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Shaq places top draftee Griffin in same class as LeBron, Kobe

Amid complaints about the dearth of talent in last week's NBA draft, No. 1 pick Blake Griffin has earned resounding approval from Shaquille O'Neal. Shaq
Ian Thomsen|
Shaq places top draftee Griffin in same class as LeBron, Kobe
Shaq places top draftee Griffin in same class as LeBron, Kobe

Amid complaints about the dearth of talent in last week's NBA draft, No. 1 pick Blake Griffin has earned resounding approval from Shaquille O'Neal.

Shaq believes Griffin, the new 6-foot-10 power forward of the Los Angeles Clippers, deserves mention with the most intriguing rookies of the past 15 years.

"Every now and then you get that special case," O'Neal told SI.com. "Kobe was that special case, [Kevin] Garnett was that special case, and LeBron James ..."

Here he pauses, like an emcee introducing a surprise guest to the stage.

"And now I actually think this guy Blake Griffin is a special case," said O'Neal. "He plays the game like a big man should play -- hard-nosed, tough. I really like his game.

"My (10 year old) son is starting to play now, and I don't like to let him watch players that are really, really fancy. Of course, I'll let him watch Kobe, LeBron, T-Mac (Tracy McGrady). But I show him Blake Griffin and I say, 'Shareef, this is the dude you should watch and pattern your game after.' Because my son, when he's older, I think he's going to have the same body type -- 6-10, muscular, freakish athletically."

As O'Neal prepares to visit Cleveland this week for the first time since his recent trade to the Cavaliers, he promises to remain even-tempered about the possibility of helping LeBron win his first championship.

"My wife said this is the first time she's seen a great team get a great player and not lose any players," said O'Neal of the blockbuster that sent Ben Wallace, Sasha Pavlovic, a second-round pick and $500,000 to the Phoenix Suns. "But I'm going to take it one game. Anybody can say [they're going to win a title", but now you've got to get there.

"Anytime you're in the Finals, they want you to do the promo pics with the gold ball, but I won't do it. 'Just take the picture.' No, I won't do it. It's just one picture, but I'm not jinxing myself."

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Ian Thomsen
IAN THOMSEN

Senior Writer, Sports Illustrated Sports Illustrated Senior Writer Ian Thomsen, who joined the magazine in 1998, is one of SI's top basketball scribes. Along with writing columns and features for SI, Thomsen is a frequent contributor to SI.com. Before joining SI, Thomsen spent six years in Europe as the sports columnist for the International Herald Tribune, the world's largest international English-language daily. While at the paper Thomsen wrote about an array of sports for a global audience, including the major world and European soccer tournaments, the 1995 Rugby World Cup, Olympic Games, Ryder Cups, Grand Slam tennis events, Grand Prix auto races and, very rarely, cricket. Thomsen, who graduated from Northwestern with a journalism degree in 1983, was a feature writer for The National Sports Daily during its short, expensive run of 1990-91. His first job was with The Boston Globe, where he covered Doug Flutie's Boston College Eagles and all three of the Celtics-Lakers NBA Finals of the 1980s. Thomsen was a feature writer at SI before taking on the NBA beat fulltime in 2000. With Luis Fernando Llosa and Melissa Segura, Thomsen covered the 2001 scandal of overaged Little League pitcher Danny Almonte and wrote the first SI cover story on Kobe Bryant in 1998. Thomsen lives with his wife and two children near Boston.

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