Shaq is a complete idiot

Here is some evidence that shaq can't count, see how many times 3 seconds isn't called by the just as lame refs.

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THE DEAN HAS WRITTEN

 

Here's another beautiful Shaq-fool quote I just came across:

"All of my career," Shaq said of his adventures to the foul line, "I've made at least one."

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"It's always funny until someone gets hurt...and then it's just hilarious."

-Faith No More

 

Actually, the 50% FG Argument doesn't add up. I undertsand your point and the math makes sense, but you forgot to mention that Shaq hits 55% of his Field goals during a game. So, in a typical game it's better to foul him because his FT is lower than his FG. If Shaq took every shot then he would score more points than if he were to get fouled on every play. So, you are gaining points by fouling him.

Example
100 Shots at 56% FG = 112 pts
200 Foul Shots at 50% FT = 100 pts
100 shots at 50 % FG = 100 pts
100 Foul Shots at 44% FT = 88 points

That a real difference of 24 points using actual season stats.

So, you can see, you do benefit from fouling him. Not only do you stop the clock, but you mess with him mentally, and he SCORES LESS. I don't appreciate the ugliness of the startegy, but it does work to the Blazers Advantage.




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humble, but hungry.

 

PhiSlammaJamma,

Interesting take on things, but there are a few problems. To send him to the line to take 200 free throws would take 100 fouls (I'm not even counting the the 4 team fouls per quarter that it would take to get into a penalty situation). That means at 6 fouls per player you would have to foul out 16 players and have a 17th player pick up 4 fouls. What do you mean I can't have an 18 man roster ?

So let's take these numbers down to something more realistic.

At 25 shots at 56% fg, he scores 28 pts.
At 50 free throws at 44% ft%, he scores 22 pts.

That's a 6 point difference, which isn't bad, but it took a bare minimum of 29 fouls to get you there (4 team fouls + 25 fouls) assuming that all of the fouls came in one quarter (not likely, however). This means that the majority of your team would have to play the game in foul trouble.

Also, keep in mind that you would lose many fast-break opportunities and you would lose the ability to control the flow of the game. Furthermore, the more free throws he attempts, the more likely he is to hit a rhythm and start making them (just like practice).

Hack-a-Shaq is an effective late game short-term solution to break up the opponents scoring, but just doesn't make that much sense over extended periods of the game.

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Phi-
But the Lakers team FG% is 45%. Essentially by fouling Shaq you are limiting the offense to Shaq and offensive rebounds. Using this and Shaq 50% FT:

100 FTs @ 50% = 50 pts
50 FGs @ 45% = 45 Pts

This is assuming 2 FTs each time down, although that wouldn't happen until they reached the penalty and one FG attempt each time down. THe thing Ican't figure in is the offensive rebounds and how more likely they are on a FG rather than a FT (if more likely at all). I assume there would be a higher % on FG just because Shaq is usaully close to the rim on FG attempts.

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Hey Almu,
How can you sit there and say give Shaq"The Dumb ASS" his due!? The guy has been getting undeserved credit all his NBA career!!! How about being one of the Top 50 Greatest all time? Now that was a laugh! Or have you forgotten when The Rockets played Orlando in the finals, how the media were proclaiming Shaq to be better than than Dream! Now that was a real JOKE at the time! I have to stick with my gut on this!! SHAQ will never be The Poster Child the NBA want's him to be!! Neither will KOBE, but that's another story!!!!!

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TheMugg

 

mike dunleavy was an idiot for employing the tactic. blazers had gotten a flow going and were within 9. mike dunleavy calls for the hack a shaq and the blazers can barely score after that. blazers had been killing the lakers by pushing the ball up and not giving the lakers a chance to set up their half court defense (among the best in the league). by constantly fouling, the lakers automatically went into their half court and the blazers couldn't score anymore.

plus, by grabbing shaq before the ball even crosses the half court line you care basically giving the lakers a pass at a 50% score every possession. not only do teams generally shoot less than fifty percent. but they score on less than fifty percent of their possessions due to turnovers and such. by employing a strategy like that for an extended period of time you are basically hoping to get lucky by having shaq miss all his ft's or having your team hit everything. not going to happen.

