For those that follow the NBA it is just about impossible to go through a news cycle without listening to a quote from Shaq. About a month ago Shaq called out Dwight Howard (who famously donned a cape for last season’s dunk contest and has appeared in ESPN ads as a very tall version of Clark Kent) and, although this is a very belated column, it is about time this needs to be said. Dwight Howard is not Superman. Shaq is not Superman. LeBron James is Superman.
Shaq and Dwight Howard are two immensely talented players noted for their strength and ability to dominate in the post. This statement will surely attract naysayers that note Howard’s lack of offensive dominance and replay clips of a younger Shaq taking the rock the length of the court. Still, these players have always played in a rather limiting while important role. Nobody is asking Shaq to spread the defense with a deep two of defend the pick and roll and nobody is asking Howard to launch threes or score 30 points a game.
The very fact that Shaq was ever allowed to compare himself to the Man of Steel is insulting to Krypton. Superman’s list of powers and abilities, according to Wikipedia, include not only superhuman strength and invulnerability, but also flight, superhuman speed, X-ray vision, heat vision, super breath, super hearing, superhuman olfaction, and even eidetic memory.
Superman is the complete superhero whose strife has almost never been with his own mortality or his inability to complete a task, but with his ability to relate and protect a species as very fragile and fickle as humanity. If this was to be translated to some sort of basketball medium, it would have to be a player whose skills and physical capabilities know no bounds who struggles to exist on the court with lesser players. That player is not nor has never been Shaq or Howard. That player is LeBron James.
Calling James a King is an understatement. Yes, he rules the court with his very presence, but he is adept a three point shooter as he is a passer as he is a blocksman. He could lead the NBA in any category of his choosing with far less effort than we mere un-athletic fans could ever conceive.
Shaq is a sure Hall of Fame player that will go down as one of the ten best basketball players ever, but he could not do as much as LeBron. At his best, when he was with the Lakers, he played more like the Incredible Hulk than Superman. His game became much more about brute force (I blame this on the NBA officials’ willingness to allow him to abuse other players face with his high, swinging elbow while paradoxically blowing the whistle anytime he had the ball in the post and there was a hint of contact). Dwight Howard still plays like a player bound to a team concept, much like the Thing, rather than winning games by his own volition.
So, if Shaq truly wishes to be as magnanimous a teammate as he has reinvented himself to be he should pass the self-imposed nickname on to his more aptly talented teammate. He could call a postgame conference, Twitter it, or be a great showman and sell Cleveland Cavaliers tickets to the game that he hands James a blue body suit and red cape.