20 Questions: Shaquille O'Neal

To basketball fans he is simply Shaq--the 7'1", 300-pound center for the Orlando Magic. To moviegoers this spring he will be Neon Bordeaux, a strapping playground hoops phenom who poses a moral dilemma for college coach Nick Nolte in "Blue Chips." But in the soothed minds of the NBA's moguls, Shaquille O'Neal is the future of his sport, a 21-year-old miracle in size 20EEE shoes--the man who filled the void left by the retirement of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird and who is being counted on to keep fans flocking to arenas now that Michael Jordan has repaired to the links for good. Crowds hold their breath when O'Neal approaches the hoop; they roar when he slams the ball through the net and swings on the rim. Twice last season he achieved his goal of pulling down the backboard and the reinforced stanchion that supports it--a feat only he has accomplished.

O'Neal is also pulling down $40 million over seven years, one of the richest contracts in the league. That sum does not include endorsement fees from athletic-shoe, soft-drink and sporting-goods companies, which will bring him an estimated $30 million over the next few years.

Louisiana State University basketball coach Dale Brown visited a military base in Germany in 1985 and mistook O'Neal for an oversized soldier. Informed that the 6'8" behemoth was an officer's son who was just reaching puberty, Brown laid the groundwork for a recruiting drive that landed Shaq in the Tigers' home gym five years later. In his sophomore season, despite missing time with a broken leg, O'Neal was named college player of the year. Not only did he dominate both ends of the court, he put on a floorshow with a celebratory post--dunk strut he called the Shaq-de-Shaq. NBA stars started to groom him for a pro career--Bill Walton offered counsel on playing through foul trouble, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar provided pointers on the sky hook. Against the wishes of his parents, O'Neal claimed hardship and went pro after his junior year, in which he averaged 24 points, 14 rebounds and five blocked shots despite being tripleor quadruple-teamed in every game.

In the NBA, opposing defenses assigned two men to cover him, and still he dominated opponents in the paint. He was named player of the week seven days into last season. Fans voted him into the starting lineup of the All-Star game by a landslide, making him the first rookie since Jordan to receive that honor.

At year's end he averaged 23.4 points, 13.9 rebounds and 3.53 blocks per game, and the league all but dispensed with the voting for the rookie of the year award. Marveled Detroit Piston Mark Aguirre: "He's the most monstrous individual to play in the NBA during my era." Cleveland Cavalier center Brad Daugherty said, "He made me feel like a little kid." Magic Johnson called him the best big man to play during his 13 years in the league, adding, "The guy's a monster, a true prime-time player."

In addition to his favorite off-season leisure activities--playing video games and watching kung-fu movies--in the past year O'Neal wrote and recorded a rap album, enrolled in a basketball camp to work on his low-post play and spent several weeks filming his first acting role in "Blue Chips."

Writer Richard Lalich shadowed O'Neal for two nights of unscripted games on the Indiana high school set of the film. He reports: "Although his squad lost both games, Shaq demonstrated why he is the most thrilling player in the post-Jordan NBA. In one memorable sequence he swatted away consecutive shots, and at the other end of the court he slammed the ball through the hoop with enough force to make the backboard shudder. With each slam it became increasingly clear that Shaq was intent on ripping down the backboard--a point that was not lost on the producers, who had stashed four new backboards in a spare locker room."

1.

[Q] Playboy: You've rapped with FuSchnickens on Arsenio Hall, and you have just recorded your own rap album for Jive Records. What is Shaq's formula for a good rap song? What subjects are de rigueur?

[A] O'Neal: I'm just trying to show people that I have a lot of flavor. I'm not what you call a Super Bowl Shuffle rapper. I really can rap. So I think a lot of people will be surprised when my stuff comes out. I never use music to get a point across. If I wanted to do that, I'd just go up to a podium and put out a message. I don't need a beat. I'll let the other rappers do that. I'm a freestyle rapper. I'm just having fun. I just talk about me and about what I can do. For example, I have a song called Bragatocious: "Once again it's time to get bragatocious/The tall human being, that's right, Shaqatocious/Shaq-a-mala-slam-slam/Watch me flim-flam-flam/I freak-frack the click-clack." I'm just, you know, bragging.

