I think shaq has missed so many games the last couple of years he should have a well rested body to make it through the season. He's not the the old shaq, but he's still effective. I wouldn't take him over yao at this point, but he still comands a double team which is always a plus.
From a non rookie, troll, ect.....poster, this is probably one of the dumbest things I've ever read on this board.
Another example of why per-game stats are deceiving. Shaq plays less minutes, but in those minutes he's more effective than Kaman ever will be. Shaq's and Kaman's PER[mpg] the last 5 years: Code: [B]season Shaq Kaman[/B] 04/05 27.0[34.1] 13.1[25.9] 05/06 24.4[30.6] 15.0[32.8] 06/07 21.7[28.4] 12.9[29.0] 07/08 17.1[29.7] 17.5[37.2] 08/09 23.7[29.8] 17.1[35.5]
Shaq just set his career on cruise control. He will contribute and be legit center in the league because of his sheer size. You wont see that fire he had in Miami or in L.A. now-a-days.
Ever wonder who he plays around, lets see How can you double shaq when you have the league's two best Three Point Shooters in Nash and Richardson,Slashers like Barbosa and Hill and another good shooter in matt Barnes. Who in their right mind would leave Steve Nash open? As opposed to Yao who has to work with Alston. Amare Stoudemire who draws fouls and finishes with ferocity as opposed to Scola and Chuck Hayes who are not good finishers even though I the other things they do. Phoenix is arguably the most offensively talented team in the NBA whereas the Rockets are the least offensviely fluent team that has the chance to be a contender. Everyone the Rockets have played have dared the scrubs of the Rockets to beat them lately, hence Yao gets mauled and double teamed, if he had some knock down shooters like Nash at PG or a Swingman with the consistent shooting of Richardson/Barnes he would be playing great as well.
Low basketball IQ. He also is a good passer. Unfortunately, our mess of an offense doesn't allow him to do it. Remember all the praise he received when JVG was coach for his court vision? Adelman is an idiot. That's for another thread though
Go look at Miami when he first got there and shouldve won the mvp. Either you're admitting that we have scrubs on our roster or that shaq can be surrounded by anyone.
despite what the analysts said, i thought the marion for shaq trade was good for phoenix. the run and gun system was fun, but it's for college ball. it's not suited for an 82season and lockdown defense playoffs. but right now, even with the suns team looking good on paper, i doubt they would win a championship. j-rich is good, but he's not clutch. they should trade for a shooting big and a slasher. the window on nash leading this team to a championship is closing soon so they need to go all out now. a yi jianlian + vince carter + scrubs (e.g. simmons) for amare + j-rich would be amazing for phx and for nets as well. nets get a dominant center/PF and retain a poor man's vince carter (and still keep devin harris). that's a quick lineup and an inside outside game. amare will be happy being THE MAN. phx gets a clutch performer in vince, get yi to play outside and give shaq space to operate down low. vince will have nash and be like playing with a kidd with a decent outside shot.
Yao is a good passer; and I challenge you to give eg of his "low BB IQ" agree kinda contradictory, don't u think. you claim that he is not good defensively and yet he uses his size effective on defense. He is either good or not effective, can't be both. ! he doesn't play BIG
I always will feel that Hakeem was a better center despite Shaq's physical dominance but O'Neal has more than just his size and strength to rely on. He is a great player and I'm very glad to see him doing so well.
Certainly in my time of watching basketball Shaq has been 2nd to only Hakeem as the best big guy. Good to see him going well again as I like the guy. I actually had an argument last night with a friend about shaq being better than Hakeem. You would happily take either and while Shaq has more rings he also had a lot less decent guys to play against. Hakeem had Ewing and Robinson in their prime when he won his.
All things considered, Shaq is having an admirable season. At least he's trying. I'm not sure how effective he will be late in the season and playoffs. It will be tough if the Suns end up in a heated battle for the 8th seed. If they get some distance and can give Shaq a lot of rest late in the season, they might be a tough out in the 1st round.
adoo, I simply don't think Yao is a good passer. His reaction time is poor and he's too predictable. He isn't the worst passing big man in the game, but he's below average and that's just for his position. He's nowhere near the level of the good passing big men. As far as bball IQ, I don't think he has a lot of it. I don't think he's the biggest bonehead in the league but like with his passing, his bball IQ is below average to average. Pick any of the problems I listed in the last part of the post your responded to as an example. When after 6 years as a pro, you are repeating fundamental mistakes over and over again and not learning from it, that is almost the definition of low bball IQ. Bball IQ can refer to a lot of things and is a vague term. It has different significance for different positions but I just simply don't see Yao as a highly intelligent bball player. He may be a math wizard, but that's not what I'm talking about. Bball IQ and general intelligence aren't necessarily related. A couple of examples of bigs with good bball IQ are Tim Duncan and Pau Gasol. When I said Yao is not a good defensive player then followed it up with saying the only tool he has is his size, I don't see the confusion you had interpreting what I was saying. I didn't say he was the worst defensive big in the league. I said he was not good. The fact that his size is a positive doesn't mean it outweighs all the negatives to make me consider him "good". Like with his passing, his slow reaction time hurts him both when covering his own position (e.g., Al Jefferson) or stopping guard penetration (pick your own example, there are tons). He doesn't position himself well for rebounds and doesn't react to the ball off the rim well. He gets fooled on pump fakes at least a couple times a game. He just doesn't seem to learn from repetitive mistakes which goes back to the bball IQ thing. He's like a robot or a computer that can't be upgraded. He is what he is which is a good center with many flaws, too many of which relate to the fundamentals of his position. He's not great at anything that a dominant center should be great at. His strengths are, and always will be, shooting and hard work - and that's it when it comes to elite characteristics. Everything else ranges from bad to slightly above average.
