Love Shaq

Whether you like the Shaquille O'Neal signing or loathe it, it's official. The Big Leprechaun, or whatever nickname you call him, held up his No. 36 jersey at a press conference on Tuesday at the team's practice facility.

Personally, I like it, but that opinion comes with a stipulation: Shaq needs to know exactly what role he's going to play on this team. And according to what he said at the aforementioned press conference, he does.

Winning, O'Neal said, is what brought him to Boston (because it surely wasn't the $2.8 million). He could have signed a more lucrative deal elsewhere, but he wants to win championship No. 5, and he wants to do it in the Green and White, the same colors one of his role models (Bill Russell) wore.

"Do I have that same type of hunger? Yes," O'Neal told reporters. "If I didn't I wouldn't be here. I don't like wasting people’s time. I don't like wasting my time. I've missed over 200 games. So I owe myself and I owe everybody two to three years left. I signed a two-year deal here. I'm going to give it all I've got. And I think Doc and the people will see we still have hunger, we're still trying to play, and I'm still trying to win. Because at the end of the day, when I close my book, it's all about winning."

The thing is, Shaq can still play quite a bit. The 38-year-old, 350-pound center can still defend in the low post. He can still rebound. He can still score. But most of all, he can wreak havoc on the block and give guys like Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo room to make plays. He can take a bit of pressure off Kevin Garnett.

Along with Jermaine O'Neal, he can fill a void left by Kendrick Perkins, who will be out for some time while recovering from a serious knee injury. And when the playoffs come around, the Diesel might be the missing link to that 18th banner.