Media Feud: Shaquille O'Neal Vs. Bill Walton

The newly waged battle between The Diesel and Mr. Bill Walton has me wondering just who has the upperhand in this heated media debate.

When Shaquille O'Neal was with the Miami Heat earlier this season, he missed quite a few games that were attributed to injury. The Heat were playing horribly, and they were definitely out of the running for playoff contention in the lowly Eastern Conference.

Upon being traded to the Phoenix Suns, Shaq was pleased to be on a championship contending team. In usual Shaquille O'Neal fashion, Shaq let everyone know that his presence would be significant and that he would help the Suns "get over the hump." Then during a Phoenix Suns game, Shaq was pointed out by the lighting crew, where he promptly pointed toward his pinkie finger, thereby suggesting that he was going to deliver a championship to the Suns organization, and a 5^th ring for himself. Also, in typical Shaq fashion, Shaq let everyone know that he could be the last piece to get the Suns a championship title, and that he fully plans on be accountable come playoff time.

Bill Walton seemed to take offense Shaq's suggestion that he wants to win a championship in Phoenix. Bill Walton suggested that Shaq was faking the seriousness of his injuries while in Miami because the team was not performing well. He then went on to call Shaquille "an insult to thinking people everywhere," for moving on to Phoenix and "suddenly" being injury-free and capable of contributing to a championship team.

Shaquille O'Neal responded, once again in typical fashion, by saying that Walton was "in violation" of his self-imposed code that a center ranked below another center in the pecking order of "Center Greatness" is not allowed to speak disparagingly about a center above him. And Shaq noted that if Walton wanted to comment on Shaq's injury faking, that Walton, an oft-injured player himself, had a fake career.

So who has more authority in this situation?

Well for starters, as far as injuries go, Shaquille O'Neal, despite being injured very often, has played 6 full seasons, and by "full", I mean playing at least 90% of the season. Now 6 out of his 16 seasons is nothing impressive at all, however, Bill Walton was far worse. Walton only had 1 season out of 10 where he played at least 90% of the games, and he didn't even start that season. On top of that, Walton never averaged more than 36 minutes per game; whereas, Shaq did that for 11 out of his first 12 seasons in the league.

As far as the pecking order goes, there is no question that Shaq was the more prevalent center and had the better career. Walton and Shaq both have one MVP award, but Shaq has 4 championships to Walton's 2.

So as far this argument goes, I think Walton ought to refrain from taking on Shaq, especially when it comes to injuries. Because you have to look long and hard before you find a more prevalent player than Walton, who missed as many games.