5 for Shaq

The Miami Heat has opened training camp and with Shaq's promise of defending the title made during the Heat's victory parade, he believes his team can get him ring number 5. He has four championship rings and in an interview with the Associated Press, he said his motivation is five.

The 2006-2007 season will see the return of at least thirteen players from last season's championship squad. While other Eastern Conference teams were busy retooling their units, Miami decided to stay intact. Why tinker with a perfectly cohesive unit?

Shaq, at 34 years old, had season averages of 20 points and 9.2 rebounds per game, which are impressive numbers but these stats are career lows. During the Finals, he was almost a non-entity, submitting 13.7 points, 29.2% from the stripe and a five point career playoff low in one loss.

Insisting that his numbers are inconsequential, Shaq is content to being the decoy. When he is not on the court, teammates don't get open shots. If he's inside, the defense collapse on the big fella and there is bound to be one or two guys open. The best thing is that he's happy to be playing a different game instead of focusing on his own individual performance.

Dwayne Wade says there's only one thing Shaq can't do. "He's working out. He's always calling me, talking about how he's trying to get his abs better than mine, which isn't possible", Wade said.

Hey, if Shaq is challenging his sidekick to a fitness test, one who happens to be 10 years younger and at least 100 pound lighter than him, then he's really bent on getting ring number 5. Shaq is entering training camp in better shape last season.

"The first championship that I won, I won them. I had big numbers and I won them. Last year the guys won it for me. They won it for the big guy. Numbers are overrated. There's a lot of guys in this league who can say they've got great numbers. But they can't say they've got four rings in the last six years," Shaq told AP.

Shaq added during the interview that he'd like to get "at least two" before retiring. Do we see ring number five and six coming? A motivated Shaquille O'Neal is reason enough to make the Miami Heat heavy favorites for a repeat.

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