Shaquille O'Neal vs Wilt Chamberlain | Who is the Most DOMINANT?

[druggas]

Wilt. It’s not even close. But if you put them in the same era I’m sure it would be shaq.

What's the logic behind it?

Logic behind what?

Wilt was a lot more dominate than shaq because the league never seen anything like wilt before. Shaq never averaged 50ppg or over 20 rebounds that just insanity. Easily the most dominate of all time. But you put wilt and shaq in the same era I don’t think wilt wouldn’t have been better. Wilt was basically the Westbrook of the 60s he cared a lot more about stats than winning. Shaq was the most physically dominating presence ever. And if he played in the 60s I have little doubt he wouldn’t have averaged 50 and 20 also.

That isn't true.

[AdriLaker]

Shaq played against:
Olajuwon, Robinson, Yao, Ewing, Howard, Mourning, Mutombo and other physical freaks (Centers)

Wilt played against:
Russell, Jabbar...and???

i'm not talking just about how great their rivals were...we're talking about dominant and that means strength and size

Shaq wins

[70sFan]

Shaq played against:
Olajuwon, Robinson, Yao, Ewing, Howard, Mourning, Mutombo and other physical freaks (Centers)

Wilt played against:
Russell, Jabbar...and???

i'm not talking just about how great their rivals were...we're talking about dominant and that means strength and size

Shaq wins

Russell, Jabbar... and Thurmond, Reed, Bellamy, Unseld, Cowens, Lanier, Beaty... I mean, Willis Reed was a better player than Alonzo Mourning or Yao Ming. Thurmond was a better defender than anyone Shaq faced outside of Olajuwon and Robinson. You also used Yao and Howard, who reached their primes when Shaq was way past their best.

[SecondTake]

The one that played against actual athletes, and not janitors, part time players and skinny twigs smoking on the benches.

This.. Prime Shaq wouldve made Wilt look like every other center that Shaq faced against. I’m too young to have been around for Wilt, but I was in my early 20s when Shaq was stomping on the NBA, and theres absolutely nothing about Wilt that says he would’ve done better than the countless other 7 footers that tried to put a body on a Shaq and instead got backed up 5 feet and dunked on.
I’m am also a huge hater of Shaq and am of the opinion that it was the worst low skilled basketball ive ever seen from a superstar and that most of that was offensive fouling to the point that Shaq should’ve played like 20 minutes a game, but my opinion in this doesn’t matter. What matters is the NBA called it legal and it didn’t matter who you were, if you tried to stop Shaq, you got dunked on in the nastiest of ways, and Wilt wouldve been no different than Duncan or any of the other great bigs at the time. They all got dominated by Shaq ( and yes, I remember 99 and 2003 very well too ).

Other than Shaq himself, I don’t see any other NBA player thats ever played being able to stop him.

Except Wilt was more athletic than any other center Shaq faced (except maybe Howard and Howard is 4 inches shorter and like 30 pounds lighter, even old man Wilt dwarfed Shaq). Wilt was maybe 10-15 pounds lighter than Shaq, while having superior strength and quickness due to him being in excellent shape while for Shaq good 15-20 pounds was just overweight fat as can be seen from their prime pictures.

When you bring up Duncan you miss the point that of course Shaq dominated him physically, not really statistically because Duncan defended him really well in all Spurs - Lakers series. Resulting Shaq have really poor performances to his standards always in the playoffs vs Spurs. Averaging significantly bellow his career averages on FG% and scoring usually 20-22 PPG with just one decent serie vs Spurs. Kobe won them series vs Spurs. Not Shaq.

When we compare Wilt to Duncan you have at very minimum as good of defender in Wilt, while having 50-60 pounds on Duncan in terms of weight so Shaq just can't dominate Wilt physically like that.

See the shoulder level. Wilt just dwarfs Shaq.

lmao, you really gonna try and say Wilt dwarfs Shaq in that pic? Nice try trying to instruct us to look at their shoulders, as if thats where the body ended. I'm looking at the top of their head, and they are identical if not a small edge for Shaq.

