He is number 4 IMO. He was dominant on offense, but he was far to lazy on defense, terrible on pick n roll defense and he actually had just two good things on D: nice rebounding just near the rack and fear effect. Nobody wants to be fouled hard by him if they have their own families, that's why some players were not as aggressive as they might be in attempts to attack the rim.
Wilt is #1. Kareem is #2. After that there is the Russell, Shaq, Hakeem, Moses level, and the order of those is debatable. I would probably go Russell #3, Hakeem #4, and Shaq #5, but certainly would understand putting those four in any order.
I think he is #2. No center was as dominant at times as Shaq was. In his prime, he was unguardable. Won 4 titles, and is 5th all time in career points. Hakeem was great people, but not better than Shaq. Kareem Shaq Wilt Russell Hakeem
I never saw Wilt, Russell, or Kareem play but I feel those three should certainly be mentioned along with Shaq and Hakeem. I can say for sure that Shaq is one of the top three players I've seen behind MJ and on par with Hakeem (although completely different, obviously).
Why not? Hakeem was a much better defender, and on the whole was better statistically in the playoffs. What was Shaq much better than Hakeem at?
I would like to say Hakeem is the best, but then I know Wilt is circling the wagon and so is Kareem, and even Shaq. But, Wilt and Kareem, more so. Wilt did play like almost 30 years ago, but he has played against some all-time greats who are still alive and still say that he was the most dominant player they've ever seen (Former Championship GM-Jerry West; Pat Riley; Bill Russell; Bob Lanier; Jim Brown; Magic Johnson; coach Larry Brown; and even his nemesis of sorts Kareem Abdul Jabbar), he was athlete ahead of his time. I've different stories of him chasing down really fast guards and forwards and blocking their shots. For the most part, I'm going to leave his scoring numbers alone, no one could stop a player like that back then. Also, given that his 7,1-7,2, 270+, and remember he was never fat guy at any point in his life, very active, definitely not as an NBA player . He was already able to do things other players were not capable of doing, just being that size. Even now, it's uncommon to find a player of that size frame. It's also funny with Wilt, personally, he wouldn't have to change his game all that much to be successful in the modern day NBA, I'm not sure what players active right now, could really overpower him. Throw in the another big reason that separates him from every other center in NBA history, that he actually lead the league in assist one year (67-68; 8.6 apg) and finish in the top 10 in another (7.8), at time a player couldn't dribble the ball for an assist for it to count, during that era. For a big man to do that, he'd have to have some really good shooters on his team, and/or have some other-worldly court vision. I couldn't fathom that with any other center, regardless of what era they played in. http://wiltfan.tripod.com/quotes.html
1. Wilt 2. Hakeem 3. Kareem 4. Shaq 5. Moses Malone 6. Bill Russell (I would get ragged on from purist for that one).
Clear lack of knowledge of the game. In regards to dominance, no center, and probably no player, was every as "dominant" as Wilt. Oscar maybe comes close with regards to all around dominance, but Wilt has that nailed down. But that still ignores Kareem, and Hakeem, who could both be as dominant as Shaq ever was. I personally vote Kareem as #1. Forgetting how amazing he was is foolish. He scored 30+ppg and grabbed 16+ RPG 3 years in a row in the beginning of his career. 6 championships. 6 MVPs. All time scoring leader. 19 all star games. Freaking 19. And by th etime he was playing there was actually real competition and athleticism in the game. When Kareem was 38 (Shaq's now retirement year age), he played 79 games at 33 minutes per, and still put up 23 ppg, 6 rpb, 3.5 apg and 1.6 bpg, while shooting 56% from the field. At 41 he still got 22 mpg and over 10 ppg. Longetivity counts, too. Kareem was better at his best, and better for longer than Shaq by far. He took a Milwaukee team that wasn't exactly Boston Celtics loaded to 2 finals, winning one. Can you of the top of your head name 2 other players on those teams? This isn't a Kareem vs. Shaq thing. I can equally point out how Hakeem had moments as dominating if not more so than Shaq. Hakeem's series against the Spurs was as dominating as anything I saw out of Shaq. Hakeem had a 4 game series in the 87-88 season in the playoffs (though they lost) where he averaged 37.5 ppg, 16.8 rpg and nearly 3 blocks per. Point is, don't confuse brute force with dominance. From a brute force perspective, yes, Shaq is right up there with Wilt. But that doesn't mean squat.
It's 2 EZ Oscar Robertson and Bob Dandridge. Can even mention Bob Boozer, guy that was selected first overall in Chamberlain draft
You might want to change your name to Incoherent. Wilt scored 100 points in a single game. He also averaged 50 points per game (along with 25 rebounds and an astounding 48.5 minutes per game) for a season. That is a whole season at 11 points and 3 rebounds less than Shaq's single game career highs.
