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Taller, stronger, wider than everyone else. Game over. All three of these things made him the most dominant.
In that case, Wilt > Shaq. By far, Wilt was a superior athlete than Shaq, it isn't even close. Wilt was a track and field guy initially, high jumped nearly 6'6", ran the 800 meters and put the shot nearly 60 feet. Wilt was so proficient at T&F that he was on the track team at Kansas, and was good enough to participate in the Kansas Relays. If you listen to anybody of his era, or knowledgeable people of today, they would tell you that Wilt was one of the finest athletes that ever stepped onto a basketball court. Shaq had nowhere near the athletic ability of Wilt, not even close.
P.S. Bill Russell also was a track and field guy and ran the 110 high hurdles well enough to be considered for an Olympic berth. If anyone has run hh then they would know the stamina, coordination and speed required to do that event. Shaq had now where the ability to do any of that.
To tell you how much Shaq had become a media creation, you should do a little research re: what Wilt thought of Shaq. Basically he called him fat and lazy. And Wilt had good reason to do so. Shaq was slovenly and simply refused to get into proper shape in order to play a full season. He would take a mid season vacation nearly every season with the Lakers and with other teams, often saying that he put it together for the post season.
Just that alone was enough to trigger Wilt contempt for the dude. And Wilt's own playing career is proof that he knew what he was talking about. In 1963, if you count all the overtime that Wilt played, he played every minute possible in a regular season. That is an AMAZING stat, and one that underscores Wilt's fantastic stamina and durability. At 36, he played the second most minutes in the league. Go back and look at the final seasons that Wilt played and you'll see that he played nearly every game, and most of the minutes as well.
When did Shaq ever play close to the full season? Did he do that his final years of his career? HELL NO, not even close. In 2002 he had toe surgery on the day that fall camp started. He could have done it any time previous because he knew that he needed surgery, but decided to skip camp because he was too lazy to work hard. And he finally gets back 1/2 way thru the season in horrible physical condition. Sorry after the spectacle of seeing this guy lug nearly 400lbs up and down a bball court, don't try to pull the **** that he was one of the greatest. Just on durability and stamina alone, which are two of the most important attributes a baller can have, but not one that is mentioned much because it ain't very viewer friendly, Shaq was nowhere as great as either Russell or Chamberlain....
Just that alone was enough to trigger Wilt contempt for the dude. And Wilt's own playing career is proof that he knew what he was talking about.
Doesn't Shaq have 3 more titles than Wilt? And besides, part of Shaq's dominance was that he was so "out of shape". Take away Shaq's girth and weight and there is no guarantee he would have been as good a player.
Doesn't Shaq have 3 more titles than Wilt? And besides, part of Shaq's dominance was that he was so "out of shape". Take away Shaq's girth and weight and there is no guarantee he would have been as good a player.
When did Wilt play with one of the greatest players ever, as did Shaq with Kobe and with Dwade? And the problem with your girth scenario is that it kept Shaq from playing a full season. The latter part of Shaq's career was simply to perform in the playoffs. I guess to Wilt/Russell/Kareem, they stayed in shape in order to be able to play a full season/post season. I guess it didn't occur to them not be in prime condition so as to play at a high professional level. Silly them, they didn't know not to be pros....
The point is it did not matter. He still won 4 titles. Which I think is 4 more than the average NBA center.
His girth had nothing to do with his winning titles. In order to win you have to make the playoffs, and to do that, you need to play well in the season. Given that this is the NBA, and it aint that hard to do so, nevertheless someone other than him had to show up, play with skill and get to the point where he could show up and do his 1/4 of a season thing. Whereas the other great centers actively participated in helping their teams achieve success in season, and did so into their 30's and in the case of Kareem, into their 40's, Shaq was for several years too lazy to do so and relied on others to do his work. If that's your idea of dominant then you have no idea what the word means...
Shaq was more dominant, but I still rank Hakeem over Shaq. Hakeem was much more skilled, was far better on D, and more versatile. People bring up Shaq's peak. What about Dream's peak? You're going to tell me a prime Olajuwon(late 80s-early 90s) couldn't contain 2000-2002 Shaq?
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