Just got done watching an excellent interview with Shaquille O’Neal on ESPN.

The Big Saguaro, or whatever he’s going by these days, said that he’s been reflecting on his time with the Lakers recently and come to some interesting new conclusions.

“I was fun the whole time. All that hoopla, being part of that little sitcom,” O’Neal said. “One day I just sat there and thought about it. You know how Phil does the psychological thing, and he never jumped in? Why Magic (Johnson) never jumped in? I think it was all done by design, and it actually worked.

“If I had to do it all over again, I would probably bring it up more, I would probably start more fights with him (Kobe Bryant). I was putting up great numbers, he was putting up great numbers, it made him all pissed off and he’s one of those (guys) where when he gets pissed off, he can go on and score 80 points.

“I think we were the greatest one-two punch in the game, greatest little man, big man punch in the game. Period.”

Why then, did Shaq rip Kobe in that infamous freestyle rap over the summer?

“That was my bad, a bad thing to do,” O’Neal said. “I just threw his name in at the end, it was a bad move on my part.”

O’Neal said he called Kobe shortly after the video hit TMZ.com and apologized, Bryant accepted the apology and the two have put it behind them.