Shaq says he would’ve dropped 45 & 16 on Rudy Gobert in 3 quarters

[TurinTurambar]

Anyone knocking Shaq here isn’t old enough to have lived through prime Shaq years. He was completely unstoppable.

Maybe Shaq is being impolite in stating this but I don't get what this fans are whining about. Shaq is 100% correct. He would demolished Gobert. Those are facts, nothing against Gobert.

Realgm just has a weird thing with Shaq. Look no further than the whole Donovan Mitchell thing. Apparently a healthy portion of the board actually agrees with Shaq's take on Mitchell, but that hasn't stopped anyone from posting invective directed at him.

So we'll add Diesel to the list of guys who bring out the worst in too many posters here, along with LeBron, Kobe, MJ, KD, and Kyrie.

[Pablo Escobar]

Shaq would destroy the entire league it'd be absolute murder if he was playing today.

They’d literally have to triple team him on every play. Also I love the defense talk about Shaq clown takes

Also if we're talking Lakers Shaq then yeah he'd struggle on the switching aspect on screens. But if he played at his Orlando weight we'd be talking goat discussions tbh. Even at 360+ he still had a freakish amount of speed and great footwork in the post, dude was doing fade away hook shots

[Ryoga Hibiki]

LOL. Reeves was a prototypical big man of the era and had good offensive scoring ability. Injuries killed his career. Dampier had one good year and got a massive overpay as it was a contract year, and that contract was 2005+ when Shaq was in his twilight. Using two examples of bad contracts does not make much of a point.

Rudy would have been pushed around in the 90s. He still would have been very good, but with a lesser impact. Players would have went through him.

Then again, can you imagine Shaq or Rudy in the 70s NBA? Both would absolutely dominate.

Take any random year in the early '00 and check how much the average starting center was being paid and how good he was.
In those days centers were all making excellent money, more than today (in % of the cap, of course).

[Nate505]

Shaq wasn't exactly dropping 45 and 16 on Greg Ostertag back in the day, so I'm not sure why he could do it on moment's notice against Gobert.

[stitches]

Shaq wasn't exactly dropping 45 and 16 on Greg Ostertag back in the day, so I'm not sure why he could do it on moment's notice against Gobert.

I've never seen so much idiocy in one thread, I swear. It's simply astounding.

[DoctorX]

Shaq had his worst series of his playoff career FG percentage wise against the Spurs in '02. In that series Shaq averaged 21.2 points-12.2 rebounds per game on 44 percent shooting. I know some people will say well the Spurs also had David Robinson and Tim Duncan. That is normally true but this series was uniquely different in the sense Robinson missed the first two games of the series and was playing with back problems in the remaining 3 games.

The first 2 games Duncan started at center and guarded Shaq. Then still remained the primary defender of Shaq in the remaining 3 games since Robinson didn't play much due to being hurt and in foul trouble. I was amazed at how great of job Duncan did in this series in guarding Shaq. He had a lot of success in containing him. Around that time period Duncan was around 260-270 pounds and had a long wingspan of 7'3 and Duncan is 6'11 without shoes.

Rudy on the other hand is around 7'1 and 260 but has an even longer winspan of 7'9. I'm not saying Rudy would have the same success Duncan had against Shaq considering Duncan having a great offensive game also played a role in wearing down Shaq on the offensive end since he couldn't rest on defense. With that being said I do think Rudy would be able to contain Shaq for stretches during a game and would have game or two during a playoff series where he would be able to stop Shaq on the offensive end.

Watch on YouTube

;t=9s

Watch on YouTube

;t=297s

[robbie84]

Shaq would absolutely destroy Gobert but overall Shaq would also get killed by modern offenses.

Yes just like Jokic/Lopez/Vuc I are right

All those guys are infinitely faster than Shaq. Shaq had awful lateral movement.
If you disagree then have a nice day.

[Big J]

Shaq would absolutely destroy Gobert but overall Shaq would also get killed by modern offenses.

Yes just like Jokic/Lopez/Vuc I are right

All those guys are infinitely faster than Shaq. Shaq had awful lateral movement.
If you disagree then have a nice day.

You are talking about old Shaq. Young Shaq ran like a fuggin gazelle. He'd stuff Gobert in the hoop.

[og15]

Shaq had his worst series of his playoff career FG percentage wise against the Spurs in '02. In that series Shaq averaged 21.2 points-12.2 rebounds per game on 44 percent shooting. I know some people will say well the Spurs also had David Robinson and Tim Duncan. That is normally true but this series was uniquely different in the sense Robinson missed the first two games of the series and was playing with back problems in the remaining 3 games.

The first 2 games Duncan started at center and guarded Shaq. Then still remained the primary defender of Shaq in the remaining 3 games since Robinson didn't play much due to being hurt and in foul trouble. I was amazed at how great of job Duncan did in this series in guarding Shaq. He had a lot of success in containing him. Around that time period Duncan was around 260-270 pounds and had a long wingspan of 7'3 and Duncan is 6'11 without shoes.

