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

[HMFFL]

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

This still makes me laugh. Chris Dudley got off rather easy.....he had it coming to him.

[dhsilv2]

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.

What mediocre team are we talking about? Shaq never went to the finals without one of the most talented teams in the league!

[dhsilv2]

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.

I sure hope he's not talking about the 1995 Magic!

That team was loaded.

Penny - all NBA first team
Grant - 4x nba champion, all nba defensive team guy. And btw, consistently on the player comp board's top 100 list. Grants one of the all time greats in terms of not needing the ball and adding tremendous value.
Nick Anderson - Quality shooter and scorer
Dennis Scott - another quality shooter and scorer

Finding teams in that era with that kind of support is few and far between.

[sashaturiaf]

You can hack a Shaq and get him back on the other end. No chance Shaq can keep up with Wemby in transition or on the perimeter. He'd be BBQ coq

[PostGameDaVinci]

A single drop step would turn Wemby into a fine puree next to the baseline. He doesn't stand a chance with Shaq's strength. He'd need someone like Steven Adams or Jokic to be the primary defender while Wemby plays help D.

I genuinely think Shaq would break Wembys wrist. Wemby is good enough to make a play on the ball after getting bumped, but it would be too little too late. Shaq would try to rip the rim off & Wemby would be a casualty. It would be the unstoppable force versus a very moveable object.

[LakersLegacy]

Ben Wallace stopped Shaq at a short height.
Wemby should take lessons from Ben Wallace. With his natural Blessings, Wemby should be the best defensive player of all time

[Blame Rasho]

Ben Wallace stopped Shaq at a short height.
Wemby should take lessons from Ben Wallace. With his natural Blessings, Wemby should be the best defensive player of all time

I don’t know how you can say that in all honesty about Shaq. Shaq wasn’t remotely stopped at all in the finals by Wallace. The biggest reason why the Pistons upset the Lakers wasn’t their complete castration of every player outside of Shaq.

Wemby is great, but some things being said of him recently are a bridge too far. The defensive player of all time potential? Unlikely. I see the Giannis thread and I just sigh…

[Ritzo]

He doesn't have the ideal build to slow down Shaq, he's a great defender but Shaq will ragdoll him. Heavy dudes with wider frame like Brook Lopez, Zubac, Adams would do way better than Wemby against Shaq.

[guynumber45]

This will sound like an oldhead take, I would be actually be concerned for Wemby's well-being taking a single shoulder charge from a prime Shaq.

[Tracymcgoaty]

Dude i've seen Jokic bully Wemby just by overpowering him with that kebab body.

Shaq would break Wemby in half.

[165bows]

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.

I sure hope he's not talking about the 1995 Magic!

That team was loaded.

Penny - all NBA first team
Grant - 4x nba champion, all nba defensive team guy. And btw, consistently on the player comp board's top 100 list. Grants one of the all time greats in terms of not needing the ball and adding tremendous value.
Nick Anderson - Quality shooter and scorer
Dennis Scott - another quality shooter and scorer

Finding teams in that era with that kind of support is few and far between.

Yeah good point it was hard to find good teams in the 90s lol

[dhsilv2]

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.

I sure hope he's not talking about the 1995 Magic!

That team was loaded.

Penny - all NBA first team
Grant - 4x nba champion, all nba defensive team guy. And btw, consistently on the player comp board's top 100 list. Grants one of the all time greats in terms of not needing the ball and adding tremendous value.
Nick Anderson - Quality shooter and scorer
Dennis Scott - another quality shooter and scorer

Finding teams in that era with that kind of support is few and far between.

Yeah good point it was hard to find good teams in the 90s lol

Not really sure what that means. In terms of depth around that era there were really just 3 truly deep teams imo. Sonics (though Kemp being a top 2 was an issue), Bulls (obviously) and Magic. If you go back a bit maybe the Suns.

[The Master]

Considering how much stronger physically Wemby got in the offseason - I think this is another thread that we'll revisit after some time, as I expect his 1v1 defense to vastly improve this year as well. What's quite scary considering that he was already last year a consensus DPOTY until he was out.

[SlimShady83]

Considering how much stronger physically Wemby got in the offseason - I think this is another thread that we'll revisit after some time, as I expect his 1v1 defense to vastly improve this year as well. What's quite scary considering that he was already last year a consensus DPOTY until he was out.

Damn this got to be one of the best bumps of all time LOL

Maybe I'll do another thread, with different title ok give me a day or two I got something

[sikma42]

Doubt he’d guard Shaq. Would likely roam on weak side


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[RoyceDa59]

Shaq always struggled against guys taller than him (Yao).

I think Wemby length would cause his fits.

[Bloodbather]

Shaq always struggled against guys taller than him (Yao).

I think Wemby length would cause his fits.

Yao was also heavy, though, he had the base to deal with Shaq. Same with Sabonis and Ostertag. That's the archetype to have any chance of slowing Shaq down 1v1 - heavy and long. That's why so many teams had unskilled, stiff, heavy 7 footers on their roster when prime Shaq was a thing. Shorter guys who did an okay job on him were yoked as well (Big Ben and Rodman, although Rodman didn’t really play prime Shaq) and they were exceptionally good at being disruptive.

You can't be skinny and defend Shaq, it's just not possible physically. He'll keep pushing you out of position in the low post or for offensive boards.

If you're Wemby's team, you'd want another big body to deal with Shaq and use Wemby as the patrolling help defender to disrupt entry passes and lobs to Shaq or bother his finishes.

[KayDee35]

Yes!!!!
But only because of modern defenses and Wemby's length.

If Wemby fronts Shaq and one of the weak side defenders sags into the paint, that's an entry pass with a high difficulty. You're going to have to lob it to get it over Wemby and several of those will become fastbreak turnovers.

Only a completely incompetent coach would let Wemby guard Shaq like it was still the 90s. There are no illegal defensive alignments anymore.

Now, if you ran a modern offense that took advantage of Shaq's gravity even when he didn't have the ball, you'd still get plenty of value out of him. But it would not look like the Lakers offense of the early 2000s. No team would allow you to run that offense against them.

Modern NBA defenses have zone principles built into them which along with the removal of the illegal defense rule has made low-post bully ball much harder to execute.

[Tottery]

No. Shaq was pure power. He could easily move Wemby. We've seen Shaq lift multiple players off the ground to dunk numerous times.

Shame he didn't take it more seriously and stay in shape. Shaq could have potentially been GOAT.

[Patches Perry]

There's no version of Wemby that wouldn't feel like a little breeze on Shaqs back. Shaq would put Wemby through the hoop. That will most likely never change. Shaq was just a different animal in terms of size, weight and force.

As someone else said, you're better off having someone like Steven Adams guard Shaq and Wemby as the help.