That is simply because Shaq has no face up game and no range outside of 5 feet. Abdul-Jabbar ..... watch the video on Jabbar. He could throw in that hook shot from 15 feet consistently. And 72% from the FT line, not a liability down the stretch in the bonus. Shaq has no hook shot outside of 5 feet and 52% from the FT line. Moses Malone........... could face up and hit the 15 footer,and shoot FTs, and not be an offensive liability down the stretch. Hakeem ....... nuff said. Shaq is the least skilled big man of any big man that is considered a dominant big man in the history of the NBA. The ONLY thing Shaq has on those guys is his sheer combination of dominating power and athleticism. That is how he cut out his career. After the Jordan rules, there was the Shaq rules. That is, he committed so many offensive fouls that the officials could not call them all. They started calling them on the defender. Shaq has literally committed thousands of offensive fouls in his career and has either got no call or has got the officials to call the foul on the defender who is standing straight up, taking physical abuse from Shaq thrusting his huge booty into the defender or spinning and literally hooking the defender with his elbows like a fighting bull in Mexico. Shaq has dominated simply because he was so much bigger, stronger, and quicker than other centers of his generation, not because he has such an outstanding post up game or offensive skill set. I still say if Shaq played in Hakeem's or Kareem's era or for that matter any era before his own, he would have fouled out consistently and he would have had to either develop a true offensive repertoire or had a very mediocre career similar to Darryl Dawkins. Shaq is nothing but a big bull around the basket. The defensive answer to him is to put a Chuck Hayes type player on him and if he actually gets in post position with the ball and if he is actually going to dunk, simply foul him and send him to the FT line. He is useless on the basketball court outside of 5 feet on both ends of the court. He is useless in crunch time. He is the least skilled dominant big man in the history of the NBA. He is only considered dominant because of his physical presence, not his basketball acumen and skills.
Yao has his knocks. He needs to have several years of good health where he plays 75 games or so for his career to get on pace with any of the elite centers of all-time. Just as Shaq's knock is his lack of range outside of 5 feet and inability to shoot free throws, Yao's primary knock is his health and his slow foot speed. I actually think those two factors are interrelated. And it will be interesting to watch Yao's career from here on out. Wouldn't it be nice to think they have finally fixed his feet issues right and he can stay healthy and actually run the floor for an entire season? If so, he could have another 5-8 very productive years. I don't really see a way for Yao to break into the upper echelon of all time great NBA centers. However, he is a very good to great big man.
Isn't it obvious that he's referring to how most centres play as combo c/pf's these days, bouncing around the positions? Combo players are sort of becoming the thing for every position these days, combo guards, swingmen, etc
I have no problem with this. Shaq has praised Yao throughout his career and has consistently called Yao the best center in the NBA since his own decline.
i got to say i agree with you! And mcgrady is half a man,,, literally. all he got left is from knees up! lol
right? where were the, "shaq's an idiot" calls from Clutchfans then? where were they when shaq was calling Dream the best big man he'd ever faced?
A lot of you are way too sensitive. It's not hard to see what Shaq was saying. It's not hard to see that Shaq was not taking a shot at Yao. Of course with some of you drama queens on this board you would think Shaq came out and said Yao was a horrible Center.
Well a true big man at least gets his team to the finals. Rik Smits and Mutombo at least did that. Yao still has time to prove himself.
http://www.cbssports.com/nba/story/14126248/big-shamrocks-big-statement-days-of-dominant-bigs-done NEW YORK -- Shaquille O'Neal didn't play Wednesday night, but there was no need for him to do that. The majority of the Big Shamrock's gifts are above the neck these days, and he delivered before the Celtics played the Knicks in ways that Doc Rivers can only dream of him contributing on the court. It was the Shaq show in the visiting locker room at Madison Square Garden, where the big fella's voluminous, notebook-filling tendencies had New York scribes lamenting the fact that Shaq declined the Knicks' interest in him early in July. Had LeBron James come to New York, Shaq might have followed, and the atmosphere at MSG for the revamped Knicks' debut on American soil would've been considerably heightened on a baseball-playoff night in mid-October. Instead, the recorder-toting masses had to settle for Shaq opining on everything from nicknames to sports cars to how much statistical damage Amar'e Stoudemire will do for Mike D'Antoni. (For those interested, Shaq sold his Lamborghini to Stoudemire after spinning out on his way to a party in South Beach, has given his stamp of approval to the Big Shamrock as his official Celtics nickname, and believes -- correctly -- that Stoudemire will put up "big numbers" for the Knicks.) But the most interesting stuff came when Shaq declared the era of the dominant NBA low-post center over. OK, Shaq is a little late to the party on this one, but he has earned the right to declare the dominant center era over whenever the mood strikes him. "I think I killed off all the centers and now all the centers want to play the European-style basketball," O'Neal said before watching the Celtics beat the Knicks 104-101 in Stoudemire's Garden debut. "There's only 1.5 or 2 real centers left, Dwight Howard and Yao Ming. Every now and then Yao