Another O’Neal May Be Bigger Big Man

Over the last decade, when it came to naming the NBA’s best big man, the honor almost always went to Shaquille O’Neal. But ESPN the Magazine, under the headline, “The Real O’Neal,” says, “This year, though, Shaq may not even be the best O’Neal in the league.”

Of Indiana’s Jermaine O’Neal, who received 175,768 more All-Star votes than Shaq, the magazine says: “His skill, passion and tenacity make him the MVP front-runner.”

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Trivia time: As pointed out by The Times’ Bill Plaschke this week, the first All-Star game most valuable player was Ed Macauley. Who won the first regular-season MVP award?

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Low Rider: Isaiah Rider, who could be the poster boy for what not to do as an NBA player, gets hit pretty hard in an interview with John Thompson that airs today at 4 p.m. on TNT.

Thompson: “You’re just another pampered athlete who blew an opportunity, blames it on the media, blames it on the system and blames it on the NBA. [You] had an opportunity that a lot of people didn’t have and you threw it all away.”

Rider admits to making mistakes and says he’d still like another chance.

Thompson: “Why are you all of a sudden repentant? Do you miss the checks?”

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All class: Gail Goodrich, now working for the NBA TV network, was a guest on Jim Rome’s radio show this week.

Rome, telling Goodrich that he was his idol as a youngster, said, “As a kid growing up, I can remember my father saying to me when I was 7, ‘Why don’t you send Gail a letter and ask for an autographed picture?’ So I did. Sure enough, one came back in the mail two weeks later.”

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Long shots pay off: Kobe Bryant has found a new way to make a little extra spending money.

Pat Riley was a guest on XTRA’s “Loose Cannons” show this week with Steve Hartman and Mychal Thompson when Bryant unexpectedly called in. When asked, Bryant admitted he had won some money from Thompson, who is the Lakers’ radio commentator.

Thompson, addressing Riley, said, “Coach, he was shooting left-handed shots from half court. So he bet me $20 he could make a half-court shot left-handed. Who’s not going to take that bet, right, Coach?”

Riley said: “He’s going to make a left-handed shot to win a game one night, you watch. I guarantee it.”

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Trivia answer: Bob Pettit of the St. Louis Hawks in 1956. The award was created by sportswriter Murray Olderman of the syndicate Newspaper Enterprise Assn. Olderman initially polled all the players in the league, but after the NBA took over the voting in 1969, media representatives determined the winner.

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And finally: NBA Commissioner David Stern, talking about TNT, noted the network was sponsoring Jeff Burton’s car in Sunday’s Daytona 500 to promote the All-Star game telecast. NBC, which used to televise the NBA, has the Daytona race.

“Don’t tell [NBC Sports Chairman] Dick Ebersol,” quipped Stern. “I don’t want him to know.” Said an NBC spokesman: “He knows.”

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Larry Stewart can be reached at [email protected].