Shaquille O’Neal at his peak was the most dominant force in modern NBA history. There is no single person who could come close to containing him and that’s why he and Kobe Bryant led the Los Angeles Lakers to three straight NBA Championships from 2000-02.
In today’s era of NBA the game has changed significantly, however, with much more spacing and very few true back to the basket centers. Defensively, bigs are needed to guard the perimeter more with teams hunting switches on pick-and-rolls and that has led some to wonder whether Shaq could be as dominant in today’s game.
But the Lakers legend brushed that off completely in an appearance on The Pivot Podcast. O’Neal said he would average 50 points in today’s NBA because he is gonna make more twos than his matchup will make 3-pointers and with fouls being called the way the way they are now, he would really focus even harder on his free throws:
“Somebody asked me the other day what would I average — I would average 50. And the reason why I’d average 50 is because I don’t do what everybody else is doing. You shoot a 3 on me, Joker (Nikola Jokic), you better f—— make it because I’m gonna run right by you and stand in the middle of the lane and watch you and your whole f—— team go, ‘Three seconds, three seconds, three seconds!’ And Penny [Hardaway] gonna push that b—- and throw it, and I’m gonna dunk it. And I know for a fact I’ll make 15 2s before you make 10 3s. I’m getting 30. I’m getting 30 every night. And then now when you foul somebody, it’s a flagrant, so guys don’t really wanna foul you hard. … That’s another 10 points right there, and then I’m gonna concentrate on the f—— free throw, get that elbow there — that’s 45 points right there. ‘Oh, Shaq couldn’t play in this league.’ Shaq ain’t known for defense. OK, Joker, you can hit a 3, but again, I’m gonna run right by you, and I’m gonna seal my ass in the lane, and ain’t nobody moving me because you know why? If you move me, you make my mama move out of her house, and that shit ain’t gonna happen.”
The idea that Shaq wouldn’t be a force in any era of NBA basketball is laughable. One thing that is forgotten about the Lakers legend is that he was quicker than many give him credit for, especially early on in his career. O’Neal would have adjusted to the speed of this game, but would still be bigger and stronger than anyone else and like he said, there is nobody moving him out of the paint.
Mike D’Antoni says Shaquille O’Neal on Lakers led to his revolutionary Suns offense
Shaquille O’Neal forced teams to completely change their strategies. While most just employed big players in hopes of matching his size in the paint, but when Mike D’Antoni became head coach of the Phoenix Suns he employed the opposite strategy to great success.
In fact, D’Antoni says the famous ‘Seven Seconds or Less’ offense of the Suns was inspired in large part due to Shaq being in their division with the Lakers. D’Antoni felt that the best way to try and beat them was to try and speed the game up and space things out.
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