kobe has babied leaving the Lakers every bad season he played shaq is a 20 million dollar contract both have a lot of championships, but Shaq's situations is better... considering he has a MVP point guard, a POWER foward, and Kobe has Gasol, a man who has not even tasted playoff victory... I really don't know why the Laker fans are so excited...
power forward - who is a multiple all-star and one of the best offensive big men in the league....and can be handful. Gasol is good player, but Amare is an all-star. And Bynum seems like he will one day be pretty good big man, but I doubt he turns out to be Shaq, even right now.... I could argue as far as the season goes that Shaq is still a slightly better player...just not as young.
lol, please, by all means, make the argument that shaq is better than kobe this season, i am all ears
Kobe would end up being like Tmac without Shaq. Same with Duwane Wade. He made Penny Hardaway, Kobe, and Duwane a lot better. Shoot I bet if Tmac was paired up with Shaq he would of gotten a title or two. Great guards are plenty in this era but dominant centers are very rare. Shaq just creates such a huge mismatch that almost all players that plays with him benefit a great deal.
It has yet to be seen but if Shaq might be up to his usual routine of taking most the regular season off and then turning it up during the playoffs. Im not sure if Shaq still has anything left though. We'll have to wait till the playoffs to find out.
Kobe is the better player now and there's no comparison but if you want to compare overall when it's all said and done. Shaq is the superior player. Those of you who are saying Kobe are either A) Too young to remember Shaq when he used to cause havoc night in and night out or B) Delusional. If Shaq and Kobe were in the same draft and knowing they would have the careers they would..... you'd pick Shaq wouldn't you?
Shaq = NBA's version of Roger Clemens, come back few games before the all-star break and play lax little bit and go full speed ahead near end and in the playoffs.
Let's take a look at games won and lost by various stars since 92/93 (Shaq's rookie year). I included players who I think are HOF-caliber based on their career after 92/93. If there's a player I missed, someone let me know: Code: [B]player games won lost win%[/B] Tim Duncan 790 567 223 71.8% Michael Jordan 483 339 144 70.2% David Robinson 755 520 235 68.9% Scottie Pippen 780 535 245 68.6% Shaquille O'neal 1013 690 323 68.1% Karl Malone 906 606 300 66.9% John Stockton 852 566 286 66.4% Steve Nash 828 548 280 66.2% Charles Barkley 463 306 157 66.1% Kobe Bryant 833 535 298 64.2% Gary Payton 1172 735 437 62.7% Hakeem Olajuwon 644 393 251 61.0% Jason Kidd 995 559 436 56.2% Kevin Garnett 968 531 437 54.9% Allen Iverson 796 411 385 51.6% In the table above, we see regular season win/loss record. The only player who's had a better win% than Shaq amongst the players listed are Jordan, Pippen, Duncan, and Robinson. What separates Shaq from these players is he's done it on 3 different teams. In fact, if you split up Shaq's career in Orlando, LA, and Miami, he's had a win% of 62.7%, 73.3%, and 62.7% respectively. And he's been the center piece of very good teams for each franchise.
You forgot option C) Asian Sensation c) Lakers/Kobe fan. They are angry Shaq left LA. lol you guys see Bill Walton dissing Shaq over and over on espn and abc? Shaq had to leave LA because of Kobe. Why would you play with someone who ratted on you when he got caught in that rape case up in Denver?
no, Kobe would've been a better choice, without shaq hindering his growth, he would have matured earlier, and btw, all the comments that keep coming up about how shaq left LA because of kobe are completely nonsense, I thought it's pretty clear that shaq left because Buss would not give into shaq's demand for the huge contract, which would crippled Miami for years if not for the marion trade, now phoenix will suffer because of him
Not according to the guys who do this sort of thing for a living. When Shaq was in his prime there were people in the NBA who said they would take him over MJ if they had the choice. Do you think even one NBA GM would take Kobe over MJ? Better yet, do you think any of them would even need to take a minute to think about it?
You can't give shaq the ball the last 5 minutes of the game. If any GM would pick shaq over MJ they probably don't have a job.
Kobe is much better than Shaq. They should have been Co-MVP of the Finals they won, cause no way in hell Shaq could have carried that team to 3 championships without Kobe. It's just r****ded how the Finals MVP can only be given to one person, not like the All Stars MVP. I remember a long time ago Kobe said on some interview he's not a ball hog cause he has a good number of assists for a guard and most of them went to Shaq.
Hindering? Shaq turned Wade from a 16PPG player to a 24PPG player in ONE season. Even if he didn't help Wade with his FT form, he made the room for Wade to grow. Shaq was averaging ~23 points throughout Kobe's first few seasons respectively. Shaq didn't change his PPG production, Kobe just got better and better and added more points while Shaq still produced the same. I think you are being unreasonable. Shaq is the reason Kobe became so good. Shaq is the reason Wade is going to be/is a superstar for years to come. Talented guards are a dime a dozen. Talented centers are RARE. Shaq found/made another Kobe (Wade), but there is no way Kobe ever finds another Shaq... Shaq MADE Wade. Shaq has made the finals with three different teams, Kobe couldn't even get out of the first round without Shaq. He couldn't even pull off a 3-1 lead. I can't believe this is even an arguement. PS.: I, as well, think it's pretty clear Miami sold their soul for a championship ring, and they got one. I think they knew damn well Shaq was going to go down the drain shortly thereafter yet they still pulled the trigger. What, you think the general managers are ignorant in the NBA? They knew Shaq was going to cripple them after he retired/left Miami. They took that into consideration and went ahead. What did they get out of it? A championship ring, and a franchise player's growth (Wade). Sure they have some hard times coming, but it's not a bad deal if you ask me.
Without Shaq, Kobe will have ZERO rings! Dont tell me without Kobe, Shaq cant win type of craps, Shaq has proven he can carry a team to Finals(Magic) in his prime whereas all kobe did was whined to the media how Jerry West and Mitch Kupchak failed to get him some helps without looking at selfish he is! So tell me again, kobe wankers, who is better? Kobe or Shaq?
Every time he has taken his team anywhere he has good players around him. In orlando he had penny, nick anderson, horace grant. In LA he had kobe, rick fox, derek fisher, horry. At Miami he had wade, jwill, haslem, posey morning, walker. Shaq has taken teams with good players to t finals.
