Could Wemby stop or slow down Shaq on defense? 1on1 force him to pass etc?

[Handlez]

Shaq would Chris Dudley him.

[165bows]

When did that actually happen in real life?

For those that weren’t there it was roughly ‘94-‘04.

Your empty snark post aside Wemby still hasn’t done jack **** in the league if I need to continue stating the obvious

No, please tell me when Shaq had the best half of his career against a great, quality opposing center to prove his dominance. Most of the great 1990s centers played him on even terms and Duncan went h2h with him during his peak to a standstill.

Wemby is young, but he already did incredible things on the court. Diminishing him that he "hasn't done jack ****" would be saying that 1994 Shaq didn't prove anything.

The arguments in here are so vapid and awful. Shaq was an MVP candidate and led a mediocre team to the finals same age and experience wemby just put up some cool stats and looked cool on a bad team.

Yeah he hasn’t done squat compared to what Shaq did at exactly the same age.

[70sFan]

For those that weren’t there it was roughly ‘94-‘04.

Your empty snark post aside Wemby still hasn’t done jack **** in the league if I need to continue stating the obvious

No, please tell me when Shaq had the best half of his career against a great, quality opposing center to prove his dominance. Most of the great 1990s centers played him on even terms and Duncan went h2h with him during his peak to a standstill.

Wemby is young, but he already did incredible things on the court. Diminishing him that he "hasn't done jack ****" would be saying that 1994 Shaq didn't prove anything.

The arguments in here are so vapid and awful. Shaq was an MVP candidate and led a mediocre team to the finals same age and experience wemby just put up some cool stats and looked cool on a bad team.

Yeah he hasn’t done squat compared to what Shaq did at exactly the same age.

Shaq did that in his third year at 22, which will happen this year for Wemby, so I don't really know who uses awful arguments...

[knicksfan974]

I assume that OP never witnessed Shaq on the court in his prime. Shaq would absolutely demolish Wemby and slam it in his face. Wemby would need so much more strength to battle prime Shaq one-on-one.

[Blame Rasho]

For those that weren’t there it was roughly ‘94-‘04.

Your empty snark post aside Wemby still hasn’t done jack **** in the league if I need to continue stating the obvious

No, please tell me when Shaq had the best half of his career against a great, quality opposing center to prove his dominance. Most of the great 1990s centers played him on even terms and Duncan went h2h with him during his peak to a standstill.

Wemby is young, but he already did incredible things on the court. Diminishing him that he "hasn't done jack ****" would be saying that 1994 Shaq didn't prove anything.

The arguments in here are so vapid and awful. Shaq was an MVP candidate and led a mediocre team to the finals same age and experience wemby just put up some cool stats and looked cool on a bad team.

Yeah he hasn’t done squat compared to what Shaq did at exactly the same age.

Umm well this is the year that he actually becomes 22, the age Shaq was when he legitimately had an all nba level talent besides him with quality role players when he went to the finals. Let me know who is on Penny’s level on the Spurs. I would like to know.

[Blame Rasho]

Oh and to state the obvious, wemby can’t stop him. He struggled with Embiid when he was lit up for 70 or so. He will always struggle with big guys like him, Jokic, heck even a guy like Zubac. The key thing is for him to stop settling for jumpers.

[og15]

For those that weren’t there it was roughly ‘94-‘04.

Your empty snark post aside Wemby still hasn’t done jack **** in the league if I need to continue stating the obvious

No, please tell me when Shaq had the best half of his career against a great, quality opposing center to prove his dominance. Most of the great 1990s centers played him on even terms and Duncan went h2h with him during his peak to a standstill.

Wemby is young, but he already did incredible things on the court. Diminishing him that he "hasn't done jack ****" would be saying that 1994 Shaq didn't prove anything.

The arguments in here are so vapid and awful. Shaq was an MVP candidate and led a mediocre team to the finals same age and experience wemby just put up some cool stats and looked cool on a bad team.

Yeah he hasn’t done squat compared to what Shaq did at exactly the same age.

Wait, what?

Penny Hardaway
Nick Anderson
Horace Grant

As your fellow starters with Dennis Scott as 6th man is mediocre? What world were you living in? A similar team with Scott promoted to starter went 20-8 without Shaq in 95-96.

[CobraCommander]

Current Wemby, no way

Wemby 5 years from now with more strength. Maybe

At best maybe - we saw Yao do it sometimes - but thin guys or quick guys or really tall guys had no chance. Wemby is special on offense and defensively he is great outside the post in a position-less league. Give him prime Shaq to deal with and he takes Ls all game

This actually happened in game

[ryan in Maine]

He could definitely slow Shaq down. He could definitely not stop him.

Wembanyama has excellent defensive instincts and can cover more area on the court than any defender Shaq faced. I think he could use his timing and instincts to bother Shaq quite a bit outside the rim.

[JinKaz69]

He could definitely slow Shaq down. He could definitely not stop him.

Wembanyama has excellent defensive instincts and can cover more area on the court than any defender Shaq faced. I think he could use his timing and instincts to bother Shaq quite a bit outside the rim.

As a help defender he can help for sure.
But 1 on 1 against prime Shaq he would have been eaten alive.

[ryan in Maine]

He could definitely slow Shaq down. He could definitely not stop him.

