Shaq claims he'da put 45 & 16 on Gobert after 3 quarters.

[JohnMax]

There's a reason this bum was swept so many times in his prime. He lacked skills to be a closer because he couldn't shoot freethrows or score outside the restricted area. He masked that weakness by putting on weight so he could overpower defenders easier.

[tontoz]

There's a reason this bum was swept so many times in his prime. He lacked skills to be a closer because he couldn't shoot freethrows or score outside the restricted area. He masked that weakness by putting on weight so he could overpower defenders easier.

He did put on weight but it wasn't to overpower defenders. It was just a weak work ethic. Conditioning it wasn't his thing.

[Xiao Yao You]

If he and Marcus Camby were on the same team at the same time and had to earn pt with no reputations to go off....it’s like 50/50 on who would start.

https://www.basketball-reference.com...cambyma01.html

the advanced stats sure don't indicate that. Maybe Camby starts based on D. He didn't do it at both ends

[HoopsNY]

Shaq with a little bit of help (or a whole lot) from the refs and the NBA would certainly do major damage to Gobert. But it's just that, he made his name off of the NBA elevating his peak to what it really was. Shaq's game was fundamentally the same in the mid to late 90s and the 3 peat, but the triangle offense and Kobe made him look better than he actually was. (And the NBA turning a blind eye)

I mean, we have people who think Shaq's performance against 38 year Dikembe Mutombo is some testimony to his peak. Reality is that Shaq got away with every offensive foul in the book while having refs fix call games for LA like they did in the Kings series in '02.

It came to the point that Milwaukee's big 3 alleged that the league was fixing a LA/Philly for the 2001 finals because they didn't want a SA/MIL finals due to low ratings. Those who were around then know what I'm talking about.

2001 Finals - Shaq

33/16/5 with 3.4 Blks on 58%

Shaq vs. Dikembe Head-to-Head 1993-00

22/13/2 with 1.9 Blks on 50%

So much is made of Shaq's peak but context just isn't given.

[HoopsNY]

There's a reason this bum was swept so many times in his prime. He lacked skills to be a closer because he couldn't shoot freethrows or score outside the restricted area. He masked that weakness by putting on weight so he could overpower defenders easier.

He certainly wasn't a bum, but his peak gets him his name without any consideration for how he consistently fouled by throwing his ass and elbows around, things that Wilt Chamberlain even made a note of. Guys couldn't do that from 1950-99. What changed?

[Reggie43]

No way you would think peak Shaq is overrated if your team matched with the Lakers in the playoffs. Coaches were sending double and triple teams on the regular and he still finds ways to beat them and be effective.

Truth of the matter is he could have scored a lot more in his prime but playing within the offense enabled his teams to win more and be succesful.

[warriorfan]

He certainly wasn't a bum, but his peak gets him his name without any consideration for how he consistently fouled by throwing his ass and elbows around, things that Wilt Chamberlain even made a note of. Guys couldn't do that from 1950-99. What changed?

MJ retired and they needed a new face of the league and were willing to bend rules and the integrity of the game to obtain/create one.

[Reggie43]

If Shaq was reffed fairly he could probably average atleast 45 a game. He was getting fouled insanely hard on the regular and some of those were no calls just because he was strong enough to absorb the contact the refs swallow their whistles. Some of those hits would have easily injured a regular nba player but most people turn a blind eye because nobody liked goliath.