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And what are the stats on turnovers committed per possession? Come on guys, if you can't see that the main advantages of doing the Hack-A-Shaq strategy are stopping the clock and getting into Shaq's and maybe Phil Jackson's head a bit, then you're not getting it. And btw, look at Shaq's FG%... it's a wee bit above 50%, eh? And who do you think is going to take those shots down the stretch? Travis Knight? No, Shaq will. And what happens when Shaq takes a shot near the end of regulation? He either gets fouled or he gets a dunk. So if he's going to get one of those anyway, why not stop 20 seconds from running off the clock? Good grief, you're saving a possession almost every time you foul him with his pathetic FT%.



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?

 

Just in case you hadn't puked yet while watching another NBC-Laker lovefest, Bob Costas thought he'd seal the deal by calling Shaquille O'neal "the total package...he beats you with size, MIND, and finesse". Huh? Mind? MIND? This is becoming embarassing, even for Bob's standards. Even though the guy has never hit a shot from outside the paint, let's ignore the 'finesse' part for a second..."The Big Homage" is now an INTELLECTUAL giant as well? The man who invented the "Pythagorean Triangle" can do much more than dunk now, according to Bob.

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"It's always funny until someone gets hurt...and then it's just hilarious."

-Faith No More

 

Costas also went the other route and berated Rasheed Wallace a bit too, saying he, "...thinks he has never committed a foul in his NBA career."

I am getting a bit tired of being force fed Laker Love. UGH! Well, after Costas said that, Collins said NOTHING. It was so quiet, I could hear crickets. Maybe Collins is unbiased.

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HOOP-T

Hey Shaq, Acme called, and they want their bricks back!

 

I was more irked about the Snottie Quitten this, Snottie that. If anyone was getting underserved accolades, it was Mr. Quitten. His 9-25 shooting in the 2 most important home games of his non-Jordan playoff career is further showing what he is and always has been, a damn fine caddy . (No offense to the upstanding good professional caddies posting on this board).

As for Shaq, a don't see much difference in him from MJ in personality, acting ability, activities outside of BB, etc. I guess Shaq doesn't gamble much. They are similar (as with Hakeem in 94-96) in that they are the best basketball players on the planet for some specific years though.

Also, looks like MJ was wise enough to retire before he lost a step while Kobe, Carter and Iverson were ready to steal his thunder. Hakeem's recent lessons have been a bit harder for me to swallow.

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"They were hot," O'Neal said, dismissing the Blazers' fast starts and looking elsewhere for a rival. "Nothing stays hot forever. Look out there at the sun. Nothing stays hot forever. It's not hot today."

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"Yes, I came from the 80s...but I didn't kill anybody. Give me a break."

-Mike Tramp, former lead singer of White Lion

 

Cat-
If you put 95% of the NBA players in the real world they would fail. Most of these guys aren't the sharpest knives in the drawer. So what's the point of bashing Shaq? He was blessed with great size and athleticism. I think everyone on this board would love to be 7'1/300 and be as athletic as him.
I don't personally think Shaq is a genius but at least he has the ability to think. Many NBA players all you hear out of their mouths are thanking coaches, teammates & cliches. Shaq at least has an imagination.

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Costas really said that? Unbelievable! So now, Shaq-fool beats you with his 'mind games', AND he has so many skills, he could play in the NBA if he were 6'1". LOL!

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"Yes, I came from the 80s...but I didn't kill anybody. Give me a break."

-Mike Tramp, former lead singer of White Lion

 

I think my main criticism of Shaq isn't so much that he's stupid (and he is really stupid), but that he always is trying to sound intelligent. I mean, come on! "Pythagorean triangle"? "Big homage"? "Big Aristotle?" Other stupid NBA players at least don't pretend to be something they're not.

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