The Kobe Bryant-Shaquille O'Neal love fest continues, at the expense of Dwight Howard.
The Lakers guard apparently feels that the Big Aristotle was a breath of fresh air, compared to another big man Bryant had to deal with later in his career - and no, he's not talking about Andrew Bynum.
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Bryant came down on Howard, who left the Lakers in the summer of 2013 after a tumultuous year in L.A., according to another released excerpt on The Big Podcast With Shaq that is scheduled to air Monday, Slamonline.com reported.
"I didn't appreciate Shaq until I played with Dwight"- Kobe Bryant on the Shaq Podcast. pic.twitter.com/yONHZMjKiQ— Per Sources Sports (@PerSources14) August 27, 2015
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Los Angeles had high hopes for the 2012-13 season after trading for Howard and landing free agent Steve Nash. Those hopes began to deteriorate when Nash suffered a small fracture in his left leg during the second game of the season and the team's 1-4 start led to the firing of coach Mike Brown.
The team was as bad as 17-25 before Bryant put the team on his shoulders and led the Lakers back into playoff contention in the second half of the season. But heavy minutes may have led to Bryant suffering an Achilles tear in Los Angeles' 80th game of the 82-game regular season.
Without Nash and Bryant, Howard and Pau Gasol were no match for the Spurs in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs, getting swept in four games.
Then, Bryant's pitch to Howard, who was a free agent after the season, to remain with the Lakers rubbed the big man the wrong way as the Black Mamba told him that he would continue to teach Howard how to win, as Fansided.com later alluded.
Howard jilted the Lakers and joined James Harden and the Rockets. He has yet to win an NBA title.
Bryant and O'Neal won three together, Shaq won a title without the five-time NBA champion and Byant won two championships without Shaq.
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