Would you draft a 20 yrs.old Shaquille O'Neal over a 21 yrs.old Michael Jordan??

[scandisk_]

lol, any coach, manager or competent basketball fan would pick shaq 10 out 10. There is nobody in history you pick over shaq in an all-time draft.

Alcindor came out of college and dominated every facet of it.

[swagga]

Alcindor came out of college and dominated every facet of it.

only player that comes close imo. I'd still take shaq based on physical ability.

[pauk]

"Big men > " is common in the draft and Shaq is THE big guy, maybe the only big guy anybody would pick over anybody in NBA history, i mean if you cant see into the future you wouldnt know how Jordan's career (or any perimeter player) would pan out so most / if not all would pick Shaq.....

Just to put this theory into test see Jordan's actual draft class, he was picked 3rd behind two big guys (Hakeem & Bowie), so picking a behemoth like Shaq over him is obvious....

...and even if you can see into the future and see how great they would be what makes you think Jordan would ALWAYS end up with the same accolades, 6 rings, 6 fmvps, 5 mvps to become GOAT? Just a slight change in the team he ends up on compared to Shaq could turn their careers completely different at the end.... to the point where maybe Shaq could even end up higher than him on the all-time list.... it is a team game afterall, Shaq could end up with a stacked team most of his career eventually and Jordan could struggle due to playing with scrubs most of his career.... You never know...

With that being said, hopefully you now or eventually understand how bogus team accomplishments are when used to boost a guy on the all-time lists.... Jordan is the same EXACT player even if he would end up completely ringless, the only difference between that and his current legacy would then be that one played with a horrible team and the other had a great team most of his career (in some years maybe the greatest team ever).....

[scandisk_]

"Big men > " is common in the draft and Shaq is THE big guy, maybe the only big guy anybody would pick over anybody in NBA history, i mean if you cant see into the future you wouldnt know how Jordan's career (or any perimeter player) would pan out so most / if not all would pick Shaq.....

Just to put this theory into test see Jordan's actual draft class, he was picked 3rd behind two big guys (Hakeem & Bowie), so picking a behemoth like Shaq over him is obvious....

...and even if you can see into the future and see how great they would be what makes you think Jordan would ALWAYS end up with the same accolades, 6 rings, 6 fmvps, 5 mvps to become GOAT? Just a slight change in the team he ends up on compared to Shaq could turn their careers completely different at the end.... to the point where maybe Shaq could even end up higher than him on the all-time list.... it is a team game afterall, Shaq could end up with a stacked team most of his career eventually and Jordan could struggle due to playing with scrubs most of his career.... You never know...

With that being said, hopefully you now or eventually understand how bogus team accomplishments are when used to boost a guy on the all-time lists.... Jordan is the same EXACT player even if he would end up completely ringless, the only difference between that and his current legacy would then be that one played with a horrible team and the other had a great team most of his career (in some years maybe the greatest team ever).....

Agenda is so obvious... geez, you couldn't be more subtle about it. If Jordan was 2/5 (i know it's a joke) or ringless he'd be nowhere near that stature. Sure he'd contend but his case would be questioned all the time. If he kept on losing or have his ass handed to him all the time he wouldn't be THAT Jordan.

[SsKSpurs21]

Considering Sam Bowie got drafted ahead of Jordan, think its pretty obvious who everyone would take based solely on info available at the time of drafting.

Sam Bowie was drafted because the blazers already had drexler who was basically a scoring SG like jordan.

it took jordan a few years and phil implementing the triangle for him to become airness.

Shaq coming out of college was the consensus #1. there was no doubt that he was going to be great. throughout history there are few consensus #1 picks that are unanimous and shaq was easily one of them.

[Clyde]

Considering Shaq went #1 overall and Jordan didn't I think we can close this thread