Shaquille O’Neal’s idea was simple, even if its execution was not. While sitting in TNT’s green room between on-air assignments during Tuesday night’s NBA playoff action, O’Neal turned toward his fellow panelist, Kenny Smith, with an idea of how to expound upon his tactical analysis.
“Kenny,” he said, “you need to be in the video on the court.”
Smith had been diagramming plays through a telestrator on his iPad, but O’Neal had a grander vision, prompting Turner’s production team to get to work.
The next night, when discussing LeBron James’ defensive options, Smith walked up to the giant video, feigned technical difficulties and walked behind — and then seemingly into — the screen.