Shaquille O'neal: Where is the Diesel?

Do you remember Shaquille O'neal when he played for the Los Angeles Lakers? You know, The Diesel, the most dominant player to ever play the game. What happened to that guy? Yea I know he has aged but honestly I don't think he has aged that much, I don't know if he has lost the love of the game or if he is going through personal things. I just miss seeing the dominant Shaq that I grew up looking at in amazement knowing that every time he got the ball that he was going to dunk with force no matter who was around the gym or he was going to get fouled ridiculously hard in order for him not to be able to put the ball up. What happened to the Shaq that averaged almost thirty points and could put up forty on any given night? He is no longer that guy who grabs over twenty rebounds a game and owns the paint. Where did he go?

After the on going dispute between Shaq and Kobe Bryant, Shaq was traded to the Miami Heat in 2004. It was one of the biggest trades of the recent NBA and being a South Floridian it was a big deal down south. When he came to Miami there was a big parade and I actually went, the turnout was massive and Shaq promised the city of Miami a championship. He kept good on his word and the Miami Heat won there first championship two years later, but Shaq took the back seat to superstar Dwayne Wade who led the Heat to their championship. Even with the championship you could tell Shaq wasn't "The Diesel" we use to see win championship after championship with the Los Angeles Lakers.

The year after the Heat won the championship the Dwayne Wade was hit with a season ending injury and the Heat had a below average season and lost in the first round of the playoffs. Shaq was also plagued by injury and even with him the Heat just didn't look like the same championship team. This 2007-2008 season the Heat had the worst record in the league and Shaq was traded to the Suns, with a new team Shaq still isn't the same big man I grew up watching and with age he is turning into an average center at best which didn't seem possible four years ago, man I miss "The Diesel".