Question about 7 footers of the future...including Yao.

Shaquille O'Neal has got to be the most admired Center in the NBA, so why don't more 7 footers try to emulate his style? It can't be that hard for a 7 footer and taller to train like a madman and put on the muscle to contend to Shaq. I would even venture to say if there was a guy with average athletic prowess that was 7' or above that weighed 330-350 pounds (mostly muscle) with strength, that they would be drafted in the NBA at least as a "project," or a backup center who could muscle with Shaq and push him out of the paint. The reason why Shaq is so effective is because he gets low post position by pushing and shoving. Why don't the 7 footers out there including Yao Ming concentrate on the power game and not the finesse game which is ultimately lower percentage than the power game of dunking? Could Yao's attempt at the power game this year be an indication that he will be going that that road instead of developing his finesse game? What do you all think?

 

Jerome James is listed at 7'1 272lb at Nba.com which is still too small according to my first post. There are tons of 7 foot guys who are 260-270, take Jason Collier for example or Brandon Haywood. Shaq still has 70-80 pounds on those guys. When Shaq first came into the league, he was probably around 270lb also, and he had his quickness. I don't think its going to be that hard to find a quick 7 footer that weighs the standard amount, of say, 270lb and then have him add some weight like Shaq did. You guys talk as if Shaq was always 350lb and had his quickness when really he's only added that much on the past 3-4 years and he's been in the league for 10 or 11. My point stands, why can't other 7 footers put on some damn weight? Take Shawn Bradley for example. I don't think he's put on a pound of muscle since joining the league and you see how far that got him.

My point is even if you don't have shaq's speed, why not match his power. Even today noone can say they can match his power. If I was an NBA GM i would draft a guy who could match his power so at least he could push him out of the block and make him beat you with quickness and hook shots, not bowling your azz over and getting dunks. The reason is two fold:

1) make shaq beat you with "skills" not bulldozer style

2) make shaq expend energy getting position--get him tired

3) make shaq lose some confidence of his physical abilities--who couldn't play like he could dominate the world when you weigh a whole lot more than everyone else and got the "superman-shaq-diesel" muscle to back it up?

Why do you think Ben Wallace is such a good rebounder? Is it his height? I doubt it. Maybe it has something to do with his GUNS that he has? Strength = positioning= rebounding= scoring. Height never got Shawn Bradley any rebounding or scoring.

I for one am sick and tired of seeing Shaq dominate in large part because of his physical attributes. If I was 7 feet tall I would be busting my ass in the gym to play catch up to Shaq. I don't understand why so many others don't. Some of these centers are a waste of height.

 

Shaq couldn't dominate in the WWE like he does in the NBA. In the WWE there's plenty of rock solid guys who are 6'6" and above who are 320lb and over of solid muscle.

 

FIrst of all, I didn't say the only reason why Shaq dominates was because of his size. I said it was one of the biggest factors. Same with Ben Wallace. Let's just get that straight right now. Go back and read my post if you still doubt that.

Secondly, I didn't say any 7 footer could just add size and dominate shaq. If you re-read my post a little more carefully, you will notice I said they could contend with Shaq muscle for muscle, and at least will wear him down. And I gave 3 reasonable reasons what they could accomplish against shaq, which did not include by any stretch of the imagination, "dominating Shaq." In laymans terms: I didn't say any joe schmoe could be a better player than Shaq just from adding weight/muscle.

Thirdly, shaq was no more than 300 lbs when he joined the league, and estimates put him at around 350lbs right now. There's a 50lb increase right there.

Lastly, don't blame everything on genetics and biology. Apparently you know nothing about weight training. Grant, you can't change height after you are fully grown, but I know for damn sure anyone can add muscle if they work hard at it and eat right. Noone ever thought I could ever gain weight but I added 50 lbs after weight training and eating right. I've known many people that said "My metabolism is too high, I can't gain weight blah blah blah" and guess what, I showed them how to gain weight by weight training and eating right. There's such a thing called calories and guess what, if you eat twice the amount that you consume in a day, you gain weight. Wow! That's a novel concept. So much for mother nature and genetics!

People like yourself who accept how your body is and don't try to work hard to improve yourself are truly sad, especially professional athletes. If I was a professional basketball player at the center position who don't have the offensive "touch" to be a good player, I would try to make up for it in the other more "mundane" aspects of the game, such as the physical nature. These guys who are PAID generous amounts of money to play the center position simply do not care enough to "fight back" at the players like Shaq who dominate them in large part due to brute force. Now players like Hakeem, Jabbar, etc, who had the "touch" could argue they didn't need to try to contend with shaq muscle for muscle. That's understandable. But a Kelvin Cato, Jason Collier, Shawn Bradley, Ostertag? Gimme a break. They have no excuse for trying to get stronger.

You really should bring your comments to the Lakers forum, because anyone on this forum would agree that Shaq uses his brute force to get position and score on his opponents, even committing offensive fouls on almost every possession.

 

Apparently Robbie380 has failed to acknowledge that NBA players 7 feet tall are 5 standard deviations from the mean average American male height of 5'9" which means that only something like .0000005 percent of american males are as tall or taller as a 7 footer. There is not even an exact value for 5 standard deviations in my statistics book because its such a small number. To put it in perspective, the maximum it will show is 3.9 standard deviations from the mean which is a value of .002% of all american men.

Soo.....using the normal distribution curve, Yao would be 7 standard deviations away from the average AMERICAN male height of 5'9. How many standard deviations would he be compared to CHINESE MEN? Hmm...if that is not a freak of nature in itself, I don't know what is.

Point in laymans terms for you: 7 footers are already freaks of nature. How many players between 6'11 and 7'1 play PF/center in this league? Hmm, at least 1 or 2 per team. There ya go.

 

He wouldn't play center at 6'6 or 6'2. And he wouldn't have the same "back em down, down on their head" playing style. Point is moot and irrelevant.

 

Ok but that is not what is being debated here. I never said Shaq was nothing more than a hulk. He has skills, he has speed. The point of this thread is why cant other 7 footers match him in the bulk part of the game to at least tire him out and make him work for his points. There are plenty of lumbering 7 footers who dont posses much skills or a shooting "touch" so they have nothing to lose but their free time.

Please no more posts about "shaq's a freak of nature, he's got skills and size." I'm not saying he doesn't.

Next.