Dropped into the league today would a coach make Shaq a roll guy or let him post up?

[Kblaze8855]

Would most current coaches be fine with this scoring style:



https://youtu.be/vQLATSNx3_Y



skip the first minute, if you don’t want to hear him hating on Dwight Howard, and funny enough claiming Brook Lopez as a true old-school big man but his basic point was that Dwight was one of these new pick and roll European style bigs. But that’s what they want bigs to be now. Have the “roll gravity” and create a few advantageous switches. Watching the finals I believe I noticed a roughly 5 play stretch where Jokic was defended one on one by Caleb Martin, Jimmy Butler, or Kyle Lowry and they got understandably abused. It’s hard to create that mismatch standing in the post waiting.

Granted…to Shaq a normal center is probably like being guarded by a wing. The only D would be to flop and hope for the call either way these days.

But would a coach just plant him down there to 50% post hook and 90% dunk his way to 59% shooting and let him kick out to shooters when doubled? He never had a problem doing that. Be like the Magic with Dennis Scott, Nick Anderson, and Shaw on steroids. And he loves kicking it out to Glenn Rice and even Horry as a stretch four.

But would it be desired? I’m not asking if he will be effective. I would like to think nobody thinks he wouldn’t be. I’m asking if he would be turned into the very kind of big man he is mocking as new school in that footage. Will he be forced to become what he hates And roll to the basket on the way to his 28 points? He would get the points one way or another I’m sure we all agree but would someone just let him post up to get it?

Even the guys we think do it all the time today post up 5-6 times a game. Shaq was a legit 25-30 post ups a game at times.

Would pace and space ball stand for it?

[Carbine]

Dumb question. You let him post up these soft bigs today. He would be dropping 40/20 regularly.

He can do dribble hand offs too obviously but he should get a lot of iso post ups too.

[Kblaze8855]

Dumb question. You let him post up these soft bigs today. He would be dropping 40/20 regularly.

He can do dribble hand offs too obviously but he should get a lot of iso post ups too.


You watching the same league I do where all star bigs can have Steph on a switch and nobody give them the ball?

It’s not about if he can do it. I’m asking if it’s something teams want bigs to do.

When you’re gonna score 120 either way what’s the motivation to totally change your offensive philosophy o play a game from 30 years ago?

I feel like as extreme as coaches have become with this approach 30 post ups would be a lot to ask of most of them.

[Dbrog]

Absolutely most coaches would put him in the pick n roll. I think it was you who posted some stats with Embiid and Al Jeff and big Al actually had like...double the post ups per game. They just look at the game differently now. We might see an answer to this with Pop though. I know Wemby has a lot more shooting than Duncan did coming out but I think just with his size, Pop might emphasize these skills this year. He actually had some great little Shaq-ish dropsteps and rolls to the basket from the post in his recent tournament (obviously doesn't have Shaqs bulk).

[Carbine]

Shaq controls tempo. Kobe went into detail about this when he was still alive. All it takes is a few hammer dunks with little guards on him for coaches to say I LIKE THAT PLAY let's do it all the time.

Shaq is the only player since the 3 pt line inception that could break this new era of thinking. I'm speaking peak Shaq, when he was fully motivated.

[Real Men Wear Green]

Most coaches would use him properly. Maybe if D'Antoni is truly a guard fanatic he would make Shaq play like STAT but even he couldn't ignore how dominant Shaq can be.

[FKAri]

Shaq controls tempo. Kobe went into detail about this when he was still alive. All it takes is a few hammer dunks with little guards on him for coaches to say I LIKE THAT PLAY let's do it all the time.

Shaq is the only player since the 3 pt line inception that could break this new era of thinking. I'm speaking peak Shaq, when he was fully motivated.

Shaq would be sitting out with injuries a lot. Imagine him trying to move on defense. He could absolutely dominate if he can keep his weight in check and stay on the court. Every game involving him would also be a flopping shit show.

[Reggie43]

Current era would adjust to Shaq not the other way around. He might influence guys to post up more if they see how dominant he is enroute to winning championships. Defensively teams would need legit big guys on their roster just to deal with him.

[HoopologyPhD]

Lets not forget that rookie shaq was considerably thinner and faster but got bigger to adapt to the style of the league.
Shaq would definitely look different if his prime was 20 years later.

[Real Men Wear Green]

Lets not forget that rookie shaq was considerably thinner and faster but got bigger to adapt to the style of the league.
Shaq would definitely look different if his prime was 20 years later.Nah he just likes food. Shaq was just so gifted that his talent could overcome his lack of offseason work ethic.

[L.Kizzle]

Which Shaq, 92 Shaq or 2002 Shaq? Either or you let him do what he does. If Ayton had a post game, they'd be going to him.

But 92-95 Shaq in the league, yikes!

[999Guy]

They’d roll him and then let him seal guys down low when he was at his heaviest in prime of 98-03.

96 and before he would probably just catch it and do whatever he wants like Zion or Giannis and develop his game from there.

But he’d be fine as a rolling, sealing, lob catcher. I mean he did those things anyway.

A guy who did synergy stats on Shaq from 00-02 found his pick and roll point per play was outlandish and his most effective play type statistically. Shaq would keep his gravity in todays game. With the lack of size it could possibly be even heavier.

[1987_Lakers]

lol, of course they would let him post up.

[Im Still Ballin]

Both. He would do what Dwight did a lot of in Orlando: set high ball screens, roll down, and then duck in deep close to the basket. Which is a post-up possession, likewise to Shaq post sprinting in transition. Apologies if you have already mentioned this as I haven't read all posts in here.

[Kblaze8855]

lol, of course they would let him post up.


You would think a team would give the ball to a center who has a point guard on him every time but they don’t. It doesn’t even occur to them to look.

