Damn, Shaq was explosive as hell. Blake Griffin - type athleticism at 7'1. You'll never Dwight running a fast break like that...Shows you how truly dominate Shaq was.
This is meant to be rookie Shaq vs prime Dwight. That is not the same as prime Shaaw vs prime Dwight. It's actually closer than people think, but I sitll agree that rookie Shaw is much better.
Rookie Shaq still > Prime Dwight. Washed up Shaq vs. Prime Dwight is the only time that it has been anywhere near close. Shaq at his best destroyed all opponents. All.
I'd add to that Mutombo and an in-his-prime Brad Daugherty (leading Cavs to the ECF). And to a lesser extent, Kevin Willis (18pts/15rbs in Shaq's rookie year) and Seikaly in his prime. Hell, Seikaly and Rik Smits would probably be considered the 2nd best C in the NBA, right now. Then you also have the annoyingly difficult offensive night against Mark Eaton. era of the center In Shaq's Rookie Year Dream Shaq/DRob Ewing Alonzo <---Dwight Howard in his prime Mutombo/Willis/Dougherty Seikaly/Smits Eaton ...followed by Bogut Okafur Chandler lol
You've obviously forgotten how good Ewing was if you don't think he would be one of the top two centers in the league today playing in his prime.
Rookie Shaq and it's not even close.... anyone who watched him in the finals against the rockets knows that he held his own against Olajuwon. Dwight still has a long way to go.
LOL......only somebody who never say Shaq play would even think that Dwight could handle him in his prime. Y'all think Dwight is strong, hell I've seen Shaq dunk with the whole team trying to hold him down. Now that is a superman......I think Chuck (as much as a stud as he is) stopped Dwight from dunking several times last game. Also, Dwight still can't move Shaq. Shaq is the most physically dominant player I have ever seen play basketball.
Yeah, Mario was insanely good. I'd kill to have a prime Horace Grant on this team. Shaq? He played extremely well during the series, except for his FT shooting, of course, and his turnovers. Not as well as the Dream, but damned good. Good enough, certainly, to be the best in today's NBA. Hard to believe he's still wheeling himself out there, but he's ten years younger than Hakeem.
Michael Jordan blocked Shaq first shot during their first matchup. Shaq averaged 23 points in his rookie season and Dwight never average more than 21 points until this season. The rookie Shaq had the post moves that Dwight will never have. Shaq was an underrate ball handler and passer for a big man.
I just looked back at the box scores from that series. Shaq averaged over 6 assists per game to go with his 28 points and 12.5 rebounds!
lol. Shaq in his prime was the most unstoppable offensive force there was. Dwight would lose an arm if he tried to block Shaq's dunks. When the Big Aristotle wanted you moved, you moved. Watch Barkley walk away on the 2nd video like "w...t...h...." <iframe title="YouTube video player" class="youtube-player" type="text/html" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/y5jMOK87N7A" frameborder="0" allowFullScreen></iframe> <iframe title="YouTube video player" class="youtube-player" type="text/html" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/mFME30bB7ok" frameborder="0" allowFullScreen></iframe>
To be kinda fair to Dwight, the illegal defense rules pre-zone defense allowed centers to prosper in 1-on-1 matchups more) Though to be fair to Shaq, with the zone rules in place he still destroyed everyone and had his FINEST years. I was gonna write about Shaq in the "Griffippers" thread. Shaud said "once you're that good, you'll get your share of hate". I remember rookie Shaq getting some bits of hazing. He wasnt liked THAT much off the bat. I remember in his 1st All Star game rookie season they played TOUGH D on him cuz they didnt like getting dominated and getting shown up so badly by the youngster
I do like DH but in the 90s he would probably look like this: 14pts, 10reb, 2blks He would have had so many issues scoring against the bigs of that era. He's just not an offensive center, DH only scores a ton today because there's no one of size/athleticism to slow him down. Put someone with size on him like Yao and his offensive game disappears. To whom ever said he'd be as good as Mourning obviously never watched him play in his prime.
Dwight's blocks would be up around Hakeem's level if he could jump all over people like they did then, I'm not sure why his scoring would be lower to that extent considering how many absolutely terrible centres there were to go along with 3 or 4 great ones, and rebounds? um, that wouldn't change much, 19-20/13/3 he would have been about.
Best Naughty by Nature was Ghetto b*stard by far. Best Tupac was So Much Pain. Best hip hop album overall was Book of Human Language by Aceyalone. But yeah, 90s b-ball was the ****. When people played gritty basketball and you had to earn your points. None of this weak crap. Dwight would've been like Zo--very good defensively but not particularly creative on offense. Definitely on the cusp of elite, but slightly below Dream, Shaq, Ewing, and Robinson. Sabonis would've been up there too if he had come over earlier (the guy was a real freak of nature). Dwight gets a lot of credit for his D, but the 90s was full of defensive all-timers: Dream, Deke, Rodman
