RealGM

Over on the general board, there is a recent thread entitled "Could Shaq dominate the game today?"

On the first page of the thread, the following was posted:

Post#5 » by nybluemeadow » Thu Mar 17, 2016 12:38 am
Shaq feasted on the Pistons and Ben Wallace, but on the other hand, the Pistons owned and swept the Lakers in the finals because of their zone defense.

Everybody in the NBA has now mastered zone defense. I think Shaq can still be very hugely productive, but i'm not sure if a team that featured Shaq could compete against the elite teams today


I don't yet have privileges on the general board, so I can't reply. But if one of you chaps could reply and inform nybluemeadow that the Pistons didn't play zone in 2004, they whooped Shaq and the Lakers man-up, that would be great. And Shaq certainly did not feast on Ben Wallace, who defended him one-on-one. Flip Saunders started implementing a zone when he became the coach in the 2005/2006 season. Here's the thread link. Thanks.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1432106

Shaq averaged almost 27 and 11 at 63% in the finals. Ben did the best job you could against a beast like shaq and stopped him at key moments, but yes shaq "dominated" offensively. Feast is very subjective considering we dominated their TEAM. We let Shaq get his and shut down everyone else.

fekz wrote:Shaq averaged almost 27 and 11 at 63% in the finals. Ben did the best job you could against a beast like shaq and stopped him at key moments, but yes shaq "dominated" offensively. Feast is very subjective considering we dominated their TEAM. We let Shaq get his and shut down everyone else.

Yeah, you're right.

flow wrote:

fekz wrote:Shaq averaged almost 27 and 11 at 63% in the finals. Ben did the best job you could against a beast like shaq and stopped him at key moments, but yes shaq "dominated" offensively. Feast is very subjective considering we dominated their TEAM. We let Shaq get his and shut down everyone else.

Yeah, you're right.

GB is full of idiots when it comes to this team BTW. Any real Piston fan that was around in that era knows we didn't implement zone under LB, he would hear none of it.

Shaq would destroy today's NBA. He'd win a championship every season for the next decade. Who would defend him? No answer, absolutely none. Today's centers are very weak compared to how they were. Drummond would probably be the only player that could body him up. He'd get destroyed though so imagine that.

There are only 2 possibilities in the today's NBA type of game:

- Or you let Shaq destroy you one on one in the paint, being maybe a 35ppg player.

- Or you let Shaq being top 5 in assists, with shooters surrounding him and destroying your defense when you come for the defensive helps.

Some people forget how good passer Shaq was, even playing in the 2000 with a lot of worse shooters and so much less spacing that nowadays. Put Shaq on the Raptors, and look how they become an instant contender, and the worst headache for the West top teams.

The problem with the general board is there's an entire generation of NBA fans who are very opinionated and did not see Orlando Shaq and only have a fleeting understanding of LA Shaq. It was over 10 years ago since we really saw dominant Shaq, most under the age of ~22 did not get to fully appreciate Shaq at his height and that's one of the most vocal demographics.

"Larry Brown" and "zone defense" don't go together, at least not in the NBA.

Oh man, Shaq today in the NBA?!? Forget about it. He would score 20 points a game on free throws alone, assuming he shoots 50% but he would get so many "and 1's" that it would be ridiculous. That's what is so frustrating about Drummond, he could be what Shaq was, but I doubt he ever realizes that potential.

Coaches are much more willing to "hack-a-shaq" in today's NBA. Doubt he'd be any less dominant as a result, but you never know...

Montanabadboy wrote:Oh man, Shaq today in the NBA?!? Forget about it. He would score 20 points a game on free throws alone, assuming he shoots 50% but he would get so many "and 1's" that it would be ridiculous. That's what is so frustrating about Drummond, he could be what Shaq was, but I doubt he ever realizes that potential.

Refs would actually call a lot of pussy calls on Shaq. There's been way too many calls on Drummond for over the back just because he's so big. He doesn't realize it either. He plays softer because the refs are really really bad. If they let him play more, it would open up his game. i wonder why he won't study Shaq's game and do the spin for a dunk that Shaq used to do. It's not even that hard! I forget what Shaq called it but he would do it pretty much every game. He'd post up and pretend he's looking for the pass. Then Kobe would lob it up and Shaq would spin and dunk it. Nobody gets in front of him!

Montanabadboy wrote:Oh man, Shaq today in the NBA?!? Forget about it. He would score 20 points a game on free throws alone, assuming he shoots 50% but he would get so many "and 1's" that it would be ridiculous. That's what is so frustrating about Drummond, he could be what Shaq was, but I doubt he ever realizes that potential.

He couldn't. Being Dre a freakish athlete, he's far from what Shaq was. That size with the combination of speed, power and agility... no way, he's one in a century player.

I saw Shaq as a rookie in Orlando and he scored like 32 points in his first freaking home game. I once saw him get a rebound and take the ball by himself all the way down the court for dunk even doing a crossover between his legs to get by a guy. Dude had that mad agility. I went to 20 games his rookie season. Me and my brother used to yell Shaqqeeeeel Ooo'neil the second he touched the ball because he scored every time the ball was in his hands it seemed. He was a once in a lifetime talent. He would do the same versus todays players.