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Shaq under fire

for Yao-bashing

by Chad Ford

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Also Below: Clipps to Kandi: Put up and shut up | Are the Sixers shopping Big Mac? | Did the Magic give away Amare Stoudemire? | Peep Show

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Shaquille O'Neal may be one of the most beloved figures in the NBA, but his recent verbal attacks on Chinese big man Yao Ming is starting to raise a troubling question -- is Shaq a racist?

Some feel Shaq's recent comments in his escalating war of words with Yao have crossed the line from trash talk to racial slurs.

AsianWeek columnist Irwin Tang recently called out O'Neal for several derogatory comments thrown in Yao's direction.

"Tell Yao Ming, 'ching-chong-yang-wah-ah-soh.' " O'Neal said to a reporter recently in a mock Chinese accent.

When asked this summer how he would greet Yao, Shaq said his elbows would do the talking.

"Street," O'Neal said of what is awaiting Yao in the NBA. "Playing in a gym, shooting jumpers and all that ... that's fine. But I'm street. I'm how to take a 'bow to your nose and (make you) think about what I'm going to do next time down."

Those aren't the only times Shaq has threatened Yao or mocked him for being Chinese. And Shaq isn't the only one. Charles Barkley has had his fun with Yao. Even the league itself has perpetuated stereotypes, including a recent Miami Heat promotional giveaway of 8,000 fortune cookies.

Yao, ever the diplomat, has stayed above the fray. He has joked alongside Barkley, sparred a bit verbally with O'Neal and said he found the fortune cookie promotion amusing, even if the Chinese in China don't actually eat fortune cookies.

Insider talked to several people close to O'Neal on Thursday. All of them were emphatic that O'Neal is not a racist. He was trying to be funny, they explained, and would never intentionally degrade someone because of their race. In fact, they were quick to point out, the NAACP recently honored O'Neal with its Young Leaders Award.

But even if Shaq was simply trying to be funny, Tang thinks the NBA, and the media, are employing a double standard when it comes to Asians.

"Let's not beat around the bush," Tang writes. "If a white player had, for instance, made monkey sounds to taunt a black player, it would have been a national controversy. But Yao is Chinese and Asians are fair game ...

"Forgive my bitterness. I grew up in Texas, facing those 'ching-chong' taunts daily while teachers averted their ears. I love basketball, and when Yao was drafted by Houston, I had to suppress my excitement, lest he turn out a complete flop. I went to see the Rockets play the L.A. Clippers on Dec. 12. Yao is a huge young man with huge skills. But he's also a kid in a foreign land. You can tell by the way he carries himself when the ball is not in play. My heart goes out to Yao Ming. Yao Ming is our Asian Jackie Robinson, though he does not face the intensity of animosity Robinson faced. Unfortunately Shaquille O'Neal is the modern-day Ty Cobb, the rough-playing baseball superstar who used the n-word about Robinson."

Tang is not the only one ruffled by Shaq's comments. I've received several reader e-mails over the last week about the issue. One long-time Insider reader wrote me Thursday to express his sadness over Shaq's comments:

"If this is accurate, it is pretty reprehensible," he wrote. "Too bad Shaq did not attend the World Basketball Championships. He might have found it as culturally enlightening as the rest of us. I will never forget the vigor of the Argentinian crowd after Emanuel Ginobili dunked all over Russia, or the Chinese flag-waving, 4-foot-10 Yao fan at the US-China game. ... At least Allen Iverson has seen the light. Yao is truly, 'A gift from god.' "

In a league that has been the model for integration for all ethnic groups, the issue shouldn't just be swept under the rug. Only Shaq knows what his true intentions are. But the thing about racial remarks is that the pain felt by those on the receiving end is very real, even when the intentions are benign. The NBA knows China, and its billion-plus potential fans, deserves better.

Ironically, the NBA announced the results of the latest All-Star voting numbers Wednesday, and Yao had widened his lead over Shaq for the starting center position on the Western Conference team. While some look on in dismay -- Brent Musburger reportedly lamented on ABC's Christmas Day broadcast that "the hordes of China" (another veiled slur?) might stuff the All-Star ballot box -- others will see it as a sign of hope. Hope that the borders that still demarcate the game will one day dissolve. Hope that the league will include the fans who follow the NBA faithfully throughout the world. Hope that there will come a day when we embrace players based on their level of skill and the content of their character, and not on the color of their skin.

Tell Shaquille O'Neal to 'Come down to Chinatown'

Irwin Tang / Asian Week

Yao widens lead on Shaq

Jonathan Feigen / Houston Chronicle

Clipps to Kandi: Put up and shut up

Michael Olowokandi, there's the Staples Center door. Don't let it hit you in the butt on the way out.