2.

[Q] Playboy: You've been immortalized in three video basketball games. Is there anything the one-inch Shaq can do that the 7'1" Shaq can't?

[A] O'Neal: He shoots a higher percentage, he jumps higher and he does more in the air--like backflips--than me. The NBA put out a game called NBA Hoops, and the guy who's me hits threes. I have the game in my house, and I just put up the threes constantly.

3.

[Q] Playboy: In the NBA, the most egregious fouls--elbows in eyes, punches in kidneys--are caught by the camera. Describe the fouls that we don't see. And what part of your body takes a beating during a game?

[A] O'Neal: I get hacked on the forearms a lot when I go for the ball. Pushed. That's about it. I haven't been really cheap-shotted yet. Sometimes you don't see the fouls at home because if the camera's watching Jordan, somebody might get Pippen.

4.

[Q] Playboy: How much of a distraction are fans who wave things behind the backboard when a player is at the free-throw line?

[A] O'Neal: Depends on who it is at the line. Some guys are horrible free-throw shooters, and some guys can shoot it no matter what. Either you can shoot free throws or you can't. The fans have nothing to do with it.

5.

[Q] Playboy: Who's to blame for the trend of fans' rioting after their team wins a championship?

[A] O'Neal: I don't know why they do that. I was watching TV and a guy was asked why fans do it, and he said, "Well, we're part of the team and we're just overwhelmed." It's crazy.

6.

[Q] Playboy: But as a player, do you consider fans part (continued on page 244) Shaquille O'Neal (continued from page 175) of the team when they smash a store window or turn over a police car?

[A] O'Neal: Stuff that I can't control, I can't worry about. If I go out and win a championship and the whole town tears up the city, it's not my fault. What do you want me to do--stop winning championships? I'm not worried about my property getting torn up. I have insurance. And I live in a protected area, so I'm not even worried about that.

7.

[Q] Playboy: Which NBA stadiums offer the best locker rooms and amenities? Which are the worst?

[A] O'Neal: The best are Phoenix, Orlando and Utah. Boston's the worst. It's kind of old.

8.

[Q] Playboy: As a connoisseur, name the top three martial arts movies. And what makes a great bad kung-fu movie?

[A] O'Neal: The three best are Kung Fu Genius, Dragon Lord and Enter the Dragon. No Americans. Ancient Chinese with long white beards and long robes. And the kind of movie where the lines come out after they move their mouths.

9.

[Q] Playboy: Modifications in style, from baggy shorts to black shoes, have emerged in NBA uniforms. Do you follow the league's fashion trendsetters?

[A] O'Neal: No, I've always liked baggy shorts. I like them real long, real baggy. They make me look longer. Pinstripes make me look longer, too. Love my pinstripes.

10.

[Q] Playboy: As part of your Army brat upbringing, you spent your early teens in Germany. Which phrases in the native tongue was it helpful to memorize?

[A] O'Neal: "Brauchen Sie Hilfe, bitte?" That means, "Do you need any help?" I used to work for the Department of Engineering and Housing, and we used to cut grass. If I finished my part, I'd go to the guy on the other part and say, "Brauchen Sie Hilfe, bitte?" and he'd say, "Ja" or "Nein." And "Machen Sie lauter, bitte." That means, "Make it louder." We would ride on the bus and I'd give tapes to the bus driver. Sometimes he'd turn them down low, and I'd tell him, "Machen Sie lauter, bitte!"

11.

[Q] Playboy: Which academic subjects did you miss when you claimed hardship and passed up your senior year as a business major?

[A] O'Neal: I was taking an entrepreneurship class, a government class, a tax class, an accounting class. I dropped 24 hours when I left.

12.

[Q] Playboy: A lot of trash-talk is just that--verbal garbage. Are there acceptable subjects in trash-talking, and which are taboo? Is denigrating your opponent's mother out of bounds in the NBA?