Also, theres no way Wilt was stronger than a 320LB Lakers Shaq. I'm sorry youre not overcoming that weight difference, especially with Shaqs massive frame.

[SNPA]

Shaq needed Kobe and three refs to beat Divac and Webber.

The answer is Wilt.

[Johnny Bball]

The one that played against actual athletes, and not janitors, part time players and skinny twigs smoking on the benches.

This is so stupid.

And btw...

Full Definition of dominant (Entry 1 of 2)
1a: commanding, controlling, or prevailing over all others
the dominant culture
b: very important, powerful, or successful
a dominant theme
a dominant industry
the team's dominant performance

[DCasey91]

Wilt. 7”1 - 7”2 bigger Giannis rangey type? F that no thanks.

Dude makes Shaq look normal that’s how imposing Wilt is.

You knows whose more dominant when even Shaq is unders on size.

Basically murdered before injury hit.

[NRSV]

I just default to 70sFan in these situations. He’s watched the film, you haven’t. He’s looked at the stats, you haven’t. He’s one of the few qualified to have an informed opinion.

[coastalmarker99]

Wilt. 7”1 - 7”2 bigger Giannis rangey type? F that no thanks.

Dude makes Shaq look normal that’s how imposing Wilt is.

You knows whose more dominant when even Shaq is unders on size.

Basically murdered before injury hit.

Wilt was a freak of nature.


When Wilt had his knee injury in 1970 it was nearly identical to the one that Baylor had suffered a few years prior.

It occurred in game one of the '65 playoffs, on April 3rd.


He played his first game on October 15th in '66. A full six months after the injury.

But he was just a shell of himself the entire season.

He missed 15 games that year, and his production went from 27.1 ppg in '65, down to 16.6 ppg in '66.


In fact, he would sadly never be the same player he had been again.

So, it took Baylor essentially a year and a half to semi fully recover from the same injury that Wilt "recovered" from in four months (Nov 7th when he injured it, to March 18th.)

And To Wilt's credit despite basically playing on one good leg he did put up the only 20-20 60.0 Finals in NBA history (23.2 ppg, 24.1 rpg, and on a .62.5 FG% in the 1970 finals.

[coastalmarker99]

The centers Shaq faced in the 2000 Playoff run: Vlade Divac, Luc Longley, a 36 year old Aryvadonis Sabonis, and Rik Smits.

The centers Wilt faced in the 1967 Playoff run: Jerry Lucas, Bill Russell and Nate Thurmond.



Shaq's series against the best defender of the lot (Sabonis): 26-12-4 on 55% TS. 18-9-5 in the closeout game.




Wilt's series against the best defender of the lot (Russell): 22-32-10-12 on 57% TS.


29-36-13-17 in the closeout game.


3 triple-doubles in the series to along with two quadruple doubles and 20-20 in every game.




All Against Bill Russell. Whom some call the greatest player to ever have lived.



Also, Wilt at his peak in 1967 for the playoffs over 15 Games averaged.


21.7 PTS 29.1 REBS 9.0 ASTS 9.2 BLKS on 55 percent shooting.




Wilt in that 1967 playoff run faced teams with six top 75 players of all-time



(Russell, Thurmond, Barry, Jones, Oscar, and Hondo) while Shaq faced one in the 2000 playoffs in Reggie.

[coastalmarker99]

Shaq might be able to go toe to toe with Wilt for three quarters but then he'd be gassed and have to sit on the bench.


In the meantime, Wilt would just keep on dominating any Lakers backup center as he could go full throttle for 48 minutes.

Wilt versus Devan George is a really bad look.


Both men were a 10 on offence, but Wilt was also a 10 on defence while Shaq was maybe an 8.


Wilt was also the better rebounder and playmaker.

Basically, it's pretty close while both are fresh but still advantage Wilt.

The gap widens substantially because of Wilt's superior endurance.

[shotsquatch]

What does 'dominant' mean?

If 'dominant' means outlier performance relative to league averages at the time, then it's Wilt no question.