Rudy on the other hand is around 7'1 and 260 but has an even longer winspan of 7'9. I'm not saying Rudy would have the same success Duncan had against Shaq considering Duncan having a great offensive game also played a role in wearing down Shaq on the offensive end since he couldn't rest on defense. With that being said I do think Rudy would be able to contain Shaq for stretches during a game and would have game or two during a playoff series where he would be able to stop Shaq on the offensive end.

Watch on YouTube

;t=9s

Watch on YouTube

;t=297s

Rudy doesn't have the same centre of gravity that Duncan does, not to mention that Duncan has always been a very smart 1v1 post defender. It would certainly be tougher for him.

It will depend on what kind of help and defensive scheme Utah is employing. Shaq could certainly do it if his team was simply just force feeding him the ball to try to get him points, but in the natural flow, 15 pts a quarter no matter the defender would be a huge outlier for him.

The reason this series isn't mentioned much has a lot to do with the fact that the Lakers won. If they had lost, it would be a much bigger discussion about their defense on Shaq.

[TheSeeker]

Shaq wasn't exactly dropping 45 and 16 on Greg Ostertag back in the day, so I'm not sure why he could do it on moment's notice against Gobert.

Tag was actually one of the best defenders against Shaq (until Shaq got in Tag's head by literally bitch slapping him). Tag was never the same against Shaq or anyone else sadly. Just goes to show what an **** Shaq is.

[DoctorX]

Shaq had his worst series of his playoff career FG percentage wise against the Spurs in '02. In that series Shaq averaged 21.2 points-12.2 rebounds per game on 44 percent shooting. I know some people will say well the Spurs also had David Robinson and Tim Duncan. That is normally true but this series was uniquely different in the sense Robinson missed the first two games of the series and was playing with back problems in the remaining 3 games.

The first 2 games Duncan started at center and guarded Shaq. Then still remained the primary defender of Shaq in the remaining 3 games since Robinson didn't play much due to being hurt and in foul trouble. I was amazed at how great of job Duncan did in this series in guarding Shaq. He had a lot of success in containing him. Around that time period Duncan was around 260-270 pounds and had a long wingspan of 7'3 and Duncan is 6'11 without shoes.

Rudy on the other hand is around 7'1 and 260 but has an even longer winspan of 7'9. I'm not saying Rudy would have the same success Duncan had against Shaq considering Duncan having a great offensive game also played a role in wearing down Shaq on the offensive end since he couldn't rest on defense. With that being said I do think Rudy would be able to contain Shaq for stretches during a game and would have game or two during a playoff series where he would be able to stop Shaq on the offensive end.

Watch on YouTube

;t=9s

Watch on YouTube

;t=297s

Rudy doesn't have the same centre of gravity that Duncan does, not to mention that Duncan has always been a very smart 1v1 post defender. It would certainly be tougher for him.

It will depend on what kind of help and defensive scheme Utah is employing. Shaq could certainly do it if his team was simply just force feeding him the ball to try to get him points, but in the natural flow, 15 pts a quarter no matter the defender would be a huge outlier for him.

The reason this series isn't mentioned much has a lot to do with the fact that the Lakers won. If they had lost, it would be a much bigger discussion about their defense on Shaq.

1. I agree Duncan was deceptively strong with his base and broad shoulders.
2. I agree with you but in general people don't know much about the battles of Duncan vs Shaq outside of hardcore fans. For example when the Spurs beat the Lakers in '03 and Duncan had a dominate game against Shaq and clearly outplayed him in a must win game 6 at Staples Center. That game in my eyes was legendary but it was forgotten. Most people don't even know the Spurs ended the Lakers 3 peat. I saw a online question a few months ago and the majority of fans voted that the Pistons ended the Lakers 3 peat.

[IzzyT]

Shaq is a guy who needs his narrative checked. There were series where Kobe was the best player on the floor. People just look at his playoff averages during that three year stretch and what he did in the Finals, but he was not a guy who couldn’t be slowed down. He was slowed down at times. He was outplayed by Duncan and Kobe, imo, several times in key series (just never in the Finals).

[robbie84]

Yes just like Jokic/Lopez/Vuc I are right

All those guys are infinitely faster than Shaq. Shaq had awful lateral movement.
If you disagree then have a nice day.

You are talking about old Shaq. Young Shaq ran like a fuggin gazelle. He'd stuff Gobert in the hoop.

Once he got a full head of steam he was a freight train, but he never had to guard the pick n roll for 30 possessions a night. His lateral/sideways movement was poor because he never really needed it back then.

[pace31]

Alright I spoke early in this thread just speaking about Shaq disrespecting Rudy (which still is true), but there's been too much slander about Shaq the player going on.

Dude was an absolute monster the bulk of his career and he dominated then and he sure as hell would dominate now. Yeah his game would've needed to be tweaked, but he would've figured it out.

[tsirigoj]

He ain't wrong though.

Early 2000s Shaq would do that to anyone. Maybe not a prime Akeem, and Shaq struggled a little bit against Timmy D (at times), but other than that, Shaq could easily drop 45 on ANYBODY.

