Most think of Shaq as one of the best lob finishers & offensive rebounders, and know he's not a ball handler.

You can't be one of the most dominant big men and also be useless off ball. Post game is all about creating space and gaining positioning on your opponent.

I'm not sure how he was in Orlando or Miami but the Triangle required him to move off-ball a lot rather than just keep repositioning in the post. It's one of the beauties of the triangle that teams like the Spurs and the Warriors adopted.

Huh? Getting in position is one of his biggest strengths. If you’re just learning that then you weren’t really aware of his game at all

No one thinks of him as a Charles Barkley type post player who just backed you down for several seconds before looking to score but to hear that he was arguably the greatest off ball center ever is a huge statement

🤣😭

Shaq was Dreams victim.🤣

@@pickzkickz not really. when they met shaq outplayed him multiple times. give me shaq over hakeem any day. all time Lakers PG-Magic SG-Kobe- SF-Lebron PF-Anthony Davis C-Shaq. put that vs the all time rockets team and watch them win by 30😂😂

@@xz9z29 The All Time Rockets team is trash though.

@@sharifbrown3567 now i can tell you know nothing about basketball lol😂😂😂 James harden is avetgaing 15 assists on the nets right now,so PG-Harden, SG-Clyde Drexler, SF-Scottie Pippen PF-Charles Barkley,C-Hakeem. then you have ralph sampson,kenny smith,Russel Westbrook,John Wall,Chris Paul,Dwight howard,christian Wood,demarcus cousins who was a beast before his achilis popped and thats just off the top of my head. im not saying they would beat the loaded lakers team but hakeem often dominated Shaq,and prime harden can abuse magic and drop 40 points. i dont see harden clamping magic tho with his post moves so would be a fun and competitive game. rockets bench has way better scorers and lakers bench has much better defenders.

Instead we get to see his son, which is a pleasure in itself. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Great basketball talent.

@@mq830 sabonis had the chance to win 10 rings and be the goat if he was as good as people thought he was. he was considered a 7ft2 C with shaq like strength,wilt like athleticism,larry bird 3pt shooting,magic johnson level passing,hakeem defense,kareem post moves. if he turned out like that its game over. his son will never get anywhere near goat status

@@xz9z29 He was not anywhere near as athletic as Wilt.

@@xz9z29 that's definitely all just exaggerated. I'm sure he was a phenomenal talent but that's just ridiculous.

@@xz9z29 Holy shit you are delusional 😂

Never stop talking bout sabonis

Would've been beautiful to see a prime Sabonis or Wilt vs Shaq

@@zanderhenderson4561 Shaq > Sabonis

@@princesnowblood6263 Based on his international play and the fact that he was pretty much a crippled old man by the time he was the 'Shaq Stopper', it's hard to say. Watching some grainy footage of prime Sabonis gave me an idea that the dude really was THAT good though, good enough that beyond the Iron Curtain, the NBA was already aware of him when he was young, and the Knicks GM said he literally would've drafted him over Ewing if he could've. I'd give it to Shaq, because he was just unfair, but Sabonis was unbelievably good, and would, at worst, be a top 10 all-time center if he spent his career in the NBA. At his best, he may have even been able to put his name up with the BIg 5.

@@localneo-graphic4647 Shaq averaged 27/12 against Sabonis in the regular season and 28/12 against him in the playoffs, who is this "Shaq Stopper" you're talking about????

Now there’s a real comment , checkout my comment above, I basically said the same thing you said.👍

Not only were the refs on the lookout for Wilt's offensive fouls, the league went so far as to change the rule book specifically to hamper Wilt. On the other hand they specifically helped Shaq by preventing his foul shooting problems at the end of games. Wilt was forced to play to his weaknesses and Shaq was pandered to by the NBA by not requiring him to shoot free throws and allowing him to elbow guys in the face with his off arm when shooting the hook. watch the finals against Mutombo on the sixers. it was sad that he had to resort to that when he outweighed Mutombo by 100 lbs.

Lol Shaq never offensive fouled anyone. Throwing your ass into a guy is legal. In fact, it’s fundamental rebounding. If you use an elbow when backing down a guy then it’s offensive. What Shaq was doing was 100% legal. Watch Zion-him and Shaq actually got/get fouled way more than officials call. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a massive Wilt fan-he’s number 2 behind MJ for me. But Shaqs peak was truly incredible and all legal

@@reedsullivan8755 bro it's legal because of the Era he played in lol if wilt dared dip his shoulder into the oppisitions chest immediate offense foul and shaq did many little elbows when moving around and when the dude that 100lbs more then someone def hurts the things shaq does today would get him to foul out in 1 quarter in the 1960s

@@reedsullivan8755 How a guy that has inflated numbers due to the super high possessions he had on his time and the midgets - compared to him -, that he played against is number 2 in your all time list?