Ming steps outside and wants to shoot jumpers, but it's gone more toward the European style. The days of Patrick Ewing and Rik Smits and Kevin Duckworth and Robert Parish, those days are over, thanks to me." Someone asked if a center can still be a difference-maker in today's NBA, and Shaq said, "No. Not shooting jumpers." But in a playoff series? "Yeah, guys like Dwight Howard and Yao Ming, guys that have youth behind them," O'Neal said. "I've never lost a series to a guy shooting jumpers -- besides Pau [Gasol], but Pau has a couple of extra weapons with him. There hasn't been a center that has won shooting jumpers. Pau is 60-40 -- 60 inside and 40 shooting jumpers. So I think the centers are getting a little more Pau Gasolish." Case in point: Shaq's assignment Wednesday night, had he chosen to accept it, would've been Knicks rookie Timofey Mozgov, a 7-1 center from Russia. Asked for his thoughts on "the Russian guy," Shaq responded, "What Russian guy?" One guy who is definitely not Russian, and whom O'Neal suddenly has taken to heaping with praise, is Howard. At every other opportunity in the past couple of years, Shaq has done nothing but tear down the Magic center, ridiculing him as a Superman impostor and saying he wasn't impressed because, "Everything he's done, I've invented." But on Wednesday night, Shaq was saying this: "Dwight Howard plays like a true big man, like we all played. ... He's actually, in my eyes, a true center. The game has changed, but to me he's 95-5 -- 95 inside and every now and then he'll try to face up and shoot it off the glass. That's how I like to see dominant big men play." So I asked Shaq where all the love for Howard was coming from after he had been so critical in the past. "I wasn't critical," O'Neal said. "It's just that I know how to add fuel to the fire. But he does play like a true big man. I can't say that he doesn't play like a true big man. I was just saying last year that when I was his age, I didn't have the luxury of calling a double to help me on Patrick Ewing. I would've loved to have help on Pat Ewing and Rik Smits and all those guys, but I played them straight up. So, you want my respect, play straight up. That's all I said." Well, it wasn't all he said ... but whatever. And as it turned out, O'Neal wasn't done holding court for the night. In the closing minutes, when Jermaine O'Neal fouled out and Rivers had to sub Paul Pierce back in because Kevin Garnett had been ejected, the Garden crowd serenaded the other O'Neal with a healthy chorus of, "We want Shaq!" Shaq, working over a giant wad of bubble gum, bobbed his head in agreement. It's only two weeks until the Celtics play the Heat on opening night, when Shaq will embark on what he likes to call his "last 700 days" in the league he dominated for so long. "If I did have an individual goal, it probably would be to pass Wilt Chamberlain in scoring," O'Neal said. " ... Then I could feel comfortable with myself saying that I was the most dominant player if I had more championships and more points than him. But I don't have any individual goals that I'm going for. I'm just trying to get No. 5 this year.
It's not hard to see what Shaq was saying and it's not hard to see that Shaq was wrong. It's not Rocket science, bud just read the English on the page. He's saying that Yao's array of turn around jumpers, mid ranged shots, and defensive presence are not what "real centers" do. That means guys like Kareem, Bill Walton, Dream are not "real centers" who I guess only have cred if they dunk most of their shots. Simply it's r****ded. I'd like you see you without calling other posters names and making comments on their sensitivity logically back up how a sky hook a turn around or anything else outside of 5 feet is "not being a real center." It's asinine. For the record, it's being a "real center" as Shaq defines it... no free throw shooting, no offensive arsenal outside of 5 feet... is what's doomed Howard each of the past 3 years to playoff exits. Maybe Howard should look into being a not-real-center. Might help his team advance.
Yes people are sensitive I stand by what I said. Like I said Shaq was not taking a shot at Yao. Of course on this board people act like Shaq is dissing Yao which he is clearly not. You got people saying Shaq was garbage his whole career because of these comments so yes some people in this thread are too sensitive.
Shaq gives the Rockets and its player more credit than almost anyone in the basketball business, this is why I stay out of the garm.
Shaq does make a good point. Yao was at his most dominant when he's parked down in the low post and we keep feeding him the ball. Yao in the low post is a high percentage shot. Yao in the high post, shooting long jumpers is a low percentage shot.
No of course not it's a compliment to be called .5 of a player. You're half a good poster. See how much I'm complimenting you. But you've still yet to explain how his statements that a center who has moves outside of dunking or standing 5 feet from the rim isn't a "real center." Dudes who did just that are in the HOF and have a fistful of rings. You say how it's "not hard to see" the logic in what he's saying and how guys who disagree with that characterization of basketball are clearly oversensitive. So help the board out dude. Are you under the impression that Yao stands out on the arc all day shooting 25 foot face up jumpers? Yao's turn around game on the low post is still nothing like what Shaq is talking about as "Real Center" moves which are power dunks and running over dudes 5 feet from the rim (and missing free throws and b****ing about your coaches during the playoffs too I guess)
Like everyone else has said, since Shaq's own demise, he has called Yao the best center in the NBA, no questions asked. And when asked about his own greatness, before talking about himself, he NEVER fails to mention Hakeem first. You clearly know little about Shaq's history.
