Where would 1995 Shaq rank today?

[Djoker]

do you have any defensive tracking for 95 shaq by any chance?

Do you do some tracking work for the Magic games?

I've been doing plus minus tracking and jotting down tendencies but not quantitative defensive tracking as in dFG% for example.

I wonder if you have found any meaningful differences regarding his self-creation game from the post. Did he use different moves more often? Did he prefer one block over the other (Lakers Shaw used both sides at similar rate)?

Shaq used the left and right block pretty much equally.

The biggest difference with self-created offense is he did less work before he caught the ball compared to his LA peak. He didn't establish deep position consistently. That I think chipped away at his effectiveness in the post compared to his peak more than anything else.

I think a lot of these problems still existed in LA. He didn't foul as much, but still was prone to silly fouls. I agree that him being less active was better for his defense, because he used his length and size instead of doing stupid rotations and not recovering or trying to block everything. Have you paid attention to his transition effort? He was often very late coming back from actions and Magic played faster pace than 2000s Lakers, so I wonder if that was an even bigger issue for him.

Shaq was at his best when he either was contesting drives standing straight or defending the post. Under right circumstances, these two things could turn him into a solid defender, but he always had a lot of issues.

Agree with everything here. The problems got smaller but still persisted.

However, I'd rate him as a solid positive on defense circa 2000. In 1995, I'm not confident saying that he was a positive defensively at all.

[70sFan]

I've been doing plus minus tracking and jotting down tendencies but not quantitative defensive tracking as in dFG% for example.

I have done the same thing for 2000-01 Shaq, do you have something to add about the younger version? I have to finish other bigs for my project, which is why I won't find the time to do the tracking for younger Shaq and I'd like to make at least a brief mention of his development in my futute video.

Shaq used the left and right block pretty much equally.

Thanks, that's very important info to me. A lot of people don't realize how rare it is for high volume post players.

The biggest difference with self-created offense is he did less work before he caught the ball compared to his LA peak. He didn't establish deep position consistently. That I think chipped away at his effectiveness in the post compared to his peak more than anything else.

That makes sense, after all this is what made him so good as a post player.

Agree with everything here. The problems got smaller but still persisted.

However, I'd rate him as a solid positive on defense circa 2000. In 1995, I'm not confident saying that he was a positive defensively at all.

I wonder if you have any thoughts about 1995 Shaq vs peak Moses comparison. Moses also had some poor habits on defense, but at his peak (1982 and 1983) I do think he was a notable positive on that end.

[SHAQ32]

1995 Shaq would have the league encouraging post play again

[Djoker]

I've been doing plus minus tracking and jotting down tendencies but not quantitative defensive tracking as in dFG% for example.

I have done the same thing for 2000-01 Shaq, do you have something to add about the younger version? I have to finish other bigs for my project, which is why I won't find the time to do the tracking for younger Shaq and I'd like to make at least a brief mention of his development in my futute video.

Shaq used the left and right block pretty much equally.

Thanks, that's very important info to me. A lot of people don't realize how rare it is for high volume post players.

The biggest difference with self-created offense is he did less work before he caught the ball compared to his LA peak. He didn't establish deep position consistently. That I think chipped away at his effectiveness in the post compared to his peak more than anything else.

That makes sense, after all this is what made him so good as a post player.

Agree with everything here. The problems got smaller but still persisted.

However, I'd rate him as a solid positive on defense circa 2000. In 1995, I'm not confident saying that he was a positive defensively at all.

I wonder if you have any thoughts about 1995 Shaq vs peak Moses comparison. Moses also had some poor habits on defense, but at his peak (1982 and 1983) I do think he was a notable positive on that end.

To be frank, I just haven't seen enough of pre-1982 Moses to have a highly informed opinion on his defense.

But from quite a bit that I have watched of his peak (particularly 1983), he doesn't have that verticality that Shaq does although he's quite good in positioning himself as well as contesting without fouling compared to Shaq. I'd probably consider 1983 Moses and 2000 Shaq to be in the same tier on defense. Solid positives but well short of all-time greats.

[70sFan]

To be frank, I just haven't seen enough of pre-1982 Moses to have a highly informed opinion on his defense.

But from quite a bit that I have watched of his peak (particularly 1983), he doesn't have that verticality that Shaq does although he's quite good in positioning himself as well as contesting without fouling compared to Shaq. I'd probably consider 1983 Moses and 2000 Shaq to be in the same tier on defense. Solid positives but well short of all-time greats.

Young Moses looks visibly worse on defense to me, especially pre-1981. He had a bad awareness even in his first MVP season, which is why I don't consider it to be his peak despite great boxscore numbers.

Moses was also inconsistent as far as his effort goes, he also isn't nearly as good rim protector as Shaq. You are right that he didn't commit stupid fouls and he usually positioned himself well, though he had a habit of hunting rebounds instead of helping inside. At the same time, Moses had sneaky good hands and he could be disruptive. He was also quite mobile, but often was too lazy to use it. I have clips of him defending perimeter players (mostly forwards) really well, but I also have clips when they blown him by with ease. Moses is a strange defender to evaluate, but I do think he was a positive overall at his best.

[Djoker]

A Shaq misplay that kind of left me in awe...

Just watching Game 5 of the ECSF against the Bulls. Early in the 2nd quarter around the 9 minute mark, he misses a dunk and the ball bounces so high up in the air and lands at half court. The power of this man was something else. He didn't even seem like he went full force on it either like the ones he shattered the glass on the basket.