Wembanyama has excellent defensive instincts and can cover more area on the court than any defender Shaq faced. I think he could use his timing and instincts to bother Shaq quite a bit outside the rim.

As a help defender he can help for sure.
But 1 on 1 against prime Shaq he would have been eaten alive.

I think he's quick enough, lanky enough, and smart enough to take the hit and still get off the floor quick enough to get his fingers near the ball.

[Statlanta]

Depends could he hit back and would the refs allow him to. Guys like Vlade and Mutombo just took the pounding. Rodman is the counterpoint to all these could he defend Shaq threads. You just need defensive savvy and a willingness to play physical.

[og15]

He could definitely slow Shaq down. He could definitely not stop him.

Wembanyama has excellent defensive instincts and can cover more area on the court than any defender Shaq faced. I think he could use his timing and instincts to bother Shaq quite a bit outside the rim.

As a help defender he can help for sure.
But 1 on 1 against prime Shaq he would have been eaten alive.

I think he's quick enough, lanky enough, and smart enough to take the hit and still get off the floor quick enough to get his fingers near the ball.

Yikes.

Watch on YouTube

;pp=ygUUZW1iaWlkIHZzIHdlbWJhbnlhbWHSBwkJsgkBhyohjO8%3D

Check out the possessions where Embiid just gets low position, Victor has no chance, no fault of his own.

0:39
3:10
3:40
3:50

Obviously there were possessions ending in fouls and FT's not shown too, but the point here is how tough it is for taller lanky guys to not get dislodged by bigger guys, and Embiid is big, but not Shaq big and definitely not Shaq athletic either.

[ryan in Maine]

As a help defender he can help for sure.
But 1 on 1 against prime Shaq he would have been eaten alive.

I think he's quick enough, lanky enough, and smart enough to take the hit and still get off the floor quick enough to get his fingers near the ball.

Yikes.

Watch on YouTube

Check out the possessions where Embiid just gets low position, Victor has no chance, no fault of his own.

0:39
3:10
3:40
3:50

Obviously there were possessions ending in fouls and FT's not shown too, but the point here is how tough it is for taller lanky guys to not get dislodged by bigger guys, and Embiid is big, but not Shaq big and definitely not Shaq athletic either.

One of the best offensive bigs of my lifetime gave Wembanyama the business his rookie year. Makes sense. I'm not arguing with physics.

[og15]

Depends could he hit back and would the refs allow him to. Guys like Vlade and Mutombo just took the pounding. Rodman is the counterpoint to all these could he defend Shaq threads. You just need defensive savvy and a willingness to play physical.

Rodman is a totally different body type than the guys you are citing.

What Rodman was able to do we use his low base and determination, and make Shaq catch further out, but the exact thing Wemby doesn't have is a low base, and it's the same issue he has in terms of moving people on offense.

Then, in a real game, you have to factor in that Wemby is an offensive scoring option, and the amount of energy he would need to be expending on defense trying to move Shaq to likely no avail just wouldn't make sense from a maximizing your guys standpoint vs just having someone else there.

I think he's quick enough, lanky enough, and smart enough to take the hit and still get off the floor quick enough to get his fingers near the ball.

Yikes.

Watch on YouTube

Check out the possessions where Embiid just gets low position, Victor has no chance, no fault of his own.

0:39
3:10
3:40
3:50

Obviously there were possessions ending in fouls and FT's not shown too, but the point here is how tough it is for taller lanky guys to not get dislodged by bigger guys, and Embiid is big, but not Shaq big and definitely not Shaq athletic either.

One of the best offensive bigs of my lifetime gave Wembanyama the business his rookie year. Makes sense. I'm not arguing with physics.

Yup, and we're now asking how would he fare against one of the best big offensive men of all time who is also in the select few of most physically dominant big men of all time.

It's essentially asking about one of the worst matchups for a Wemby body type to go against, especially into the later 80's to 90's and beyond where offensive players in the post can now just push defenders and the whole post game became a very different thing from the past where a lot of what both sides were/are doing would be called fouls.

[Airmiess]

Not the Lakers Shaq.

[benson13]

Watch on YouTube

I love the bickering about the year. I often have that problem when describing a Super Bowl.

[Fencer reregistered]

If Shaq gets the ball in a position from which he is allowed to drive his shoulder through the opponent's chest, he's unstoppable.

In his prime, that was pretty much anywhere inside the 3-pt line. Today I'd think the area is somewhat smaller. But is it small enough that Wemby fronting Shaq to deny an entry pass is a viable strategy? If so, then he should be among the best ever to do just that. Can he also defend against drive-and-dump moves to get Shaq the ball inside? That's where the discussion gets well past one-on-one considerations.

[Black Jack]

Wemby would not be tasked with guarding Shaq.

[Wallace_Wallace]

Only way to slow down Shaq is to go right at him on defense. Can’t let him do whatever he wants on offense and then have him just rest on defense.

Back the pace was about 95 possessions a game. I don’t think he can consistently last 100+ possessions a game, especially when he has work on both ends. If teams don’t have a scoring big, put him on pick and rolls and have him on an island against a perimeter guard; do that several times a game he won’t be able to last long until he needs an oxygen tank just for him.