Shaq says trash talk “has slipped 60%" from when he played

There are some real trash talkers in the new generation of NBA players. Draymond Green is the poster child, but there are guys like Lance Stephenson, Nate Robinson, DeMarcus Cousins, Rajon Rondo and others have their mouth going all game long.

But there seem to be fewer talkers now than there were in previous generations. Where are the Michael Jordans and Larry Birds of today?

Shaquille O’Neal agrees.

Speaking to USA Today’s For the Win, Shaq said trash talking now just isn’t the same.

Trash talking has slipped 60%. I know a lot of the players are worried about getting fined, but for me, growing up, you had to trash talk. I didn’t play against kids, I played against guys on the army base. Gary Payton — one of the world’s greatest trash talkers — grew up in Oakland, the mean streets of Oakland. But they say lot of the legends were great trash talkers. I was talking to Isiah [Thomas] once and he said Larry Bird was an unbelievable trash talker. Like Larry Bird used to say stuff like, “I’m gonna take one dribble, pump-fake you and even if you don’t go for it, I’m going to shoot it the second time and it’s going to be all net.” And he’d do it.

Where does he get 60%? Is there an advanced stat chart for this over at NBASavant.com?

Shaq said Payton and Kevin Garnett were the best trash talkers he ever heard.

Shaq also hit on a key reason — the attention paid to the game in the media, fans courtside with smart phones and Twitter accounts, all of it makes it more likely a guy gets in trouble if he talks. Not always, but in an NBA where guys are watching thinking about their brand image, they are scaling it back.

That doesn’t mean we have to like it.