You wonder, over the past year or so, how many times Clippers GM Elgin Baylor has used every ounce of restraint in his tired body to keep from saying that.

Michael Olowokandi

Center

Los Angeles Clippers

Profile

2002-2003 SEASON STATISTICS

GM PPG RPG APG FG% FT%

29 12.7 9.4 1.4 .439 .643

Wednesday, Olowokandi lashed out at Clippers fans after they booed him every time he touched the ball in the post. The only cheers he got was when coach Alvin Gentry sent him to the bench late in the half. Olowokandi, who was instructed by Gentry to let it go, couldn't.

"Sometimes they want to find a scapegoat," Olowokandi told the L.A. Times. "I've played here for five years. I did publicly state that I wasn't going to be here next year, which I would publicly state again. I won't be here next year. So if they want to boo, they can go right ahead and boo."

Thursday, Baylor, fueled by the Clippers' poor play and Olowokandi's malaise, finally had enough.

Olowokandi had crossed the line. Baylor slammed the door in his face.

"He should play basketball and give his best effort every night and every afternoon," Baylor said. "That's what he gets paid to do, play basketball. He should be thankful the fans are still coming out. [Despite] the way we've been playing, they've stuck by us. The way we've been playing I wanted to stand up and boo us. He needs to learn to keep his mouth shut. It certainly doesn't help the situation. If he plays well, the fans will respond to him. They have been very positive in the past."

Can we get an amen from the congregation?

The Clippers have made more than their fair share of mistakes. Owner Donald Sterling will blow it if he lets the core of this team break up this summer because he's tight fisted. It was a major error in judgement to put all of these contracts off until this summer, creating a sense of uncertainty throughout the organization. And there's little doubt that the Clipps should have worked out some compromise with Olowokandi to keep him in the fold long term. However . . .

If anyone should be complaining right now, it should be Elton Brand, who's averaging 18.8 ppg, 11.5 rpg and leads the league in blocks. Or Andre Miller, who leads the team in assists and steals. Or Corey Maggette, who remains an afterthought on this team despite posting career highs of 15.1 ppg and 4.9 rpg. Even Lamar Odom could evoke a twinge of sympathy over the way he's been shafted by Sterling. They've all remained silent on the issue. They've come to work every day and you can see the effort on the court.

Olowokandi? His numbers this year, 12.4 ppg and 9.4 rpg on 43 percent shooting, aren't anything special. They're a slight uptick over the numbers he put up last season. His effort on the court is uneven at best. He can be dominant, but too often appears to play without any passion.

All things considered, Olowokandi may very well be the third- or fourth-best center in the league behind Shaquille O'Neal and Yao Ming. Of course, that distinction is akin to coming in third at the Mr. Puniverse pageant. It's a dubious honor at best for a league devoid of talent in the post. How great can you feel about yourself when your claim to fame is that you're better than Calvin Booth and Greg Ostertag?

That was the question Olowokandi and the Clippers wrestled with last summer. By all accounts, Sterling's offer to Olowokandi was pretty low. Olowokandi's agent, Bill Duffy, eventually set a deadline for the Clippers to up their offer. When the deadline passed, Olowokandi took the team's one-year tender, meaning he'll be an unrestricted free agent this summer. At the time, Olowokandi, upset by what he felt were bad faith negotiations, claimed that he wouldn't be back in L.A. after this season. Duffy has since tried to soften the stance, rightfully claiming that you never want to rule out anything.

Olowokandi's latest outburst all but locks the door and throws away the key. He's gone. There's little the Clippers can do about it now. Because he signed the one-year tender, the Clippers cannot trade him this season. The Spurs, Nuggets or Heat will throw a lot of cash his way this summer because there just aren't any other decent big men out there. Whatever they offer will be enough to lure him out of L.A..

The Clippers would have been in a tough position no matter what they did. Had they thrown the bank at Olowokandi, almost everyone else would've had to walk this summer. Most owners in the NBA can't afford more than two max contracts. Sterling's never been able to afford one.

Brand, Miller, Odom and Maggette are all better players than Olowokandi. If Sterling could lock up three of them, the Clippers will be in great shape next season. However, without Olowokandi in the mix, the Clippers will be pretty thin at center for a while. The team has Wang Zhizhi, but he's not really a center. Rookie Melvin Ely has a good upside, but he's more of a four than a five. Several other decent free-agent big men, including Brad Miller and Rasho Nesterovic (also a Duffy client), will be around, but the Clippers probably won't be able to afford them. The draft? Forget about it unless the Clippers go into a free fall and land someone like Darko Milicic.