If 'dominant' means outlier athletic abilities for their size and frame, then it's Wilt, although you could make a case for Shaq. They were different beasts.

If 'dominant' means which guy was bigger and stronger, then it's probably Shaq. I would rather take a charge from Wilt than Shaq.

These superlative prompts rarely generate good discussions because nobody ever defines their terms.

[70sFan]

This.. Prime Shaq wouldve made Wilt look like every other center that Shaq faced against. I’m too young to have been around for Wilt, but I was in my early 20s when Shaq was stomping on the NBA, and theres absolutely nothing about Wilt that says he would’ve done better than the countless other 7 footers that tried to put a body on a Shaq and instead got backed up 5 feet and dunked on.
I’m am also a huge hater of Shaq and am of the opinion that it was the worst low skilled basketball ive ever seen from a superstar and that most of that was offensive fouling to the point that Shaq should’ve played like 20 minutes a game, but my opinion in this doesn’t matter. What matters is the NBA called it legal and it didn’t matter who you were, if you tried to stop Shaq, you got dunked on in the nastiest of ways, and Wilt wouldve been no different than Duncan or any of the other great bigs at the time. They all got dominated by Shaq ( and yes, I remember 99 and 2003 very well too ).

Other than Shaq himself, I don’t see any other NBA player thats ever played being able to stop him.

Except Wilt was more athletic than any other center Shaq faced (except maybe Howard and Howard is 4 inches shorter and like 30 pounds lighter, even old man Wilt dwarfed Shaq). Wilt was maybe 10-15 pounds lighter than Shaq, while having superior strength and quickness due to him being in excellent shape while for Shaq good 15-20 pounds was just overweight fat as can be seen from their prime pictures.

When you bring up Duncan you miss the point that of course Shaq dominated him physically, not really statistically because Duncan defended him really well in all Spurs - Lakers series. Resulting Shaq have really poor performances to his standards always in the playoffs vs Spurs. Averaging significantly bellow his career averages on FG% and scoring usually 20-22 PPG with just one decent serie vs Spurs. Kobe won them series vs Spurs. Not Shaq.

When we compare Wilt to Duncan you have at very minimum as good of defender in Wilt, while having 50-60 pounds on Duncan in terms of weight so Shaq just can't dominate Wilt physically like that.

See the shoulder level. Wilt just dwarfs Shaq.

lmao, you really gonna try and say Wilt dwarfs Shaq in that pic? Nice try trying to instruct us to look at their shoulders, as if thats where the body ended. I'm looking at the top of their head, and they are identical if not a small edge for Shaq.

Also, theres no way Wilt was stronger than a 320LB Lakers Shaq. I'm sorry youre not overcoming that weight difference, especially with Shaqs massive frame.

Lakers 320 lbs Shaq would have only around 30 lbs advantage over prime Wilt. It's not that much, certainly not enough to say that it's impossible to overcome.

[JN61]

This.. Prime Shaq wouldve made Wilt look like every other center that Shaq faced against. I’m too young to have been around for Wilt, but I was in my early 20s when Shaq was stomping on the NBA, and theres absolutely nothing about Wilt that says he would’ve done better than the countless other 7 footers that tried to put a body on a Shaq and instead got backed up 5 feet and dunked on.
I’m am also a huge hater of Shaq and am of the opinion that it was the worst low skilled basketball ive ever seen from a superstar and that most of that was offensive fouling to the point that Shaq should’ve played like 20 minutes a game, but my opinion in this doesn’t matter. What matters is the NBA called it legal and it didn’t matter who you were, if you tried to stop Shaq, you got dunked on in the nastiest of ways, and Wilt wouldve been no different than Duncan or any of the other great bigs at the time. They all got dominated by Shaq ( and yes, I remember 99 and 2003 very well too ).

Other than Shaq himself, I don’t see any other NBA player thats ever played being able to stop him.

Except Wilt was more athletic than any other center Shaq faced (except maybe Howard and Howard is 4 inches shorter and like 30 pounds lighter, even old man Wilt dwarfed Shaq). Wilt was maybe 10-15 pounds lighter than Shaq, while having superior strength and quickness due to him being in excellent shape while for Shaq good 15-20 pounds was just overweight fat as can be seen from their prime pictures.

