You all have heard that before, just felt a little bit different since Shaq wasn't talking to a Houston or Chinese reporter. And his comments on other Centers in the league too... [RQUOTER]Shaquille O'Neal: Critically Massive by Geoffrey C. Arnold, The Oregonian Wednesday March 25, 2009, 8:37 PM Bruce Ely/The Oregonian Shaquille O'Neal (above) on the Blazers' Greg Oden: "Give him some time and he should be a great center."Shaquille O'Neal's career has been rejuvenated since he arrived in Phoenix last season. The 37-year-old center's scoring and minutes averages -- 18.2 points and 30.2 minutes per game -- are his best in five seasons. Though the Suns could miss the playoffs, O'Neal has produced a solid season and was named to the All-Star team for the 15th time in his 17 NBA seasons. With his four NBA titles, an MVP award and three NBA Finals MVP awards, O'Neal still considers himself the gold standard among current NBA centers. "I'm the CEO of centers in this league," O'Neal said. "I'm the shogun and the rest of the guys must go through the ninjas before they get to me." O'Neal says he gets motivated when playing against the so-called "next dominant big man." Few would be surprised if he produces an outstanding game against Blazers rookie center Greg Oden or starting center Joel Przybilla -- whom he has had a few heated encounters over the years -- in tonight's game at the Rose Garden. When it comes to rating NBA big men, O'Neal has his own share of opinions. Here's what he had to say: Greg Oden, Portland -- "Young guy, who looks pretty athletic. He's just have to get a go-to move, a shot he can rely on. Give him some time and he should be a great center." Yao Ming, Houston -- "I don't think there is anybody like Yao, someone who can take over a game and change the game. Yao is a great center. With his height and his ability, he can shoot the jumper or post-up." Tim Duncan, San Antonio -- "Tim Duncan and I share the same responsibilities, but Tim is one of those quiet owners who doesn't talk a lot. He's got four (championships) and I've got four." Dwight Howard, Orlando -- "He's a highly respected center. I haven't really seen him back people down like (Patrick) Ewing used to do or (Kevin) Duckworth or I used to do it. He catches lobs and rebounds. He just does what he's supposed to do." Andrew Bynum, Los Angeles Lakers -- "A big guy and he plays above the rim. He does what he's supposed to do." Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Cleveland -- "He has a lot of moves in the post. If he didn't have so many foot problems, he would have displayed those moves long before now. He can step out and shoot, post up. Great team player, great touch around the basket." Ben Wallace, Cleveland -- "He has always been an undersized center. He'll never back down, no matter how many times you hit him. He's going to still come at you, still rebound and still fight." Brad Miller, Sacramento -- "An undersized, but respectable center. He's more like a Tim Duncan-type forward. He can step out and shoot the jumper. He will foul you hard and will not back down." -- Geoffrey C. Arnold: 503-221-8556; geoffreyarnold@news.oregonian.com[/RQUOTER]
sounds like the ceo knows his troops pretty well... fair comments. i'd like to hear how he grades himself one day when it's all said and done.
If Yao shot 40% from 3, we probably would run some plays to get him out there, too. And I'm no Okur fan, but he manages to D up Yao pretty well. I think that's more on Yao not being aggressive than Okur being the defensive player of the year, though.
The Big Aristotle can still mix it up with the young centers in the league. I agree with ibm, Shaq made fair comments on the legitimate centers (stop including Okur please ). He is still the gold standard among the centers. Nice comment on Yao btw.
I agree. He has proved nothing yet but get so much hype! IMO when healthy...he will prolly be rebounding leader...other than that i dont think he will be any offensive force in the NBA. Maybe the next Ben Wallace.
I read that before the OP's post and figured there had to be a thread about it already. I almost never start threads. Guess I should have! Thought Shaq's comments were pretty good. I would have liked to see a mention of Dream, but Shaq can't talk about him in every interview about centers, although certainly he should.
They must've tranquilized Shaq to be this complimentary and sedate in his response to this question. Usually he's a bit more opinionated.
Thing is with Greg Oden... For the Center position, being a great rebounder and blocker is MORE important than scoring. Now if he can score then that's a MAJOR plus...but Defense and Rebounding are what Centers are supposed to do and Oden WILL do that if he's healthy. No doubt about it in my mind that if he stays healthy he'll get his boards and intimidate in the paint, you can already see that in the few games and minutes he does play. He's working on his offensive game but as far as him and uh Howard go, they will be getting their points the same way the difference is Howard's team is built around him and Oden's team isn't.
