It was announced this weekend that the newly retired Shaquille O’Neal has reached an agreement to join Turner Sports (TNT). The very reliable Darren Rovell tweeted the news Sunday. O’ Neal was made for television, he has a great personality while being entertaining, and oh yeah he also knows the game of basketball. This is a great hire for TNT. O’ Neal was the biggest free agent out there.
O’Neal will joined former NBA star’s Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, and Chris Webber on TNT. Wow talk about characters. I have always said that TNT has the best TV basketball analysts; now with adding O’Neal it will get 10 times better. They always bring insight to the game while being entertaining. I’m sorry the NBA analysts on ESPN are horrible.
I am sure O’ Neal might seem like he isn’t doing a good job at first, but it will take a while. I can’t wait for his insight; I am sure he will call players out. Who knows maybe the game came to easy to O”Neal and won’t really give good insight about the game. You know they always say the best players don’t always make the best coaches or analysts because they never had to work for anything.
A bigger question will be how will O’Neal and Barkley get along? Both of them have dominant personalities that like to be the head of attention, will they let each other get their advice in? Remember this fight between O’Neal and Barkley (Video here) . Barkley was a member of the Houston Rockets and O’Neal was playing for the Los Angeles Lakers. I think this is behind them so there should be no problem on the TV set.
“Somebody’s gonna be fired,” Barkley said about Shaq when he retired. “He’s gonna get a TV job if he wants it. He’s going to have his choice of where he wants to go.”
Tags: Charles Barkley, Shaquille O'Neal