When you bring up Duncan you miss the point that of course Shaq dominated him physically, not really statistically because Duncan defended him really well in all Spurs - Lakers series. Resulting Shaq have really poor performances to his standards always in the playoffs vs Spurs. Averaging significantly bellow his career averages on FG% and scoring usually 20-22 PPG with just one decent serie vs Spurs. Kobe won them series vs Spurs. Not Shaq.

When we compare Wilt to Duncan you have at very minimum as good of defender in Wilt, while having 50-60 pounds on Duncan in terms of weight so Shaq just can't dominate Wilt physically like that.

See the shoulder level. Wilt just dwarfs Shaq.

lmao, you really gonna try and say Wilt dwarfs Shaq in that pic? Nice try trying to instruct us to look at their shoulders, as if thats where the body ended. I'm looking at the top of their head, and they are identical if not a small edge for Shaq.

Also, theres no way Wilt was stronger than a 320LB Lakers Shaq. I'm sorry youre not overcoming that weight difference, especially with Shaqs massive frame.

Wilt had higher level shoulder height, only length measurement that matters in terms of player height. Head adds little to nothing to physical length of a basketball player. Wilt also had 4 inches on Shaq in terms of wingspan. And yes Wilt was stronger than Shaq in weight room. Bulk (fat in case of Shaq) only does so much to you if you are able to bully smaller players. Wilt would have hold his own combined with superior agility, speed and leaping ability to defend the hook shots.

[70sFan]

I just default to 70sFan in these situations. He’s watched the film, you haven’t. He’s looked at the stats, you haven’t. He’s one of the few qualified to have an informed opinion.

Thanks, although I'm not the only one qualified to do that, nor I'm the most qualified.

It's incredibly hard to pick between Shaq and Wilt. Both have advantages over the other one. I prefer Wilt's defense, rebounding and durability over Shaq's more consistent off-ball movement, but it's close.

[KnickMan]

I just default to 70sFan in these situations. He’s watched the film, you haven’t. He’s looked at the stats, you haven’t. He’s one of the few qualified to have an informed opinion.

Thanks, although I'm not the only one qualified to do that, nor I'm the most qualified.

It's incredibly hard to pick between Shaq and Wilt. Both have advantages over the other one. I prefer Wilt's defense, rebounding and durability over Shaq's more consistent off-ball movement, but it's close.

There may never be another player like Wilt. Besides his insane athleticism, endurance, and durability for his size, he was also very skilled as a basketball player. I think he would have been a Hall of Fame Player if he was 6'6 or 6' 8. I really cannot say the same about Shaq. Shaq was definitely a great player and if he had the dedication to his fitness that Wilt had, he might have surpassed Wilt, but as it stands, Wilt was the most dominant player to ever play the game and dominated it for over decade. If he played the game today, I could easily see him adapting his game to being able to shoot the 3, along with all his other skills.

[cpower]

this should be Shaq vs Russell

[70sFan]

this should be Shaq vs Russell

Russell is above them all

[J_T]

We had a discussion about this here years ago. Wilt won the poll. One dude compared him to Javale McGee.

It wasn't me, but I like the comparison. Not because Wilt = Javale, but it exaggerates the huge gap that would exist between Shaq and Wilt, had the ever met on court. Shaq would be rapping about Wilt before and after every game. Wilt would have been the Javale McGee of the modern era - until Shaq's mom told him to stop bullying poor Wilt.

[70sFan]

We had a discussion about this here years ago. Wilt won the poll. One dude compared him to Javale McGee.

It wasn't me, but I like the comparison. Not because Wilt = Javale, but it exaggerates the huge gap that would exist between Shaq and Wilt, had the ever met on court. Shaq would be rapping about Wilt before and after every game. Wilt would have been the Javale McGee of the modern era - until Shaq's mom told him to stop bullying poor Wilt.

This doesn't make any sense...