(there’s a diesel gasoline joke in here somewhere, but Barry Jackson’s not gonna find it funny)
Of Shaquille O’Neal’s first two months on the job alongside TNT’s Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson, the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson notes the difficulty in “trying to blend a larger-than-life personality into a studio show that already has another enormous star in Barkley.” But hey, if “Daily News Live” can pull it off with Joe Benigno’s charisma overshadowing all other participants, who’s to say TNT won’t sort things out eventually?
At times, O’Neal has merely spewed remarks that are either obvious or, in some cases, highly questionable. Shaq, for example, said Rajon Rondo “is the best point guard in the game.” To which Barkley had the perfect retort: “Is Derrick Rose dead?”
And O’Neal said “if the Kings play” like they did against Oklahoma City, “they should be in the running for the playoffs.” But they generally don’t. And even if they played better, it’s difficult to envision them challenging for a playoff berth in a conference loaded with teams over .500.
On Thursday, when he was asked by Ernie Johnson to pick a winner in a potential Heat-Bulls playoff series, Shaq refused, saying only that it would be a great series. Gee, thanks for nothing.
Shaq also keeps threatening to set himself on fire, which isn’t quite as funny as he seems to think it is.