Shaq vs. Duncan: Better Peak and Better Career

[Djoker]

The POY project on the PC board had me thinking... Who do y'all have as the better player, Shaq or Duncan. And actually it's two separate questions that I am asking here:

1. Who is better at their peaks?

2. Who has the better career?

[EmpireFalls]

The case for Duncan’s peak > Shaq’s is better than the case for Shaq’s career > Duncan’s

[Snake3]

I would say Shaq had the better peak.
Duncan may have had the better career. Arguable.

Although Shaq's longevity is under appreciated. From 93-03 he averaged 28/12/3 on 58% shooting. That's ten years of dominance.

[lessthanjake]

I think the answer is probably Shaq peak and Duncan career.

That said, people do tend to sometimes underrate Shaq’s longevity, because they forget that he was one of the NBA’s best players for the majority of the 1990s. He did not win a title in those years, but he was one of the NBA’s top few players from 1993-94 onwards, and was pretty elite even in his 1992-93 rookie season. I think there’s actually a pretty good argument that Shaq had a longer timespan as one of the league’s top few players than Duncan did (not much longer, but maybe a year longer). Shaq really was one of the league’s top few players for a very long time. Duncan’s career was nevertheless better because he had a much longer glide path after that. Duncan had a lot of years where he may not have been one of the top few players in the NBA anymore, but he was still really good. Meanwhile, Shaq fell off pretty quick.

[FuShengTHEGreat]

Duncan better peak and career.

When SA was beating LA (99 & 03) Duncan was SAs best player at both ends of the floor.

LA could only beat SA with Kobe as their leading scorer. When Shaq was the go to scorer LA got swept.

Even in defeat Duncan thoroughly outperformed Shaq in the 02 WCSF.

[Matt15]

Better Peak: Shaq
Better Career: Duncan

[One_and_Done]

Duncan for both, you just need to look past ppg.

[Meeksology]

Theyre both great but I have an extreme bias to the greatest PF in history.
Shaq may have Duncan in peak (arguable) but I voted Duncan for both.

[70sFan]

I think all choices are defensible, it's a matter of your criteria.

I prefer Duncan for careers quite comfortably and for peaks much less comfortably.

[Beethoven]

I'm a huge Shaq fan. Shaq had the better peak.
Duncan has the better career though. Not to say Duncan's peak wasn't near Shaq's. We're splitting hairs here
If I have a franchise and needed one of them at their prime I would definitely take Duncan.

[Me Like Lakers]

The case for Duncan’s peak > Shaq’s is better than the case for Shaq’s career > Duncan’s

Came here just to and1 this and say that this is a great way to see it

[UglyBugBall]

People that say Duncan had the better career are rewarding him for all the years he got carried by manu, Parker and pop. He won several of his titles as a role player. Shaq was the dominant force for all but one of his titles and he was significantly better than Duncan individually in his prime.

[OdomFan]

Love Shaq, but i gotta go with Duncan. He was the better skilled player, more mature, more consistent, etc. Put Duncan in place of Shaq on Orlando with Penny or with the Lakers and Kobe and you have a better team that would never break up.

[SK21209]

Shaq's peak was better but Duncan's is closer than most think. Duncan's career is better but Shaq's is closer than most think.

[Djoker]

Shaq vs. Duncan is one of the few cases for me where the better peak isn't the better player. I think 2000 Shaq (plus maybe 2001 PS) is a step above every other Shaq and Duncan season but in terms of consistency, Duncan has him beat quite easily. Although I should say that I've been higher on Duncan recently and can actually see an argument for 2003 Duncan as a superior peak as well although I can't quite get there myself.

[PaKwAn]

I would have to take Shaq's peak and Duncan's career. 2 of the best bigs that has ever played the game! Shaq's peak was scary though and the entire league had to have extra bigs on their roster because of foul trouble and trying to foul Shaq. Timmy was super consistent and sometimes you wouldn't even notice that his stat line was crazy because he just gets the job done without being flashy. In Shaq's peak, you could literally feel his impact

[JRoy]

Duncan and Duncan.

[bkkrh]

In a weird way I feel you have to give both to Shaq. But more from the perspective that he achieved so much and was still efficient in his mid 30s while not really taking care of his body. If you compare pictures of young, athletic Shaq, or even Shaq today to early 2000s and mid 2000s Shaq it's insane. I know he said he says that's why he's the diesel but it's hard to not imagine him being even more dominant if he would have fully focused on being in shape.

[cupcakesnake]

They both come into the league and are basically MVP-level.

- Duncan immediately forms a championship level defensive juggernaut with David Robinson and Coach Pop. Takes a while for real offensive talent to get put around Duncan, but the defenses San Antonio are able to build around him are immense for his whole young career and prime.

- Shaq has to wait a couple years for Penny become the kind of collaborator to build championship level offense. Gets beaten by Hakeem and MJ, but in general it's established that Shaq is easy to build elite offense around. He goes to LA and once again has to wait for a perimeter sidekick to emerge, and then goes on to have one of the most dominant offensive peaks in NBA playoff history.

- Duncan's defense ages better than Shaq's offense. Or maybe... Shaq's defense ages worse than Duncan's offense. Duncan basically stays the same player (statistically) with less minutes into his mid 30s. Shaq keeps his monster scoring impact into his mid 30s but the defense makes him more and more of a 1-way player that is slightly difficult to fit onto high-level teams, while Duncan stays a rock-solid 2-way piece that takes nothing off the table almost all the way to the end of his career.

- In terms of peak, it's easier to point at Shaq's offensive dominance. He just destroys the league with his scoring, foul drawing, and ability to collapse defense and create very easy looks for shooters and cutters. If you like Duncan's peak better, it probably has something to do with thinking his defense is GOAT-level. There are plenty of stats to back that idea up. Ultimately offense is easier to measure so Shaq is the easier peak case to me, but I probably lean towards Duncan's 2-way impact as a "good enough" offensive centerpiece and GOAT-level defensive anchor.

[70sFan]

People that say Duncan had the better career are rewarding him for all the years he got carried by manu, Parker and pop. He won several of his titles as a role player. Shaq was the dominant force for all but one of his titles and he was significantly better than Duncan individually in his prime.

What do you mean by "several"? Didn't Shaq win one of his titles while being worse than any title version of Duncan?