Excerpts from the book, which he wrote with former Boston Globe columnist Jackie MacMullan, have revealed some stunning details. When it comes to his time in green, O'Neal reveals that he once threatened to punch Glen Davis in the face and that Nate Robinson's attention-seeking nature was one of the reasons Doc Rivers never really warmed up to him, according to The Boston Globe.
O'Neal recounts a West Coast swing the Celtics had last January when Davis neglected to pass him the ball despite O'Neal's good positioning under the basket.
"So I go up to him and say, 'If you ever miss me again I'm going to punch you in the face.' I was hot," Shaq reportedly says in the book.
According to O'Neal, a similar situation happened two nights later, when Davis again settled for jump shots despite O'Neal's favorable positioning. He says that he really let Davis have it when they got back to the huddle.
"I tell him, 'Pass the [expletive] ball inside.' He comes back at me a little bit and now I'm really heated. All hell is breaking loose. We're going back and forth. Doc is standing there and he's not saying a word. The message is pretty clear: Work this out yourselves. I tell Baby, 'You're a selfish player. Everyone on this team knows it.' Hey, all the fans knew it. He takes shots when he shouldn't," O'Neal says.
When it comes to Robinson, who the Celtics dealt to the Oklahoma City Thunder with Kendrick Perkins in February, O'Neal says that he wasn't surprised the C's traded him because he was always seeking public attention. O'Neal says Robinson was a little too focused on Twitter.
O'Neal reportedly also notes in his book that Rajon Rondo "probably needs to meet his teammates halfway once in a while" and that he thinks the young guard was impacted by President Barack Obama's joke about Ray Allen needing to teach him how to shoot.
Details about O'Neal's high level of respect for Rivers, Danny Ainge and The Big Three are also expected to be in the book.
