Shaquille O'Neal Retires, Ending a One of a Kind Career | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors

Shaquille O'Neal retired yesterday, ending a legendary career. And I think it is safe to say that we will never see anyone quite like Shaquille O'Neal again. He is as unique a player and person the NBA has never seen.

Starting with his utter domination for most of his career, he is unlike many. In his prime, he was the most dominant player of the last decade, and had a stretch of dominance that few other players can match. He was Rookie of the Year, MVP, a 15-time all star, three-time all star MVP, won 4 championships and was a three-time finals MVP. I don't think we will ever see another player average 30 points, 14 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 blocks per game, or someone average 38 points and 17 rebounds in an NBA Finals again. Few people have ever dominated like that. 

He is no doubt a top-10 player of all time, but how he got there helps set him apart from all the rest.

How many other post-merger top-10 players had an incredibly glaring weakness that greatly effected their career like Shaq had with his free throw shooting? No elite post-merger had any weakness that affected them as much as Shaq's free throw shooting. Considering the fact that Shaq left about four points a game on the table because of poor free throw shooting, it is remarkable that he was still able to dominate. But it also can't be ignored that it was this weakness that created a whole new defensive strategy (Hack-A-Shaq), and forced Shaq to sit out some close playoff games because. If you buy into his Superman nickname, this was his kryptonite.

But he was so dominant that he overshadowed his weakness. He is also one of the only players that can say he has a better field goal percentage (an incredible 58%) than his free throw percentage (53%). That either means you are incredibly efficient from the field or really bad from the free throw line. Shaq was both.  

Not only is he one of the only players to dominate even with a big weakness, but how many other players on the same level as Shaq have played for as many teams as he had? He has played for six different teams throughout his career, including both the Celtics and the Lakers. Of top-10 caliber players, the most teams a player has played for is three (Wilt). Never before have we seen a player who dominated like Shaq bounce around from team to team, and never again will we see a dominant force bounce around the league.

His career longevity is also staggering for a player of his size and style of play. He had 325 (more like 350) pounds resting on seven feet of brittle bones and played as physical as anyone, yet still managed to play 19 seasons and play until nearly the age of 40. Few players have played 19 seasons and only one other top-10 player (Kareem) has played until they were almost 40.

But despite his uniqueness in domination, free throw shooting weakness, the many teams he played for and longevity, what really sets him apart from all others was how entertaining he was. No other player has ever entertained like Shaq. He was a born entertainer.

He has released four rap albums including one that went platinum. He has been given, or given himself, 18 nicknames, with more likely to come. He has been in 11 movies and starred in two. He has had three reality shows and made appearances in countless others. He has provided entertaining bits of trash talk such as calling the Sacramento Kings the "Sacramento Queens." He has been in several fights. He has conducted symphonies. And he is always in the news. No player was as media savvy and entertaining as Shaq.

He was fun, and so was rooting for him. If you could spend a day with one NBA player, you can't tell me that you wouldn't pick to hang out with Shaq.

And in the end, his combination of on-court and off-court talent truly set him apart from any other player ever. And no other player will ever come close. But luckily, although we will now not see him dominate on the court again, I can guarantee that he will not stop entertaining now that he is retired. In fact, we might even see more of it.