Originally posted by FL9er:
You could make a case for him being the best ever with a mid-range jumper and better FT shooting.
No question that Shaq with work ethic would be the greatest basketball player. ever.
Imagine if Shaq stayed in shape
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Originally posted by FL9er:
You could make a case for him being the best ever with a mid-range jumper and better FT shooting.
Originally posted by crzy:Originally posted by FL9er:
You could make a case for him being the best ever with a mid-range jumper and better FT shooting.
No question that Shaq with work ethic would be the greatest basketball player. ever.
Imagine if Shaq stayed in shape
Originally posted by BobS:Originally posted by crzy:Originally posted by FL9er:
You could make a case for him being the best ever with a mid-range jumper and better FT shooting.
No question that Shaq with work ethic would be the greatest basketball player. ever.
Imagine if Shaq stayed in shape
I think that is debatable. The wear and tear on a 7 foot 300 pound guy's body from running and jumping on a hardwood floor probably are going to be the same whether he stayed in shape or not. Most over 30 year old seven footers have injury issues no matter what shape they are in. Look at Kobe Bryant, he works hard, stays in top shape only 6'7" and 200# and is starting to have injury issues.
Originally posted by dobo:
Actually, this has got me thinking. Is there a fanbase that has had as adversarial relationship with Shaq as San Antonio?
San Antonio LOVED him when he was in high school and even at LSU. Then he came into San Antonio as a pro and started smack talking the Admiral. Then he joined the Lakers -- the Lakers! -- and started smack talking Duncan and called the Spurs a WNBA team.
In many ways, Robinson was the perfect foil for Shaq. One, he was a boring, God-fearing, all-around nice guy. Two, he was an established superstar, arguably the best center in the league when Shaq joined the league. Three, his style was the opposite of Shaq's. Robinson was a slender, face-the-basket, athletic freak who had decent range. Shaq was a more traditional big; he lived in the post and just physically dominated his opponents on both ends.
Originally posted by TX9R:Originally posted by dobo:
Actually, this has got me thinking. Is there a fanbase that has had as adversarial relationship with Shaq as San Antonio?
San Antonio LOVED him when he was in high school and even at LSU. Then he came into San Antonio as a pro and started smack talking the Admiral. Then he joined the Lakers -- the Lakers! -- and started smack talking Duncan and called the Spurs a WNBA team.
In many ways, Robinson was the perfect foil for Shaq. One, he was a boring, God-fearing, all-around nice guy. Two, he was an established superstar, arguably the best center in the league when Shaq joined the league. Three, his style was the opposite of Shaq's. Robinson was a slender, face-the-basket, athletic freak who had decent range. Shaq was a more traditional big; he lived in the post and just physically dominated his opponents on both ends.
Aguably the 2nd best maybe. Hakeem owned him, especially when it mattered most. I like DRob, but he didn't win anything until TD came to town.
Originally posted by Joecool:
On another note, am I the only one who believes Tim Duncan should be a top 5 player EVER?
Originally posted by crzy:
Hakeem was unquestionably better than Shaq in 95, but it's debateable who had a better career.
Originally posted by crzy:Originally posted by Joecool:
On another note, am I the only one who believes Tim Duncan should be a top 5 player EVER?
Yes.
I don't see how Duncan can be placed over Jordan, Wilt, Russell, Kareem, or Magic
Originally posted by LA9erFan:
Hakeem never owned Shaq, especially not in that '95 Finals series. That's one of those things that's gotten repeated so many times that it's become "true". They played to a basic dead heat in that series. But Horry, Drexler, Cassell, etc. completely outplayed the Magic guys.
Originally posted by Joecool:Originally posted by LA9erFan:
Hakeem never owned Shaq, especially not in that '95 Finals series. That's one of those things that's gotten repeated so many times that it's become "true". They played to a basic dead heat in that series. But Horry, Drexler, Cassell, etc. completely outplayed the Magic guys.
Shaq was quoted in saying he got owned. This is one matchup where the stats completely hide what actually happened. Shaq could not handle Hakeem man-up and when he tried, he got whooped. They had to help a lot which left those shooters open a lot.
The Rockets let Shaq have his points but stayed on everyone else, which is why they won.
pts stats:
The Dream: 31, 34, 31, 35
Shaq: 26, 33, 28, 25
Originally posted by dobo:
Hakeem's greatness is greatly exaggerated in retrospect, thanks to his brief reign of invincibility and his youtube-friendly dream shake.