Next time Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley deride the current NBA for shooting too many threes and lacking dominant centers, instead of sarcastically mocking their antiquated standards for style of play, we should maybe credit the former for what we’re watching. He deserves as much credit for it as just about anyone. Crazy, right?
Think back to those years Shaq was forcing teams to employ an extra seven-footer just to absorb six extra fouls. The adjustments evolved from that tactic to actually designing rosters in ways to hopefully make up for the few shortcomings O’Neal did have on a basketball court. Namely: handling the pick-and-roll defensively and bigs whose ability to shoot forced Shaq away from the key.
Looking at you, Sacramento Kings.
Those Kings teams are arguably the most popular team among NBA Twitter and helped plant the seeds for the three-happy, pace-and-space style of play we love watching nowadays. Even the seven seconds or less Suns employed Shaq after years of trying to speed the game up enough to combat his physical dominance. The Spurs didn’t have to make as drastic an adjustment, but that’s mostly because they had that Duncan guy.
When Shaq says the dominant center is a thing of the past, it’s mostly due to his presence. Again, look at those western conference foes. Vlade Divac (Kings), Arvidas Sabonis (Blazers), Amare Stoudamire (Suns) and Duncan (Spurs — yes, I’m counting him as a center) all embodied some aspect of the current NBA center. Teams like the then New Jersey Nets and The Sixers that tried to employ big, stiff, unskilled centers who couldn’t use Shaq’s size against him on the other end didn’t stand a chance against those Lakers teams, as evidenced by the single combined game won against him in two finals series.
Yes, I could very easily just credit those teams for building their rosters as such and the evolution of the center for what it was, but do those advancements happen if Shaq’s dominance didn’t just happen to occur right before they took place? Seems like a fair question to ask.
Years of such roster construction as we saw with those aforementioned teams in a copycat league leads to more and more teams acquiring that style of play without really knowing the root of the reason for doing so: A seven-foot, 270 pound behemoth with agility and touch around the basket that felt consistently unfair.
It makes it all the funnier when people ask how today’s teams would’ve faired against those three-peat Lakers. Well, we saw rule changes and a drastic shift in the centric point of offensive schemes thanks largely in part to that era of the Lakers, so I’d imagine it’s pretty safe to say that, if the game was played with the rules of that era, teams would struggle.
Conversely, it’s just as fair to say that those Laker teams would also struggle with today’s rules against, say, the Warriors, because the formation of their roster came from an evolution nearly two decades in the making. That lineup of Steph, Klay, Iggy, Durant and Draymond (holy crap, that lineup) is the culmination of said evolution. Interestingly enough, one could argue very easily that Shaq, himself, was the fully-evolved form of the era of basketball centered on getting the ball as close as possible to the basket for, the game’s most efficient shot: A Shaquille O’Neal slamdunk.
So, instead of waxing poetic about the years of yore, dominated by giants and post play, Shaq could instead credit himself for what we get to enjoy today. It isn’t like Shaq struggles to do so for other stuff, anyway, right? Enjoy your day, big guy. You deserve, somehow more than many might think.
JuanJ says
intriguing take; nice piece – thanks
lalaker14 says
Shaq was truly a force of nature & a game-changer.
_Craig W says
While I would argue Kareem was the more dominant center, it was from a finesse POV, not pure power. That is why the comparison between Wilt and Shaq is more relevant that that between Wilt and Kareem, or Kareem and Shaq.
bluehill says
Congrats to the Big <fill in the blank>! Agree he changed the game and reset expectations for centers and now here we are. There won’t be another Shaq, but someday we will see a someone about as big, equally as agile and with an outside shot, then game will change again.
adamv37 says
Being born in LA during the Showtime era, I grew up a Lakers fan but Shaq’s dominance in Orlando kept me engaged with the NBA when the Lakers were struggling in the early to mid 90’s. When he signed with LA, that was probably one of the happiest days of my childhood, and obviously led to many more great memories for me as a Laker fan.
Shaq’s combination of strength, quickness, and footwork as a 7’1″, 300+ pound big man was just ridiculous. When thinking about his dominance, I would assume most people think about his thunderous dunks, but what made him truly amazing was his ability to run the floor, leave any opponent in the dust with his spin moves, hit the jump hook, and also finish through contact with 2 or 3 opposing players draped across his back. Just think about the fear opponents had when faced up against Shaq spinning his way into the paint.
HaroldSeokohYun says
Fair point, although it has always been the big men that forced change. Kareem not being able to dunk in college, or the paint changing its form etc etc. It will be interesting to see if the end game is having 5 Stephen Curry’s running around… which probably will have the league change rules again to usher traditional big men…
J C hoops says
Like many of the greatest players in history, (e.g., Bird, Magic, Jordan) Shaq’s dominant PERSONALITY made him all the more memorable and a legitimate chunk of the fabric of NBA lore.
For every memory of a thunderous dunk, a blocked shot or a dazzling spin move for a man his size, there are equal numbers or more of his outrageous persona, hilarious jokes, comments and antics that made him so loveable and unique.
Here’s a guy with all the fame in the world that we rarely if ever hear a single word about off the court legal issues, drugs, or domestic violence that too often taints our sports and celebrity heroes.
A rare talent, indeed, and a joy to have watched!
Congrats to the Big Aristotle.
Very nice write up by Anthony Irwin here.
matt24 says
Shaq: the big conversation
On nbatv….a must see
FredP says
You make good points but Shaq would still dominate in today’s NBA. 4-peat Shaq was pretty beat up but earlier Shaq would be just as destructive today as he was then. Please put Green on him and see what happens. Unless fouls do not count against smaller players, he might last a quarter. Golden State gets little credit for having an awesome game in the paint. They depend on the balance of inside and outside scoring. Shaq fits that paradigm well by being nearly automatic near the rim. How well would LeBron do attacking the basket with Shaq lying in wait? I agree that Shaq probably helped the rest of the NBA discover other ways to score but there is not another center close to his ability playing today.
_Craig W says
FredP Yup!
_Craig W says
HaroldSeokohYun The Skyhook is still the most unstoppable shot in basketball – when shot by a big man.
androsays says
GSWs death lineup might be able to make some threes on the 3peat Shaq Lakers.. but what I do know for sure is Draymond fouling out faster then u can say 7 seconds or less