Denver Nuggets.

The Lakers WON A CHAMPIONSHIP.

How many times does this need to be said? You can criticize the process and you can criticize what followed, but the Vogel era by definition was a success because Vogel won a championship. That's the entire goal! twitter.com/JamesEdrick3/s…

The Lakers failed to make the play-in tournament and finished with a 33-49 record. Vogel didn't have much say regarding the team's roster construction in the offseason. He had to deal with integrating more than new players into his system. He also had to find a way to make the combination of Russell Westbrook, LeBron James and Anthony Davis work.

However, James and Davis struggled with injuries all year while Westbrook wasn't in the best of form. Vogel didn't have a consistent lineup to work with. Despite leading the team to a championship win just over a year and a half ago, the former Orlando Magic coach was eventually fired.

That said, Shaquille O'Neal does make a fair point to an extent. Coaches do influence the way teams play, but at the end of the day, players have to execute those plans on the floor as well.