The Power of Shaq

To be fair, the Heat were in the playoffs last year. It's not like he went to a lottery team.

 

gotta give the big guy credit though. He toook orlando to the finals and won on the lakers. now it looks like he might have a chance on the heat. but he is one lucky big fella too. he has always played with great guards for some reason. Penny on orlando, kobe in LA and now wade with the heat. But he also might have something to do with the guards playing so well. Kobe was amazing when shaq was there. now that he's gone kobe looks like crap on a losing lakers team. penny sure sucked after shaq left, also due to injury too. and now with the arrival of shaq, wade is one of hte most improved players in the league.

 

You could probably say the same thing about Magic, Bird, Russell, Jordan, etc,. . had they changed teams as much as Shaq has -- but Shaq is the man, no argument here.

 

I saw a stat on ESPN the other night that sold me on this- he has been on 11 teams that have won 50+ games, more than any other active player. There is no doubt that he is one of the most dominant and effective players in the game.

 

Kobe's still playing well. Penny's career was undercut by injuries. Wade was looking pretty good in his rookie year; he's advancing well.

 

Nothing is easier to build around then a dominating big man. And when he is as dominant as Shaq -- the surronding pieces suddenly look alot better.

 

All true. He is extremely dominant.

I haven't watched many Heat games this year, but I always though that in LA he should have been fouling out by halftime, turning his shoulder in and gettign away with all kinds of offensive fouls.

But no question, even without the benefit of that, he can change a game by stepping on the court.

 

You have to give credit to the role players in Miami also...true, a player like Shaq makes anyone look better (Luke Walton) but they had some nice role players already. Doleac, Damon Jones, Eddie Jones, and Haslem are ideal players to put around a star or two. Dooling has also really come along, and we all know what Wade can do.

But yes, surround them with Shaq and they are title contenders rather than just a playoff team.

 

Regardless of individual stats, Great Centers are much rarer and valuable than great shooting guards, or PFs, SFs and point guards.

It's more than Shaq's ability to make his SG better. There are simply MORE very good-to-great Shooting guards around than talented centers. Penny then and Kobe now would have a much harder time finding another good center/PF to replace Shaq than vice versa.
Is TD or KG joining the Lakers? No and No. The Lakers are not Contenders, period.

 

penny hardaway was awesome with or without shaq. since he only played 19 games in 97-98, i assume that's when he got injured, but the season before (the first, and i guess only healthy, season without shaq) he put up like 20/5.6/5 and in the playoffs he had a huge series against i believe miami where he averaged 31 ppg with 6 rebounds, 3.4 asts, 2.4 steals, and 1.4 blocks. the guy was very good, and then he got injured.

kobe this year is putting up essentially the same stats as tmac (kobe scores 3 more points, tmac shoots 1% better from the field, kobe shoots ft's a little better, tmac has less turnovers, rebs/asts are equal) and i don't think any rockets fans are disappointed with tmac. so saying he looks like crap is going just a little far. if 28/6/6 is crap, then i'd like to sign a few more crappy players. and of course when shaq was there, kobe was the assassin who closed games out, something shaq could never do and will never do. he was also the fire on that team and probably the reason shaq stopped getting swept every time his team lost a game or two to start a series (you think shaq without kobe doesn't just lay down to the spurs after they go up 2-0 last year?).


and wade was pretty much the darling of the playoffs last year. he kept getting better throughout the year and exploded in the playoffs. while i'm sure shaq has made his play look ever better, he was going to be awesome as it was and he'll be awesome for the next decade after shaq is done in a few years.

and outside of his star guards, his teams have always had great role players. hell, the lakers had to trade some talent away to make room for kobe. and just like CD and the rockets, riley and the heat have done a great job of getting really nice role players for teams that were supposed to be a dynamic duo and then not much else.


none of this is to say shaq isn't amazingly dominant and isn't more important than those 2 guards, but he basically goes from talented team to talented team and a talented team plus shaq or anyone of his caliber will contend.

look at duncan, the spurs have been great at keeping great role players around him and basically have them locked up for the rest of duncan's career. he'll end up with more 50 win seasons than shaq thanks to the spurs organization.

 

Shaq's the reason I respected the Lakers. He says stupid stuff, but you're not supposed to take it seriously. His passing and court vision are underrated, and he gets that he needs to involve his role players to make his game even better.

Credit Riles for bringing in scrubs that fit the system after dishing away Odom, Butler, and Grant.