Today, Shaquille O'Neal celebrates his 35th birthday. The video below is from seven years ago on Shaq's big day. He was upset with the Clippers because they didn't provide him with all of the tickets that he had requested for friends and family. So, he went out and hung 61 points on them.
Over at ESPN they're having a debate about O'neal's place among the greatest centers of all time. As far as I'm concerned, he's in the top five, but certainly not at the top of the list. Yes, he's lazy and could have done a lot more with the physical gifts he was blessed with (some of his peers have said that if he took basketball seriously, he could've become the greatest player ever), but the fact remains that he's won 4 titles, gone to the finals 5 times, won a scoring title, led the league in scoring, has an MVP, and is a first ballot Hall of Famer.
That being said, Kareem (6 titles; 6 MVP's; all-time scoring leader; fought Bruce Lee) and Russell (11 titles; 5 MVP's; one of the greatest laughs ever) were better. But not by much.
How Shaq Used to Celebrate His Birthday
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3/06/2007 1:33 PM ET By Marcel Mutoni
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- Marcel Mutoni
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His peers should be happy he didn't have a crazy work ethic, because if he did, I think he would have about 7 rings by now. Imagine Shaq with Kobe's work ethic. He dominated without even really being in shape for a good amount of his career. Imagine if he actually did reach his potential. It's a scary proposition.
In his prime, Olajuwon would’ve killed ‘em all. Hell, half of them he did...
i concur. dream was a very bad man.
I'd give Olajuwon the nod over Shaq, for his defensive presence (arguably second best defensive player ever), and the fact that his work ethic was more on point than shaq's ever was. Not to mention the drubbing he hung on Shaq during the finals of the rocket's second title run (94-95 I believe it was?), while they were both in the prime--Hakeem at the tail end of his and Shaq at the beginning of his.
You gotta give the nod to dream over shaq. The second best defensive center ever behind Russell, possibly the second best defensive player ever behind Russell. Had an insane work ethic, more offensively skilled than Shaq. Always laid it all out there. And oh Yeah, he absolutely murdered him when they met in the finals. Shaq just entering his prime couldn't stop the Dream.
ah sorry about that double post! Also, gotta dock some points off Wilt for taking himself out of a playoff game because he was angry at his coach, causing his team to lose. That's just bush league.
Yeah, add me to the list of people who think Dream was a step above Shaq. Dream won 2 titles while going up against guys like David Robinson, Patrick Ewing and Shaq. Shaq won titles going up against Mutombo (not bad), Todd MacColloch, and Vlade Divac.
Those...those aren't the same.