Not overly invested in this vote… ordering of Wilt/Magic/Shaq can go any way for me, with all having valid (and some invalid) arguments and criticisms but all being comfortable top nine names for me in playoff value provided.
Magic has no shot here regardless, so I suppose that simplifies the decision. Next round I will pick between him and the Shaq/Wilt remainder. I think the Magic arguments have been stronger than the Shaq arguments thus far, but that is more a matter of effort (how fitting); Shaq has his case, and if nothing else, I will start making it at least at #9 to defend my tier separations.
Ultimately I am more swayed by Wilt here than by Shaq. To start, I am confident he provided more raw value to his teams than 1993-2006 Shaq did… but again, I am not just treating this as some cold CORP approach. Despite what has become his reputation, Wilt disappointed me less.
1960: team outperforms playoff expectations
1961: team underperforms playoff expectations, although would place low responsibility for that on Wilt
1962: team outperforms playoff expectations
1963: admittedly a bad look for the state of the league but I do not know what more he realistically could have done here. Think the San Francisco move was a challenging one for the team, and even then, they probably could have made the playoffs and maybe even pulled off some shocking upsets if a few unlucky games go their way (Pistons had three more wins but a significantly worse point differential, and I think Wilt in a playoff situation could have a reasonable shot against the Hawks).
1964: team plays to postseason expectations,
but this team also should not have been that good
1965: team outperforms playoff expectations
1966: team underperforms playoff expectations; Wilt bears some responsibility, but his team hardly inspired
1967: team on balance meets playoff expectations (better than expected against Celtics, slightly less impressive than expected against the Warriors)
1968: team underperforms playoff expectations; fair amount of injury context here
1969: team technically outperforms playoff expectations but falls short of expectations based on talent
1970: team outperforms playoff expectations; with both starting centres injured, could say the series is decided by Frazier outplaying West
1971: team on balance outperforms playoff expectations without West
1972: team meets playoff expectations
1973: team on balance meets playoff expectations but underperforms in the Finals; everyone shares in the blame
With Shaq, I thought he frequently had letdowns in the postseason (more on the defensive end) until Phil Jackson, and with Phil Jackson, Kobe came across as the more consistent
conference elevator while Shaq would clean up in the Finals. And that is important, but I think its optics are overstated. Same story carried over to Wade. So then I find myself asking, could Wilt similarly find success in a partnership with a superstar shooting guard?
The best teams Shaq beat, in my opinion, were the 2000 Blazers and Pacers and the 2001/02/04 Spurs. I tend to place… basically all of Wilt’s losses ahead of those (plus the 1967 Celtics and 1972 Bucks in a win). When Shaq encountered an approximate equivalent to the average Wilt opponent via the 2004 Pistons, he lost soundly. Valiantly, but soundly all the same. Suddenly the perimetre help dried up and he could not pile on the points against the Wallaces (despite high efficiency) nor do much to stand in the way of Billups.
Again, this is not some strong conviction, so if the line of thought seems unconvincing, perhaps my lack of conviction shines through. What I want to convey is that I have a slightly easier time thinking that Wilt could have done better in Shaq’s place than I do in thinking Shaq could have done better in Wilt’s place. Not literally, because I can see a hypothetical where Shaq has a real physical advantage over Wilt, but principally: “I give you this amount of support against this calibre of opponent and will see what happens.” If someone holds Kobe in no regard because of middling BPM or whatever, their conclusion will likely be different. However, as someone who holds Kobe, and Wade, and Penny in some regard, I tend to see both Wilt and Shaq more as circumstantially meeting expectations, and at that point, I would rather take the guy who offered more in totality to his teams and did not come with latent defensive weaknesses against competent offensive systems.
VOTE: Wilt Chamberlain(I nominated Kobe on page one, but I doubt that will be enough to unseat Bird’s lead.)
Sharing the joy of Bird, in this case.
