Just because Shaq is the biggest player in the league and is well coordinated doesn't make him a skilled basketball player. He dominates because of his size, strength, and coordination, not because of his skills. The Cato analogy is horrible because Cato if anything is an average sized center. If Cato played against centers 3 inches shorter that he outweighed by 70 pounds, he would dominate too. ------------------ The ox is slow but the Earth is patient.
It takes skills to be so quick and coordinated at a such a large size. ------------------ Never Underestimate the Heart of a Champion
Yawn. Another 40, 20 game for Shaq. Yep, he's a mediocre, unskilled player. ------------------ I'm about to boldly go where many men have gone before.
He could score 150 points. It still doesn't mean he has great skill. ------------------ The ox is slow but the Earth is patient.
Don't you think his turnaround jumper requires skill? How bout his hook shots? How bout his passing ability? How bout his elevation and timing when he blocks shots? By your logic, I guess Desagana Diop is gonna tear the league up as a rookie next year and average 30 and 15, cause hey, he's 7'1 and 310 pounds! ------------------
That's physical talent, not neccessarily basketball skill. ------------------ [This message has been edited by Steve_Francis_rules (edited May 09, 2001).]
I could hit countless hook shots playing against people significantly smaller than me if I was only four feet from the rim. That doesn't take much skill. I will give him some credit for his passing ability. Elevation on his blocks? He gets like a foot off the ground! He has some timing (although with his size, if he was skilled he should be blocking more shots than the much smaller Olajuwon) but almost no elevation. He only blocks shots by accident (it seems) because he's so big. ------------------
I still think that he has some nice post moves, but even if he didn't to have that great of a basketball body is incredible. At 7'1 its almost impossible to add that much muscle. Most people have trouble getting muscle at an average height(5'9-5'10), at 7'1 its very hard. That alone deserves "Props" ------------------ Never Underestimate the Heart of a Champion
I don't think somebody should be glorified for genetics, which are beyond their control. He was lucky to be born as a well built basketball player. ------------------
Shaq is the most dominant player today. BUT while he is nearly as dominant as MJ, I hope he was never born. I am sure that a lot of NBA players hope that Shaq never exists. While MJ, love him or hate him, provides lots of inspiration and emotions to the game of basketball, Shaq brings the feeling of desparation to his opponents, and yawns to fans. ------------------
kd, maybe you yawn at shaq's game but alot of people dont, i for one happen to enjoy his game, i think its awesome when he does one of those spin moves , cuts to the basket and gets the lob pass for the dunk. that dunk last year during the wcf 4th period come back was amazing. but sometimes, when there is noone at all playing him on defense, it can get a little dull. ------------------ http://www.democrats.com mgh 1924-2001
SFR, That isn't awarding genetics. Genetics gave him his height, not his muscle, speed, and overall athletic ability. ------------------ Never Underestimate the Heart of a Champion
I will agree that Shaq has been blessed with an amazing basketball body but pretty much everyone in the NBA has been blessed with innate physical talents and work hard to expand those talents. That said I still don't like Shaq because of all of the hype surrounding him and things like his Rap albums, video games, movies, and etc. With other great players like MJ and Dream I had the sense that they were all about basketball but with Shaq I get the feeling that he is a figure created by the NBA and NBC for primarily entertainment purposes who happens to be a great player. Remember that during the Rockets - Orlando series when Dream and the Rockets were at their finest most of the media still focused on Shaq and Co.. even though they lost every game of that series. ------------------
"Just because Shaq is the biggest player in the league and is well coordinated doesn't make him a skilled basketball player. He dominates because of his size, strength, and coordination, not because of his skills. The Cato analogy is horrible because Cato if anything is an average sized center. If Cato played against centers 3 inches shorter that he outweighed by 70 pounds, he would dominate too. " -Cato would never dominate anything -OK, maybe 1 or 2 PRE-season games, if not injured ------------------
