We’re counting down the 10 most important developments of the Celtics offseason.
No. 4: Shaq attack
Shaquille O’Neal was not the most important offseason signing for the Celtics. He wasn’t even the most important acquisition at his position. That would be Jermaine O’Neal who will be asked to assume the starter’s role when training camp begins.
But Shaq rates higher on our list for reasons that go beyond the court. That’s the way it is with Shaq these days. His offcourt persona dominates to such a degree that it has become bigger than his game.
People know Shaq. Kids are drawn to him. Non-hoop fans recognize him instantaneously. If your 95-year-old great grandfather is aware of one contemporary basketball player, it’s Shaq.
He crossed over to the mainstream long ago, but Shaq is the rare individual who has evolved with the times and stayed there. Where once he was the rapping genie, now he’s got reality shows, high-profile weddings and divorces, and one of the bigger Twitter presences of any athlete.
But Shaq the basketball player? He’s had one great season in the last four (2008-09 with Phoenix) and has played in more than 61 games once in the last five. He’s been traded twice in the last three years and was available to the Celtics for the veteran’s minimum.
There are real questions about his defense, particularly in the pick-and-roll, and whether he has become a lane-clogger for the slashing young stars he once so ably aided.
That’s the way it is with superstars. We don’t like to watch them slide into supporting roles when the memories of their dominance are still fresh. So we lament what they aren’t anymore, instead of looking at what they are.
When healthy, not a small consideration, Shaq has shown in the last few years that he can still produce. If you were told that the Celtics signed a legit backup center who averaged 12 points and 6.7 rebounds last season for the minimum, you would be elated. This was the ideal signing for the Celtics on those terms. A no-brainer, fait accompli, slam dunk.
And yet, there was reluctance. Did the Celtics really need another aging veteran superstar with an outsized personality?
On the day he was introduced, Doc Rivers made his point clearly that Shaq was coming in for supporting purposes and would not necessarily be made a priority, as he has been whenever he arrived in a new town.  
“I told him there was not 30 minutes on this team,” Rivers said. “There will be 20-25 minutes. I asked him if that was OK, because that’s the only way it will work. We talked about coming off the bench. It’s very important when you get a guy like Shaq to be up front and honest and tell him where you see he’ll be. If he can accept that he’ll fit our mold.”
But, Rivers allowed, having a serious low-post presence coming off the bench, something that was conspicuously absent last year? That would be great.
O’Neal had other opportunities. He said that he turned down more money from Detroit and Atlanta, but this marriage is not about cash.
The Celtics offer Shaq the chance to stay in the spotlight, and not incidentally, go head-to-head with his former teams Orlando, Los Angeles and Miami. He has feuded with Dwight Howard and Stan Van Gundy, Kobe Bryant and Pat Riley. He’s played with Dwyane Wade and LeBron James and won championships with Phil Jackson.
His presence elevates Celtics games with their rivals into primetime (capital-E) Event status, and he offers definitive proof that the Celtics won’t sit idly by and let Miami leave them in the past. Considering their cap situation and need for another big man, landing Shaq is about as good as it gets.
Will it be enough? That’s a whole other question, one that will be decided months from now. But as we enter camp, the Shaq signing is a low-risk high-reward gamble on the one hand, and the highest-profile addition on the other.
Up next: Ray Allen returns