After winning four championships under two of the greatest coaches in NBA history, Shaquille O’Neal doesn’t place emphasis on head coaches. And it infuriated the Inside Guys so much, it was a 2vs1 debate. The big man’s opinion is not new. Charles Barkley and Ernie Johnson bring it up a lot and Shaq usually doesn’t bother doubling down. This time it’s about Orlando Magic, Shaq’s beloved team. With Paolo Banchero injured, the Inside Guys disagreed on whether player talent or head coaching has made Magic NBA Cup contenders.

In Banchero’s absence, Franz Wagner has stepped up for Orlando and Shaq credits him for the team’s success, very explicitly saying, “This guy is the man.” Chuck and Kenny wanted to give head coach Jamahl Mosley his flowers too. But the debate only escalated the way it only can in Studio J.

Emphasizing Wagner’s improving numbers, Shaq claims he’s controlling the floor and “It has got nothing to do with coaching.” Barkley argued before Shaq reached the end of that sentence, “Of course it has to do with coaching.”

Now Chuck makes a valid point that without the star player, it falls on the coach to plug in the right guy. Shaq is jumping a few steps by claiming Wagner is making use of the void left by Banchero. And he tagged in Kenny “The Jet” Smith to back him up. However, as Chuck said, “Kenny’s not going to back you up,” even The Jet said, “Shaq, I can’t back you up.” 

The importance of a coach has been a point of disagreement between Shaq and his colleagues for years. Barkley’s made a running joke out of it in The Steam Room. But this time they didn’t laugh it off. It was one of those days the Inside Guys were talking over each other.

Chuck and Kenny pull the receipts on Shaq

You know an Inside debate gets lopsided when the Big Aristotle pulls the same old, “I’m not wrong, I’ve got four.” This time, Chuck and Kenny had to pull receipts from Shaquille O’Neal’s past to make a point.

Orlando currently holds its best win percentage since 2009/10 with a 15-7 record. In the last 12 of those games, Wagner has led his team to a win 11 times and he is doing so with an average of 23.4 points (25.1 in Banchero’s absence) and 5.7 rebounds. This is an impressive improvement  compared to his 19.7 average last season. So Shaq insists that Wagner is carrying the team on his own.

But as he did, Kenny brought up the example of Kobe Bryant. As per Kenny, The Black Mamba had so much in his arsenal to fill in any position. Players today don’t have the same versatile arsenal. It falls on the coach to utilize them when their chief pointgetter is out. O’Neal again dismissed it by stating Kobe was a point guard and that was his job.

So Charles Barkley summarized Shaq’s opinion as, “So you just don’t believe in coaching and you’re just wrong. Coaches are important.” Shaq was so mad at being called wrong, he pulled up the four rings counterargument. So Kenny had to point out he won those four rings under two of the greatest coaches ever – Phil Jackson with the Lakers and Pat Riley with the Miami Heat.

Kenny and Chuck even reminded him that they played against Orlando Shaq before he was coached by Phil Jackson and he wasn’t as good. Because Kenny even swept Shaq to win the championship. 

Did Shaq buy it? He claimed that Phil Jackson “sat his [Kobe’s] a– down and told him to figure it out.” He wouldn’t be caught dead with allegations he hates coaches like Jackson and Riley.

They never came to a conclusion because Ernie had to break it up. But who do you think is right about Jamahl Mosley’s Magic?