Easily?
No...he scored 40 or more 49 times, and made 45 twelve times.
Which is awesome, and he was a legit all-timer. But he couldn't easily score 45 on anyone. That's revisionist history.

Not at all.

He scored 45 when he had to. When you have another young player on your team that demands the ball almost as much as you do, you are going to sacrifice some touches.

[HardenToSixers]

Shaq had his worst series of his playoff career FG percentage wise against the Spurs in '02. In that series Shaq averaged 21.2 points-12.2 rebounds per game on 44 percent shooting. I know some people will say well the Spurs also had David Robinson and Tim Duncan. That is normally true but this series was uniquely different in the sense Robinson missed the first two games of the series and was playing with back problems in the remaining 3 games.

The first 2 games Duncan started at center and guarded Shaq. Then still remained the primary defender of Shaq in the remaining 3 games since Robinson didn't play much due to being hurt and in foul trouble. I was amazed at how great of job Duncan did in this series in guarding Shaq. He had a lot of success in containing him. Around that time period Duncan was around 260-270 pounds and had a long wingspan of 7'3 and Duncan is 6'11 without shoes.

Rudy on the other hand is around 7'1 and 260 but has an even longer winspan of 7'9. I'm not saying Rudy would have the same success Duncan had against Shaq considering Duncan having a great offensive game also played a role in wearing down Shaq on the offensive end since he couldn't rest on defense. With that being said I do think Rudy would be able to contain Shaq for stretches during a game and would have game or two during a playoff series where he would be able to stop Shaq on the offensive end.

Watch on YouTube

;t=9s

Watch on YouTube

;t=297s

Rudy doesn't have the same centre of gravity that Duncan does, not to mention that Duncan has always been a very smart 1v1 post defender. It would certainly be tougher for him.

It will depend on what kind of help and defensive scheme Utah is employing. Shaq could certainly do it if his team was simply just force feeding him the ball to try to get him points, but in the natural flow, 15 pts a quarter no matter the defender would be a huge outlier for him.

The reason this series isn't mentioned much has a lot to do with the fact that the Lakers won. If they had lost, it would be a much bigger discussion about their defense on Shaq.

1. I agree Duncan was deceptively strong with his base and broad shoulders.
2. I agree with you but in general people don't know much about the battles of Duncan vs Shaq outside of hardcore fans. For example when the Spurs beat the Lakers in '03 and Duncan had a dominate game against Shaq and clearly outplayed him in a must win game 6 at Staples Center. That game in my eyes was legendary but it was forgotten. Most people don't even know the Spurs ended the Lakers 3 peat. I saw a online question a few months ago and the majority of fans voted that the Pistons ended the Lakers 3 peat.

I'm not sure why you are using Tim Duncan as a reason that Gobert would be able to guard Shaq. Tim Duncan is one of the greatest, smartest defenders in NBA history. Gobert is one of the biggest fraud perennial DPOY candidates ever.

He has great length that works on a lot of people but Shaq would absolutely demolish him. Gobert gets sent flying across the court like a bowling ball trying to draw offensive fouls whenever Embiid gets a little physical with him and Shaq was twice as strong as Embiid. He is not in stratosphere of athleticism to be able to handle Shaq's power and quickness.

[Lockdown504090]

Shaq wasn't exactly dropping 45 and 16 on Greg Ostertag back in the day, so I'm not sure why he could do it on moment's notice against Gobert.

I've never seen so much idiocy in one thread, I swear. It's simply astounding.

Watch on YouTube

;ab_channel=domcarter
Shaq was playing with a heavy brace and they doubled him in ways the jazz do not double big men usually. If they guarded shaq the way the jazz guarded embiid and jokic, he would absolutely get a fifty ball based on how zion embiid and jokic could move rudy around because he wasnt strong enough.

Watch on YouTube

;ab_channel=AndrewvanBuuren
Thats the whole game, and you can see shaq is playing with the knee brace for people recovering from ACL surgery, and that they are bringing karl malone over a lot, and if the jazz did decide to double they would be bringing over joe ingles and Bojan, which isnt even remotely the same thing as malone..... finally, Greg was getting tossed like a salad.

[JayMKE]

I've accepted that Shaq is going to be talking **** about how great he was until the day he dies and we're lucky he isn't bragging about having sex with 20k women too. I do think Gobert would have a really hard time checking Shaq but so did almost everybody, I think Shaq's angle here is more that he doesn't respect Gobert being considered a "dominant" force when he mostly plays just one side of the ball but maybe that's just my own interpretation. Gobert isn't particularly imposing besides height and length, he's gotten punished before by stronger more physical players.

I just wish we could play under 90s rules to exorcise some demons out of our system once and for all, now that would be a fun theme for a season.

[iamworthy]

Shaq would have destroyed gobert on offense but he's not grabbing 16 rebounds.

[amedawg00]

Look what embid did to Gobert a few weeks ago. Had him in the torture chamber so this is not hyperbole by Shaq. Gobert normally struggles with the brawler bigs. This is coming from a die hard jazz fan too.

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