re: Pat Riley - "Shaq was bigger acquisition for Heat than LeBron"

quote:

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"(Alonzo Mourning) was big, but getting Shaquille changed everything for our franchise."

Though those Heat-Knicks postseason meetings in the Mourning era were gripping, O'Neal and Dwyane Wade brought the franchise its first title, and Riley says it was O'Neal's arrival that changed the trajectory of the organization.

"The seminal moment to make us really, really legitimate," Riley said. "He turned our franchise around. He gave us real legitimacy."

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Makes a lot of sense to me. If Shaq never goes there, then a very legit question is if they ever even get Lebron.