[A] O'Neal: It's good to have trash-talk. People pay to see that. If it's a big game with Karl Malone and Barkley, people pay to see Barkley intimidate Malone, or to see Malone intimidate Barkley. Most of the time it's just for fun. But a few times it does get out of hand. Barkley's a good trash-talker. There are a lot of good trash-talkers in the league. Each team has one.

I've never heard anyone talk about anyone's mother. If they do, then they're probably real, real good friends: "Hey, you can't score--your mother...." But I've never heard two enemies just say, "Your mother." That's not done. A fight would probably break out. And most of the time guys want to stay in the game. That's the only subject you avoid in trash-talking. I don't know why people talk about mothers. I never knew why. But kids used to say stuff about my mother, and I just used to beat them up. I guess it's a respect thing. Respect me: Don't talk about my mother.

13.

[Q] Playboy: How do you tell the difference between a fan who wants your autograph for his sick nephew and one who plans to sell your signature to make his car payment?

[A] O'Neal: Sometimes they'll say, "Sign this for my sick nephew, but don't put, 'Get well soon.'" Or they'll say, "Sign this for my nephew." What's his name? "Uh ... uh ... uh...."

14.

[Q] Playboy: You and your roommate have a contest to see who can scare the bejesus out of the other. What is the ultimate goal: cardiac arrest, an audible scream? And is there anything that can truly frighten a man of your size?

[A] O'Neal: Yes. A lot of things. If you walk in your house by yourself and you didn't see any cars out front, and then you walk around a corner and somebody jumps out, you'll be scared. I don't care how big or strong you are. But the goal is to get each other to scream. No heart attack. Just a scream.

15.

[Q] Playboy: You've played with the league's top players in the All-Star game. Is there a significant difference in energy levels between veterans and rookies? And how do older players compensate for their declining stamina?

[A] O'Neal: Older players know when to go all out and when to relax. Younger players give 100 percent all the time. Older players go at 92 percent, then 95, then 100, then back down to 95. Younger players try to stay at 100 all the time, and they get so burned out that by the fourth quarter they're down in the 70s.

16.

[Q] Playboy: What is holding us back from better relationships with the women in our lives?

[A] O'Neal: Men, especially athletes, need to treat women better instead of calling them the names we call them. I've always treated women with utmost respect because I have four sisters and I wouldn't want anyone calling my sisters those names. So we just need to treat them as they are--and they're queens. We want to be treated like kings, so we need to treat them like queens. Fifty-fifty. I'm sure back in the old days it was 80--20, but times change. We've got to give them what they want. They want to know more and they want to do more. Back then, they didn't mind just staying in the house and taking care of the kids; now, they want to work and make their own money, so we've got to communicate with them and ask them what they want. We have to cooperate with each other.

17.

[Q] Playboy: You've said that you would never date Robin Givens because the only woman who will get your money is your mother. What can women who date you expect to get? Consider this your opportunity to describe your other qualities for women.

[A] O'Neal: A woman who goes out with me will get someone who will respect her and who will treat her like she wants to be treated. If I'm messing with a woman and she asks me for money, I know what she's all about. But if I want to buy a woman a gift or give her a few dollars, it's because I want to do it, not because she wants me to do it. So I really don't believe it when people say, "She only wants you for your money"--because if I'm not giving her money, she's not going to get it, and if she asks me for money, I'm not going to give it to her.

18.

[Q] Playboy: You were 6'8" as a high school sophomore. How many of your classmates failed to achieve their potential because they sat behind you and could not see the chalkboard?

[A] O'Neal: None. I always sat in the back row. Always.

19.

[Q] Playboy: You've achieved your goal of being the first player to pull down the stanchion that supports the backboard during an NBA game. What improbable objective are you aiming for this season?

[A] O'Neal: I want to shoot eight threes. I don't know if I can do it this year. We'll have to see. But if I can get at least a couple of threes, it would get me started.

20.

[Q] Playboy: Is it true that white men can't jump?

[A] O'Neal: Some of them can't jump. Some black men can't jump, either.

the future of the nba explains the finer points of fouling, trash-talking and bad kung-fu movies

"I don't know why people talk about mothers. Kids used to do that and I just used to beat them up."