O’Neal also responded angrily to McGee , saying he would ”smack” McGee’s ”bum a–” after McGee reacted to yet more mockery.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr and teammate Kevin Durant backed McGee on Friday, with Durant calling Shaq ”childish” while criticizing the retired center’s poor free throw shooting and other flaws in his game during a Hall of Fame NBA career.

”JaVale works extremely hard. He’s come in here and done so much for us as a player,” Durant said. ”He only wants to be respected just like anybody else. I understand that Shaq works for a company that wants him to do that type of stuff and make fun of the players. It’s cool and funny but when you just keep doing it time and time and time again for no reason and then a guy actually disagrees with you and you threaten him, I didn’t know cops could threaten civilians like that. It’s definitely childish but that’s what they want from these stars, these retired players, is to feud with the guys that’s playing now and make arguments and disagreements.

”If I was JaVale I’d feel the same way. It’s childish. Shaq wants to make a joke about it but if it was him in that position he would feel the same way.”

Shaq and McGee went back and forth in a heated Twitter spat after McGee was done playing Thursday night and it went into the wee hours of Friday. In a 123-113 win against the Clippers, McGee returned to a reserve role for the NBA-best Warriors as starting center Zaza Pachulia returned from an eight-game absence because of a shoulder injury.

The 7-foot McGee, who wasn’t available after practice to discuss the matter, had four points and four rebounds in nearly 12 minutes of action. Many days after practice he sits with assistant coach Jarron Collins to study film.

From Kerr’s perspective, the constant ripping of McGee by O’Neal could affect the big man’s reputation and salary figures in the future.

”JaVale has been fantastic for us, as a player, as a teammate, a fantastic guy,” Kerr said. ”He’s funny, he’s fun to be around, he does his job. He’s a total pro. I don’t blame him for being frustrated. Shaq’s been picking on him for years and years and years. I think JaVale, rightfully so, probably gets frustrated. It like never ends. It’s one thing to just have a little fun but I think you can go a little bit over the top.

”So, it’s one of those things, if you think of JaVale’s career when you’re in this position where somebody on national TV’s making fun of you night after night, it’s not the greatest thing for your reputation. I can tell you I had a preconceived notion of JaVale before he got here that turned out to be totally false.”

Kerr hopes McGee can move on and focus on basketball.

The 29-year-old McGee is in his ninth NBA season with his fifth team.

”Everybody can’t be Shaq,” Durant said. ”He’s trying to make his money and enjoy the game of basketball and this perception of him now is that he’s a dumb player because he makes mistakes out on the court. Shaq was a s— free throw shooter. He missed dunks, he airballed free throws, he couldn’t shoot outside the paint. He was bigger than everybody. He didn’t have any skills.”

The post Durant: Shaq’s constant ripping of JaVale McGee ‘childish’ appeared first on IdealCapper.

“I don’t know what the best way is to make them play together, but I know one thing is that they both got to just play hard and believe and not worry about — ‘Hey, how can we make this work,’ ” Nash said. “We just got to fight and scrap and on defense, use their length and athleticism and on offense, we all got to just be unselfish and sacrifice and make plays for each other regardless of where we are on the floor.”

Gasol has missed the past three games after sustaining a concussion against the Denver Nuggets when JaVale McGee inadvertently elbowed his nose.

Gasol was re-evaluated on Saturday and not cleared to resume basketball activities. He will receive another examination Sunday morning in advance of the game against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni said Gasol will be a game-time decision.

Howard also has missed the past three games with a torn labrum in his right shoulder. He participated in on-court conditioning exercises Saturday and will be re-evaluated Sunday. The Lakers are officially listing Howard as out, but D’Antoni said he will be a game-time decision.

While Gasol has been out, the Lakers (15-21) have floundered, losing three straight games to extend their losing streak to six — the worst skid for the franchise since it lost seven in a row in March 2007.

Nash also said it will be part of his responsibility as a point guard to get Gasol going when the big men do get back in the lineup. Gasol is averaging career lows in both points per game (12.1) and shooting percentage (41.6 percent) this season.

“I’m going to try to get Pau involved,” Nash said. “Obviously, I think he’s a terrific player. I think when we played together recently, there was a lot of opportunities where (the defense) would jump out on my pick-and-rolls, I’d get it back to him quickly. He can be the playmaker in 4-on-3, 3-on-2 situations where he really thrives. The fact of the matter, it’s tough to get inside to him when Dwight and him are on the floor together. To Pau’s credit, he can stretch the floor more than Dwight and he’s more of a playmaker, so sometimes he’s going to find himself on the perimeter.”

In Nash’s opinion, it’s Gasol’s mental game, not his positioning on the court, that matters most.

“I think Pau is a tremendous basketball player,” Nash said. “I need to see him get his health and his confidence back. Even when he has been inside this year he hasn’t looked very confident. For me, I really want to see him really feel better physically, mentally, confident and enjoy the game because I don’t know if he’s been himself this year. If we can get him back to himself, it doesn’t matter where he plays. He’ll be great.”

Lakers executive vice president of player personnel Jim Buss told ESPNLA 710 radio in Los Angeles on Thursday that when Gasol returns, he wants the former four-time All-Star to receive more touches on the block.

“I love Pau Gasol,” Buss said. “The thing is, if you shoot the basketball from six feet, your percentages are going to be in the high 50s. If you shoot from 18 feet, you’re lucky to get 40 percent. To base his year off of his shooting percentages is just not the right way to analyze how he’s playing.

“I believe if we can get him down low, he can coexist with Dwight Howard if they play enough games to where they can play off each other. I believe eventually he will move down there and D’Antoni will move him down there and his percentage will go back right to where it was.”

D’Antoni said he has spoken to Buss and general manager Mitch Kupchak about fixing things for Gasol before the Lakers lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder 116-101 on Friday.

“We talked about it and I think it’s pretty evident we’d like to get him more touches down there,” D’Antoni said. “… There are going to be a lot of changes (when Gasol and Howard return). We have to try to do everything and if that works, yeah, we’ll do it in a heartbeat.”

The post Steve Nash wants big men to coexist appeared first on IdealCapper.