Shaquille O’Neal had a transformation before winning his 4th NBA title. Throughout his time with the Lakers, the champ seemingly had issues with Kobe Bryant regarding his weight. The late legend had always expressed his disappointment with O’Neal’s work ethic. This continued to be an issue when O’Neal went to the Miami Heat. Riley, in his latest interview, recounted the entire process of welcoming the Big Aristotle into the team.

During his appearance on The Dan Le Batard Show, Riley explained that the first thing he did when O’Neal arrived was check his weight. The Big Aristotle weighed 383 pounds with 14% body fat at the time. However, Riley knew that O’Neal had what it took to win a championship. So, he urged him to work on himself. 

When O’Neal learned about Riley’s rules for body fat, he was baffled. Riley had a rule requiring players to maintain a certain percentage of body fat based on their position. And there were several more. Despite his initial surprise and doubt, O’Neal eventually adapted to what Riley suggested. Certainly, the former Coach had his own ways to do so.

As Riley recalled, O’Neal slimmed down to 323 pounds and 12% body fat. “I knew Shaq had one more in him. I knew he had it in him and he was 383 at the time and about 14% body fat and or more. Shaq is a big man I mean he’s a 380 pound guy. So by the end of the year he was 323 and 12% that’s that’s 60 lbs that he lost,” he said about O’Neal.

Speaking of Riley’s tactics, he once presented Alonzo Mourning as an example of the kind of work O’Neal needed to do. The Big Aristotle was impressed and has mentioned this on multiple occasions. However, he felt that these body fat rules didn’t ultimately matter.

What did Shaquille O’Neal think about Pat Riley’s rule? 

While he admitted that Mourning had a great physique and even called him a robot, O’Neal wasn’t fond of the body fat program. He shared the reason behind his belief that, despite Mourning being more fit than him, O’Neal was able to defeat him during his run with Miami Heat.

“I mean, look at Alonzo Mourning. He is a machine. Really. I wouldn’t be surprised if we found out he was a robot. The guy was always in amazing shape. He always looked ten times better than me, but I used to kill him on the court, which tells you that body fat don’t mean s**t,” he said in Shaq Uncut.

While Riley believed more in the changes he could see and weigh with his eyes, O’Neal believed much more in his mind and heart. “It’s all about what’s in your heart and in your mind. Are you tough enough? Do you want it enough? You don’t need to be at 10 percent body fat for that,” O’Neal once said. He indeed listened to his former coach’s rule. And the rest is history, as we know.

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