Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant were co-MVPs of the 2009 NBA All-Star Game in Phoenix. (GETTY IMAGES)

No matter how much they try to detach from each other, Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant will forever be linked in Lakers lore.

The duo brought home three consecutive championships to the franchise and reached the NBA Finals four times in five seasons. The Shaq-and-Kobe era gave Laker fans a multitude of unforgettable moments, including the spectacular alley-oop play to clinch the Western Conference championship in 2000, the dominant 15-1 playoff run in 2001, and the sweep three-peat in 2002. Oh, they also had legendary battles off the court, which oftentimes overshadowed their accomplishments on the court. But that’s to be expected given the enormous egos both players possess.

At the end of the day, Shaq and Kobe are a part of a very important chapter in Lakers history.

Another page was added to that chapter in Philadelphia on Monday, Feb. 6, after Bryant passed O’Neal on the NBA’s all-time scoring list, moving into fifth place with just Wilt Chamberlain, Michael Jordan, Karl Malone and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar ahead of him. The 33-year-old Bryant, the NBA’s leading scorer with 29.4 points, has 28,601 career points – all wearing the purple and gold jersey.

Bryant said it was an honor to pass O’Neal because of their history together.

“All the battles we’ve been in, the playoff battles, the duo that we’ve been able to form,” Bryant said after his historic night in his hometown, where he has been booed loudly on each visit. “When you (consider) the championships, it makes it a little more significant.”

Bryant’s record-setting night wasn’t lost on O’Neal. The Big Fella sent a congratulatory note to Bryant via Twitter and thanked Kobe for helping form one of the greatest 1-2 punches in NBA history. Shaq’s tweet:

O’Neal retired after the 2011 season. He no longer is interested in petty battles with his old foe Kobe, and if you notice he’s going out of his way to praise his former teammate every chance he gets. Shaq is smart enough to realize that he looks like a bitter old guy if he continued his pot shots at Kobe. Bryant will go down as the greatest Laker of all time and Shaq won’t be too far behind. They may not be great friends off the court, but they’re both realizing what they brought to the game when they set aside their differences, which they did for the most part.

Shaq’s message to Kobe appears to be genuine, and he has said on several occasions that Kobe is the best player he’s ever seen. Remember, it was Shaq who put his arms around a then 18-year-old Bryant when he air-balled those two shots in the 1997 playoff game against Utah. And it was Shaq who called Kobe “the best player on the planet” during the Lakers’ playoff series against San Antonio in 2001.

The Colorado sexual assault case in 2004 drove a huge stake into their relationship, which neither man has never gotten over. Kobe was mad at Shaq for “not calling him” after he was charged with rape while Shaq was upset with Kobe for “throwing him under the bus” with the statements he made to Colorado authorities about paying women to keep quiet, and Kobe dug himself an ever deeper whole when he unleashed on Shaq in his interview with Jim Gray.

Time heals all wounds, and that appears to be the case with both MEN. Yes, they are now men not boys. Over time, they have to realize that they have to let go of the past and move on. When it is all said and done and both are long gone from the game, Kobe will realize how important Shaq was to his legacy and Shaq will realize how important Kobe was to his legacy.

Joel Huerto is the editor and publisher of OneManFastBreak.net. Follow him on Twitter @onemanfastbreak.

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Ron Artest hopes to point the Lakers to a 16th NBA championship. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

When Ron Artest was introduced as the newest member of the Los Angeles Lakers, he didn’t disappoint and gave the assembled media a sneak peak at his colorful personality, starting with the No. 37 jersey he chose to wear for the 2009-10 season.

Why No. 37?

“I just ask all my Twitter friends and on MySpace and Facebook, and I asked all my fans to pick a number for me,” Artest said during his press conference on Wednesday. “A fan came up with this idea, because I like Michael Jackson so much, she said pick 37 because Thriller was the No. 1 album for 37 straight weeks and it was the No. 1 album of all time.”

The jersey number was definitely an odd choice even for an oddball like Artest. But that’s Ron Artest in a nutshell – half genius, half madman, but 100% quirky,

The Artest deal was reported at $33 million stretched across five years, and the agreement was basically consummated just hours after the free agency period began on July 1. Artest posted on his Twitter page on the evening of July 2 that he just signed a deal with a team. He did not specify which team, but the media dismissed the reports, saying the source was a phony. As it turned out, it was indeed Artest who sent the message on his “96TruwarierQB” Twitter account.

The acquisition of the 30-year-old forward signifies the end of the Lakers being labeled “soft.” The recently crowned world champions instantly got harder and tougher by bringing in the imposing 6-7, 250-pound enforcer. Everything about him exudes physicality. He could walk right up to you and say “Boo!” and you would be running for cover.

But before we hand the Lakers the Larry O’Brien trophy for 2009-10, consider some of the baggage Artest brings to the locker room. For all the heightened testosterone he injects into a ballclub (he has played for Chicago, Indiana, Sacramento and Houston) the highly combustible Artest is still…Ron Artest, and there are several warning signs that comes with the package.

His probation officers, also known as the NBA headquarters in New York, are always watching his every move. The Queensbridge native just can’t seem to escape the image of him climbing the standings and throwing down with paying customers in The Palace of Auburn Hills during the infamous Pacers-Pistons brawl in 2004.

From that point, Ron-Ron has developed a reputation for being a trouble-maker. He has become a magnate for technical fouls and is arguably the most scrutinized player in the league. The Lakers rely on continuity and steady flow, two of Phil Jackson’s favorite terms, so the addition of someone such as Artest – whether it’s with or without merit – can cause a disruption in Jackson’s circle of trust.

Think back to 2004 when the Lakers has Shaq, Kobe, Gary Payton and Karl Malone. Team chemistry was completely out of whack and the Big Four and their gigantic egos were too enormous even for a grand stage such as Tinseltown.

Last week, Jackson told a radio station in Los Angeles that he was not given the “either/or” when it came to choosing between Artest or Trevor Ariza. “He’s an unknown,” Jackson said of Artest. “He’s a player that even I think his own teams don’t know exactly what he’s going to do that particular night.”

Jackson didn’t sound like a guy who is looking forward to dealing with a headstrong personality, especially at this stage of his career where he is considering retirement and has dealt with numerous health issues.

Artest may have lost a step or two but his tenacity on defense can still be a huge plus. Bulldog forwards such as LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony can no longer push their way through the Lakers defense. However, the same can’t be said about his game on offense. It’s just not built for the triangle offense, which is defined by ball movement and spacing.

Artest tends to pound the ball on one side of the court and can be reluctantly to swing the ball to the weak side. He is extremely inconsistent as an outside shooter and, at times, forces shots and does not make good decisions. To be effective, Artest needs the ball in his hands but he might have a difficult time prying it off Kobe Bryant’s hands.

He is at his best when he posts up smaller defenders and muscles his way to the basket. But on a team that already has excellent low-post scorers in Bryant, Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom (whenever he decides to re-sign with the Lakers) and Andrew Bynum, Artest could be the odd man out. It is highly doubtful that he will plant himself behind the 3-point line and give way to Bryant and Gasol, much like what Trevor Ariza did during the playoffs.

If Ron-Ron falls in line and defers to Kobe and the others, then this experiment will work. But Artest is at the point of his career that his popularity is at its peak and he will do nothing halt his rising Q rating. He loves being in the spotlight and doesn’t hide his shameless promotions of his TruWarier record label.

To ask Ron Artest to take a step back and let others shine is a very deadly proposition.  It’s just not his nature nor his preference.

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