Lessons from the Lakers summer league win over the Heat
By Ronald Agers
Shareef O’Neal had a solid summer league opener but…
This writer is really pulling for Shareef to follow in the footsteps of his father Shaquille O’Neal and make it to the NBA and have a good career. The problem is, based on what he has done on college, the only reason that he is on the roster (Sorry folks!) is because of his father.
In this game, O’Neal played solid when he was on the floor with 6 points and 6 rebounds. He played with energy and did not make many defensive mistakes. But that’s hard to decipher considering the Miami Heat was so bad.
People tend to forget that Shareef had open heart surgery a few years back. That set him back big time when he had decided to go to the UCLA. Then after that didn’t work out, he moved to LSU, his father’s alma mater. After averaging 3 points and 2 rebounds there he first went to the transfer portal before landing with the Lakers.
This basically all we know about the younger O’Neal…
Right now, the headlines is about Shareef and the Lakers icons bumping heads over this decision via ESPN…
"“We kind of bump heads about this process,” O’Neal, 22, said at a video news conference, according to ESPN. In fact, the elder O’Neal “didn’t like the idea at all.” “He wanted me to stay in school,” the younger O’Neal added. “I wanted to better myself through this. He knows I’m working out with teams. But I’m not going to lie, we ain’t talked about this. I’m kind of just going through it. He didn’t do any pre-draft workouts; he just got straight on the [Orlando Magic], so it’s a different grind.”"
This game does not show if Shareef made the right decision…yet!
Finally, let’s take a look at Max Christie, the Los Angeles Lakers second round pick. Read on!