Will the Clippers be better off without Olowokandi next year? One Clippers' front office exec explains. "From a basketball standpoint, we'll miss him. From a team chemistry standpoint, good riddance. To Michael, everything's about Michael. That's sometimes tough to swallow from a guy who's perhaps the fifth most talented player on the team. Size matters in the NBA, but it's really gone to his head."

Baylor to Olowokandi: Put Up and Shut Up

Elliott Teaford / Los Angeles Times

Clippers Bury Losing Streak

Elliott Teaford / Los Angeles Times

Are the Sixers shopping Big Mac?

Want evidence that the 76ers are still suffering from a bad case of buyer's remorse over last summer's trade that sent Dikembe Mutombo to the Nets in return for Keith Van Horn and Todd MacCulloch?

Todd MacCulloch

Center

Philadelphia 76ers

Profile

2002-2003 SEASON STATISTICS

GM PPG RPG APG FG% FT%

35 7.7 4.9 0.5 .509 .681

According to the New York Daily News, the Sixers are already shopping MacCulloch around the league. The Knicks are one of several teams the Sixers have contacted to see if there's an interest. MacCulloch, who makes $4.9 million this season, has another four years left on his contract after this season. The Knicks have been out searching for a legitimate big man for several years.

Other teams that have shown an interest in MacCulloch in the past may be more willing to cut a deal. The Sonics have coveted him for some time and may be willing to do a deal if the Sixers take one of their useless big men (Calvin Booth, Vitaly Potapenko) off their hands. The Blazers have also been combing the catacombs for another big body in the middle and pursued MacCulloch when he was a free agent two summer ago. They might be willing to part with one of their extra point guards (Antonio Daniels or Jeff McInnis) or even swingman Ruben Patterson.

MacCulloch is coming off his best season as a pro. Last season, he averaged 9.7 ppg and 6.1 rpg in 24 mpg for the Eastern Conference champs. This season, however, MacCulloch has been bothered by chronic foot problems. His minutes and production have slipped a bit and coach Larry Brown, who let MacCulloch slip away to New Jersey in the first place two summers ago, isn't a big fan.

Would the Knicks be willing to pull the trigger? Not if the Sixers are still after Kurt Thomas. The team made a run at him originally last summer when it attempted to trade Mutombo to New York. With MacCulloch's history of injuries, and with Thomas' great production this season, don't count on that happening. Normally, the Knicks probably would be willing to offer someone like Travis Knight.

But given New York's recent financial woes, even that isn't a given. The Knicks' payroll stands at $93 million -- or $40 million over the estimated $53 million luxury-tax threshold. The tax is 100 percent, which means owner James Dolan should pay an additional $40 million. With Dolan no longer wanting to "waste" money, the chances of GM Scott Layden convincing Dolan to add MacCulloch's salary seem slim.

Knicks may get another shot at MacCulloch

Frank Isola / New York Daily News

Dolan Singing Payroll Blues

Marc Berman / New York Post

Did the Magic give away Amare Stoudemire?

Not to heap more misery on Magic fans, but how many of you realized that the Suns used the Magic's pick to draft Amare Stoudemire?

The Magic owned the Suns' 2002 pick as part of the package for Penny Hardaway. But in November of 2001, Suns GM Bryan Colangelo masterminded a deal in which the Suns added Bo Outlaw and got their pick from Orlando back in a three-team deal that sent Judd Buechler to the Magic and Vinny Del Negro to the Los Angeles Clippers.

The scream you hear is coming from Magic GM John Gabriel in Orlando.

"Bo Outlaw has been a very valuable guy for us with his energy and enthusiasm," Colangelo told the Arizona Republic. "We made the deal because we were looking for help at the forward spot. At the time we still felt like we were in the playoff hunt and had the opportunity to add a player we always had interest in. And one of the keys was getting back our first round pick that we owed Orlando, which ultimately turned out to be Stoudemire. We were happy to get our pick back because we needed pieces to get back on track."

Now the Suns are on a roll, thanks in part to the tough inside play of Stoudemire. Meanwhile, the Magic are spinning their wheels. Gabriel has tried, unsuccessfully, for the past two years to add a decent big man to replace Ben Wallace. But the team has always been stopped by its long-term strategy of dumping contracts in order to be a player in the upcoming free agent market.

However, a shift in the NBA's finances last season resulted in the NBA lowering the cap and ruining any chance the Magic had to be a big player this summer. As it stands right now, the team will only have $6 to $7 million to spend on a free agent. The top-flight players like Tim Duncan, Jermaine O'Neal and even Michael Olowokandi are expected to command much more.

Suns' rise proves Colangelo's got game

John Gambadoro / Arizona Republic

Is the NBA Ready for Him?

