Ira Winderman

The immovable object moved.

The restless one remained.

Now, as the final chapters of Shaq-and-Kobe (also known as Shaq-vs.-Kobe) play out, the measure of each man, and perhaps even the measure of their championships, will be defined by their career approaches.

Kobe Bryant moped, maneuvered and manipulated, but — and this is significant — never left.

His legacy, if Los Angeles is as valid at the end of this season as the start, could be as a bridge between Lakers generations.

Shaquille O'Neal demanded, derided, disparaged, and essentially forced his way out.

His legacy, no matter how these final two seasons on his contract play out in Phoenix, is of a behemoth without borders, an NBA Finals appearance in Orlando, three titles in Los Angeles and one more in Miami.

When together, the two were like Beaujolais and Brie on the court, cat and dog as soon as the clock stopped running.

No matter the recent rubbish from Shaq about possibly finishing up back in L.A., the two will finish on their own terms (Kobe didn't leave in '04, he's not going in '09 or '10, no matter the opt-out possibilities).

So what defines ultimate greatness?

Is it the player who can make it work in a multitude of systems, bring out his best whether it is the madness of Brian Hill, the meditations of Phil Jackson, the meticulousness of Pat Riley, as Shaq did?

Or is it the player who stays the course, takes ownership of the situation, defines his career through the name of the front of the jersey, as Kobe, a Laker for life, surely will?

The NBA of purity is the NBA that sees Larry and Magic finish where they started. Their city. Their team. Their legacy.

Special feature Main attraction A look at the highs and lows of Lakers guard Kobe Bryant's career. NBCSports.com

But that NBA is not the NBA of free agency, where O'Neal has already thrice been embraced in new locations, where LeBron has 29 other suitors, where even Kobe came this close to going Clipper.

Michael moved. So did Kareem. Heck, Robert Parish found time to play for both the Hornets and Bulls after his 14 seasons in Boston.

To hear Shaq tell it, each time, he had to go.

He knows himself well enough. He knows his jokes eventually are taken as jabs. He appreciates how the thrill soon is as gone, as the missed games, missed free throws and missed pick-and-roll assignments begin to grate with each fan base.

It ended ugly in Orlando, where a city felt abandoned and O'Neal felt under-appreciated (long before Shaq-Kobe, there was Shaq-Penny, with O'Neal infuriated that then-general manager John Gabriel would even consider paying Hardaway nearly as much).

It ended egotistically in Los Angeles (and enough of this revisionist malarkey about how the infighting with Kobe was all staged, fostered by Jackson. Ask anyone who took in O'Neal's cutting locker-room talk about his former Lakers teammate, when tape recorders were ordered off and true candor flowed).

And it ended so ugly in Miami that March madness might extend to the NBA when Shaq makes his post-trade return on March 4 to AmericanAirlines Arena. No, there are no South Florida tributes currently planned.

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