[paksat]

todays coaches would probably consider him useless, he can't shoot 3's.. hell he can't even shoot free throws

[Im Still Ballin]

Here's an example of that hybrid PnR/post-up play Dwight used to do with Orlando:

https://i.ibb.co/Wk0CM7Q/7pynh4.gif

If Shaq was in shape enough and gave enough effort, that would be the first priority play. If that doesn't work, then go to Shaq for a post-isolation play while guys screen and move off the ball.

[rawimpact]

Lets not forget that rookie shaq was considerably thinner and faster but got bigger to adapt to the style of the league.
Shaq would definitely look different if his prime was 20 years later.

This doesn't make any sense. The league was larger and more physical in the 90s vs the 00s when shaq really got massive. It worked to his benefit obviously, but it wasn't to adapt to the style of the league, it was to dominate the weaker centers of the 00s.

[Im Still Ballin]

As different as Shaq believed he and Dwight to be, the key to their offense was the same: get as deep a position as possible. I suppose it's how they achieved it which differentiated them. Howard needed to be more dynamic while O'Neal could just lean on guys and rotate from one side of the paint to the other while his teammates reversed the ball looking for a good post entry pass.

[Jasper]

post up

[3ba11]

Roll guy because Shaq would get easier post opportunities that way in today's game, where the roll guy can easily end up as a post up guy backing someone down or under the rim for dunks.. Having big Shaq as a roll guy does so many things matchup-wise and allows you to play so many ways - you can still do a lot of the traditional post-up stuff out of screen-roll action..

The Lakers used to use Kareem as the roll guy when they would post up Magic and have Magic run off a Kareem-screen - Kareem would get the ball back and he could do whatever he wanted, aka finish with a traditional dunk or start posting up if there's defensive resistance

[3ba11]

Actually I take that back - you'd have to see what he looks like just standing under the rim in an open paint with the current spacing strategy and go from there - deep post position in an open paint

[BigShotBob]

Here's an example of that hybrid PnR/post-up play Dwight used to do with Orlando:

https://i.ibb.co/Wk0CM7Q/7pynh4.gif

If Shaq was in shape enough and gave enough effort, that would be the first priority play. If that doesn't work, then go to Shaq for a post-isolation play while guys screen and move off the ball.

BBQ Chicken every time

[Ass Dan]

THEY'D BE CALLING HIM A 7'2" ZION.

THEY'D BE GOING MENTAL.

NUGGETS KILLED SMALL BALL WITH THEIR 6'10" 7' 7' FRONT LINE.

GO LONG OR GET F*CKED.

NEW NBA.

SHAQ V WEMBY COMPARISONS WOULD RUN WILD.

WATCH SHAQ LSU HIGHLIGHTS. HE IS F*CKING MENTAL.

HE HAD SOFT TOUCH IN PAINT LIKE JOKIC
COULD DRIBBLE COAST TO COAST
HAD RAW POWER

BEAST

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzX2uwOkJII&ab_channel=Dunkman827

[Im Still Ballin]

Here's an example of that hybrid PnR/post-up play Dwight used to do with Orlando:

https://i.ibb.co/Wk0CM7Q/7pynh4.gif

If Shaq was in shape enough and gave enough effort, that would be the first priority play. If that doesn't work, then go to Shaq for a post-isolation play while guys screen and move off the ball.

Here's another great example:

https://i.ibb.co/hRjQc5J/7rjr6y.gif

[Lebron23]

They are going to surround him with 3 points shooters and defenders just what the nuggets did to Nikola Jokic.

[90sgoat]

Shaq doesn't waste 10 seconds like Embiid when posted up.

[Clifton]

He would get post touches just like Zion and Embiid get post touches. And because he can't do anything outside of 10ft, they wouldn't have him do anything outside of 10ft.

I suspect that if he were coming up today, he'd be one of these guys who doesn't like to set screens, so eventually coaches stop trying to make him.

I think coaches would wish he could do more things, but the fact that he can't, and that he'd be so dominant (he'd get Embiid's numbers easy) doing what he did, coaches would adjust.

[PP34Deuce]

While not jokic or walton... Shaq could pass out a dooluble team and make the right decision most of the time. Orlando shaq was athletic, and could move his feet and with a good coach..could be a better defender than he was.

I think the problem with embiid AD and KAT are more so they struggle with double teams

[rawimpact]

Shaq made guys like Rick Fox, Devean George, Fisher, Horry look like 3pt shooters because how open he could get them. Imagine in today's game where players are better/more skilled beyond the arch? Shaq would feast on any center drawing at least a double team each time.

The most dominate player in all of modern NBA history would completely obliterate the game today.

[hateraid]

It's a hard thing to comprehend as today's bigs do not have an effective post game because they are groomed to be versatile as opposed to using physical advantages. Why not both though? PnR and post depending on what defensive looks you get?

[Clifton]

Another thing worth pointing out is that the so-called "versatility" of guys like Embiid that keep them off of post-ups could also be described as laziness. If you have a jumper, well, shooting jumpers and hanging out on the perimeter is easier than grinding down low. It adds something to the offense, yes, but it also lets defenses off the hook. Shaq was never about that. He wanted to destroy people, and did.

Again, if Shaq could shoot jumpers, I bet he would have hung out on the perimeter more, but he couldn't, so he didn't.


Why not both though? PnR and post depending on what defensive looks you get?
Maybe if he grows up in the modern era he has a bit of the Draymond sauce, in addition to conventional rim-running. I just think Shaq was who he was and wasn't capable of being much different. You have a guy that size, with those hands, and that mentality, who's so big and wide and easy to pass to down there, and just loves dunking all over people, I think that's his game.