Liz Clarke / Washington Post

Peep Show

Wizards: The team is not contemplating a significant trade or roster move that would sacrifice the development of its young nucleus for a potential playoff run or to appease Michael Jordan in his last NBA season, coach Doug Collins told the Washington Post. "We would love to [get into the playoffs] but, again, not at the expense at getting rid of our younger players for the future," Collins said. "That doesn't mean that the present is not important but we want the future to be for a long time. We don't want the future to be one year. When you do that, you become short-term foolish." Though the Wizards say they do not want to ship second-year big man Kwame Brown, they would at least think about a deal if they could acquire another young, big player such as Clippers forward Elton Brand, a team source told the Post. "People are always going to speculate, but Kwame's been better every game. We're not trading Kwame," Collins said for the second time this week.

T-Wolves: Terrell Brandon, responding to comments made by teammate Kevin Garnett Wednesday, said he hasn't pulled the plug on his career . . . yet. Brandon said Thursday, there has been no decision. "There's nothing brewing. Relax," Brandon told the Minneapolis Star News. "There's nothing going on. [Garnett] is giving his opinion, and I respect his opinion. But until Kevin McHale and I say something, that's the way it is. I don't want people speculating all of a sudden because my captain made a comment. I'm sure he got asked and he has to answer the question." Coach Flip Saunders however, seemed to agree with KG that Brandon's career was probably over. "I'll say this: KG probably has a pretty good barometer as far as where the situation's at," Saunders said. GM Kevin McHale also did not sound optimistic. "Everybody was optimistic that the guy would play. Right now, that is a much bigger doubt. Much, much bigger."

Celtics: The Boston Globe did a nice interview with the new Celtics owners. Wyc Grousbeck said Thursday he wanted to extend coach Jim O'Brien, GM Chris Wallace and director of player personnel Leo Papile beyond their current contracts, though the new owners will not deal with contracts or enter negotiations until after the season, believing it to be a distraction. Grousbeck added that the new ownership would also like co-captains Antoine Walker and Paul Pierce to remain with the Celtics for the rest of their careers. He praised their leadership and "devotion to the team" and called Pierce and Walker "the building blocks of the Celtics' next championship run."

Bulls: The Chicago Sun Times has come up with a nice explanation for the Bulls' road woes -- fear of flying. Turns out that most of the Bulls young players are scared to death to fly the not-so-friendly skies. "Every time I get on a plane, I get something to eat real quick and get my headphones on and close all the blinds," forward Eddie Robinson said. "I don't want to see nothing. I hate flying. There's no reason to go up that high." Marcus Fizer says Jamal Crawford is just as bad. "I know Jamal is a terrible flier," Fizer said. "I know just by seeing his face a time or two after turbulence, and how quickly he sits down and puts on his seatbelt."

Young Team Suits Wizards

Steve Wyche / Washington Post

Brandon: 'Nothing going on' regarding retirement

Steve Aschburner / Minneapolis Star-Tribune

Addressing the issues

Shira Springer / Boston Globe

Flying often fearful fact of NBA life

Roman Modrowski / Chicago Sun-Times

[jaywalker72]

I still appreciate the daily insider postings...gracias...

[Guest]

Agreed.Thanks for taking the time to post the

insiders.Orlando is in real bad need of a big

man....Could a three way deal be worked out?

I really don't want anything from them besides

Tmac of course.

[Guest]

Atlanta trades: SF Glenn Robinson (20.5 ppg, 7.1 rpg, 3.0 apg in 37.5 minutes)

C Nazr Mohammed (3.5 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 0.1 apg in 10.9 minutes)

Atlanta receives: C Andrew DeClercq (3.9 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 0.6 apg in 15.4 minutes)

SF Grant Hill (15.3 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 4.4 apg in 30.4 minutes)

Change in team outlook: -4.8 ppg, +2.2 rpg, and +1.9 apg.

Orlando trades: C Andrew DeClercq (3.9 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 0.6 apg in 15.4 minutes)

SF Grant Hill (15.3 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 4.4 apg in 30.4 minutes)

Orlando receives: SF Glenn Robinson (20.5 ppg, 7.1 rpg, 3.0 apg in 33 games)

C Nazr Mohammed (3.5 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 0.1 apg in 11 games)

Change in team outlook: +4.8 ppg, -2.2 rpg, and -1.9 apg.

TRADE ACCEPTED

[Guest]

I want to trade Big Dog for a decent player that

we can be more sure of his health.

[Guest]

I think to trade anyone on this roster right now, other than perhaps Terry and maybe SAR, both of who still have some "upside", we're going to have to take a risk - their value isn't super high and teams know that we need to make a trade...

[Boondocks]

As always I appreciate the insiders weaseldom

and

As always I appreciate your avatars hotlanta