Shaq with average girth and strength

[Laimbeer]

Same skills and athleticism. How good would he have been?

[Cavsfansince84]

Isn't this basically 94-96 Shaq? I mean sure he had more strength but he didn't need it that much. So he's still mvp level and probably better on defense.

[euroleague]

Isn't this basically 94-96 Shaq? I mean sure he had more strength but he didn't need it that much. So he's still mvp level and probably better on defense.

No. Shaq was a monster in strength and size coming into the league that the NBA has never seen before or since. He certainly wasn't average.

Shaq built like Vlade Divac? Don't think he's that good.

[Cavsfansince84]

Isn't this basically 94-96 Shaq? I mean sure he had more strength but he didn't need it that much. So he's still mvp level and probably better on defense.

No. Shaq was a monster in strength and size coming into the league that the NBA has never seen before or since. He certainly wasn't average.

Shaq built like Vlade Divac? Don't think he's that good.

So Shaq at like 260 or so. He's still very good. Part of it though is its hard to say what average is when dealing with someone his height and his bone structure which plays into it. Chet Holgrem for instance isn't just skinny compared to Shaq. He has thinner bones and all of that while girth tends to just be muscle+fat.

[sp6r=underrated]

Same skills and athleticism. How good would he have been?

He's not in the NBA and tops out at a mid tier division 1 school. No shame in that. Basketball, especially big man basketball, is primarily about physical tools.

[henshao]

Same skills and athleticism. How good would he have been?

He's not in the NBA and tops out at a mid tier division 1 school. No shame in that. Basketball, especially big man basketball, is primarily about physical tools.

At over 7ft tall with a demonstrated ability to drag himself up and down the court for 35 minutes, gather rebounds and blocks at an acceptable rate, and score on a mild variety of moves in the post? 260lb Shaq for sure makes the NBA and probably starts tbh. Couldn't be worse than Kwame Brown

[sp6r=underrated]

Same skills and athleticism. How good would he have been?

He's not in the NBA and tops out at a mid tier division 1 school. No shame in that. Basketball, especially big man basketball, is primarily about physical tools.

At over 7ft tall with a demonstrated ability to drag himself up and down the court for 35 minutes, gather rebounds and blocks at an acceptable rate, and score on a mild variety of moves in the post? 260lb Shaq for sure makes the NBA and probably starts tbh. Couldn't be worse than Kwame Brown

The kicker is average strengh. Most of the 7 ft stiffs were still fairly strong. This Shaq isn't even that. And remember Shaq's personality wasn't that great. He didn't show up in shame. He got involved in petty feuds. Marginal talents typically have good attitudes.

[Im Your Father]

So am I assuming he’s proportionately gaining quickness for all the weight he’s losing?

[Dr Positivity]

Big Al level unless you make him faster to make up for the lack of strength

[falcolombardi]

Big Al level unless you make him faster to make up for the lack of strength

I feel like big al had better post moves in a vacuum than shaq alongiside a midrange jumper and free throws

[Dr Positivity]

Big Al level unless you make him faster to make up for the lack of strength

I feel like big al had better post moves in a vacuum than shaq alongiside a midrange jumper and free throws

Shaq might be a little more athleticism driven

[No-more-rings]

So a skinny 7 footer who couldn’t shoot and would get pushed around under the basket? I’m not really sure what he would’ve brought to the table aside from some shot blocking and I guess 10 ppg max.

[NO-KG-AI]

He's still a nice athlete, but almost all of his moves are based on strength first. Even the beautiful spins and all that are leveraged by guys overextending themselves in an attempt to try and negate some of the strength difference.

I guess he is athletic and long enough where he makes a fantastic roll and finish guy if he wants to be. Not a lot of 7'1 guys with 7'7 wingspans that have 36"+ verticals and gigantic mitts that can catch and finish from all over. If he's 260ish, he's definitely way more capable of post moves, drop steps, jump hooks, and all that to be able to produce some of his own offense inside compared to someone like Rudy Gobert for instance, who is a 15 ppg scorer with just the finishing aspect of his game.

Still a damn good player, and is probably forced to play good defense and do the little things he got away from doing as he got older because he was such a stud creator.

I guess it comes down to his attitude being different if he wants to maximize it.

[NO-KG-AI]

It says average strength and girth. I'm assuming that means average in terms of Centers or other guys that are 7'1. It doesn't say average strength for a human being. Average strength would imply that on average he's not getting pushed around and bullied, but he's not using strength as an advantage over most guys either.

[Jaivl]

Talking about "average girth" reminds me of some old Jordan thread which had some posters defending his peepee size.

[henshao]

Talking about "average girth" reminds me of some old Jordan thread who had some posters defending his peepee size.

Shaq with average girth and length, . . .

[Statlanta]

I don't necessarily think Shaq was stronger than everyone just bigger and imposed his physicality on players.

Average girth is just 90's Shaq.

[Samurai]

Isn't this basically 94-96 Shaq? I mean sure he had more strength but he didn't need it that much. So he's still mvp level and probably better on defense.

No. Shaq was a monster in strength and size coming into the league that the NBA has never seen before or since. He certainly wasn't average.

Shaq built like Vlade Divac? Don't think he's that good.

So Shaq at like 260 or so. He's still very good. Part of it though is its hard to say what average is when dealing with someone his height and his bone structure which plays into it. Chet Holgrem for instance isn't just skinny compared to Shaq. He has thinner bones and all of that while girth tends to just be muscle+fat.

How are we arriving at 260 pounds for league average? Just eyeballing every team's roster in 96, it seems that there are less than 10 players who weigh 260+, and only 4 of them played semi-regular minutes (averaging 18 minutes/game or so). The vast majority, including such immortals as Charles Claxton, Mike Peplowski, Adrian Caldwell, etc. played less than 5 games and averaged less than 5 minutes/game. Big Country Reeves was the only one who started more than half his games and the vast majority of teams had no one on their roster listed as 260+. Unless we are using a different definition of 'average', it would seem that the "average" for players listed as a center that year would be less than 240 pounds. So a 260 pound Shaq would still be one of the biggest players in the game, far bigger than the "average" center as there would be a noticeable difference between a 237 pound center and a 260 pound one.

[BlackThought]

Pretty silly question. Player's develop games based on their athletic ability. If Sam Perkins had Shaq's girth and strength but still just stood outside and shot 3s he wouldn't be any better either.

[Cavsfansince84]

How are we arriving at 260 pounds for league average? Just eyeballing every team's roster in 96, it seems that there are less than 10 players who weigh 260+, and only 4 of them played semi-regular minutes (averaging 18 minutes/game or so). The vast majority, including such immortals as Charles Claxton, Mike Peplowski, Adrian Caldwell, etc. played less than 5 games and averaged less than 5 minutes/game. Big Country Reeves was the only one who started more than half his games and the vast majority of teams had no one on their roster listed as 260+. Unless we are using a different definition of 'average', it would seem that the "average" for players listed as a center that year would be less than 240 pounds. So a 260 pound Shaq would still be one of the biggest players in the game, far bigger than the "average" center as there would be a noticeable difference between a 237 pound center and a 260 pound one.

*shrug* This whole thread is really subjective imo. As I mentioned above, it's hard to tell if we are just giving him less muscle mass and fat in order to make him 'average' or we are shrinking his frame along with that(as in things like shoulder/waist width and overall bone structure) or what. You'd also have to compare him to other guys in the 7-0 range. I mean isn't Jokic around 250lb after becoming skinny? Listed weights especially back in the 90's and earlier ran notoriously light.