Maybe people under the age of 24 who didn't see Shaq in his prime might not understand because all they saw was the 320 lb monster who just bullied people over, but his first 8-10 years in the league, dude was an athletic specimen. I think Dwight is definitely more athletic than him, but he doesn't have the shaq strength or IT factor. And you are right, a lot of those players like Ewing, the Dream, Robinson, etc couldn't make it on share athleticism alone like shaq did. They all had to develop real basketball skills.
Watching that Shaq video brings back a lot of memories. I think people remember him more for after leaving Orlando and putting on weight. It's crazy to think someone that big had 36" verticle coming out of college. His agility and quickness early in his career was insane for his size. Not sure if he is more athletic or not than Olajuwan, but a huge part of the dreams game was his footwork which left a lot of players looking silly.
But they don't possess all the same attributes, so that's a meaningless analogy to me, but I haven't followed the entire conversation so I may be missing something
Because Lebron has both the talent and the skill set.
Lebron has it all.
Not only does he have every tool in the tool box he knows how to use every tool unlike Shaq
Same here.
I actually shared Magic season tickets with 2 others when Shaq, Penny, and co. were just getting started & kicking azz.
If only those two had stayed together & healthy....
Chop has a point about Shaq. His first 7-8 years his athleticism did show.
It wasn't only power.
He would go up & above opposing centers/players much of the time.
I can remember him getting a rebound & dribbling coast to coast more than any other big man.
Hard to say which NBA center was truly most athletic, but most ppl remember the Shaq of his latter years and forget how dominant he really was, just like ppl forget the same about Jordan, Bird, etc...
I think the dream has better technique, form, basketball knowledge than Shaq...Probably easily (had some tools Shaq didn't have like a turn around fade). But agree that the first 6-8 years as a center in the league? One of the most athletic big men ever. I don't consider Hakeem even close on pure athletic talent. Again, starting a team I would take Shaq and by a good distance over Hakeem.
He's the only center in NBA history I have seen do that in non garbage time.
If he would have taken basketball as seriously as Hakeem he would have been one of the top 2 or 3 players of all time.
Did Hakeem have the better career when all is said and done? Probably
But Hakeem to his credit reached his basketball ceiling. He maxed out every ounce of ability.
Shaq really did not even really come close to his full potential.
I don't think there should be any doubt who was the most athletic center of all time.
Im surprised anyone disagrees.
100% agreed.
I can only think of 2 or 3 players period I would start my team with besides shaq.