He's just so fun to watch back to the basket just making dudes fly backwards tho I'll take the tradeoff

Young Shaq was crazy its a shame he couldn't win with the Magic

If Orlando shaq stayed through his career he’d be Giannis without a jumper, which is an amazing player but I like the brute force Shaq we got

His defense dropped off of the map. No way that he could play at that weight today. He'd be killed on switches. And and no way he could have played in the Bill Russell era. They'd have run him off of the court.

By bulked up you mean he ate a lot and stopped working out right?

@The Ultimate Your definitely right with that point, probably only true basketball historians actually have watched Wilt footage. The rest probably look at the stats and compare the eras they played in.

@The Ultimate because it's a pain to watch wilt footage. If he was so good he could have at least win a couple more championships

@The Ultimate its subjective ive watched almost every wilt footage i can and a fave channel of mine is the wilt chamberlain archive but I agree with Wilt himself talking about Shaqs rookie season that he was better than him if he wanted to be which imo he was in his best years and like Wilt said Shaq had an aggression and a will to dominate and attack the basket that he never had in him

U need to watch the video where he compares him an Bill

@@gabrielantunez7642 maybe because he played better teams than his, and played a super team every year of his career? What about not having the help to be able to dethrone the celtics until 67, not to mention losing game 7s where he couldn’t do anything about it because he was no where near the actions that caused him to lose.

Definitely a possibility!

I approve this message

Nah that’s wilt

wilt is the most physically gifted

This is absolutely factual, if he had Kobe’s mind then he’d be the goat, no contest

A Conan classic!

And that's exactly how someone gets you thinking his way

Weeeell

Everyone accuses him of being too physical, but he was just bringing physicality back to the game.

@@cole9777 he was just talking advantage of his natural ability and he's right i'll do that too if i had a body like him

It takes a lot of work to establish & hold post position. Because of his physical gifts Shaq may be the best ever at it. Duncan was great at it too. I'm waiting for Giannis to learn how easy scoring can be when he learns to duck in for post position off ball.

You're not an opponent. Just another victim.

Hakeem beat Shaq in a Finals series.

@@kvltizt a lot of people beat Shaq in the playoffs. Malone and Stockton shut them down.

@@kvltizt Because Hakeem was in his prime and had better lost moves. Prime Laker Shaq vs 94' Hakeem would be a great matchup.

@@kvltizt Shaq was only i his 3rd season and a lot smaller. Prime Shaq on the Lakers would've roasted Hakeem.

No he did not have a 7'7" wingspan. Shaq has short arms. Francis Ngannou is 6'4" and a 6'11" wingspan. Francis has a arm length comparable to Shaq who is 6'11". If you look at the video of them two at the gym, you can see it. At best Shaq has a arm span of 7'1". I think it is 7 foot. Not particularly long for a guy his size.

I'm really hoping @ThinkingBasketball would do a comparison between the Orlando and LA versions 🔍

@@willhooke there is no comparison. Shaq's 99/00 - 01/02 is as dominant of a stretch and player there has ever been. You simply could not stop him. The league should be grateful him and Kobe couldn't go exist any longer.

@@josephjohnroe3678 lol the Spurs held Shaq to 21ppg & 44% . He got carried vs them by Kobe that series. He couldn't even make a basket in the 4th quarter. All these other teams he faced had soft over the hill big men

2000 shaq is my favorite

Shaq's best teammate is Charles Barkley.

Wonder how Shaq would fair up against 2016-2018 warrior's fast paste ball movement in the perimeter

Shaq even gets underrated for the 2006 Finals and his impact and gravity.

One of the most underrated passing big men. He had to learn to be good at it, cause he was drawing more double and triple teams than anyone in the history of basketball.

@@back2back379 ever heard of wilt chamberlain 😂 but that being shaq is underrated passer

@@jesuschrististhelord9937 Yes I've heard of Wilt, what about him? If anything, Wilt is rather overrated as a passer due to the seasons he got high assists, but the truth about those assists is that he was often hunting assists, getting "Rondo assists." I don't give as much credit when a player is playing for stats. Billy Cunningham: "Wilt is a very goal-oriented person, and and under Alex (Hannum) he wanted to win a title and become the first center to lead the league in assists. He liked to pass to Hal Greer or myself, because we just caught it and shot it. Chet Walker usually caught the ball, took a dribble or two and then shot it - no assist for Wilt (under the assist rules of that time). So Wilt preferred to give the ball to us." Matt Guokas: "He said in training camp that he wanted to lead the league in assists. He thought that would be cool. Of course, we all thought that would be cool too. But he didn't want us to run. He wouldn't throw outlet passes off rebounds. Only Billy or Chet were allowed to run out and score on the fastbreak if they got long rebounds. "Wilt wanted to be involved in every half-court play, so he stood there in the middle and all of us would run around him and he tried to pile up his assists. You've got to remember that assists were kept much more strictly back then. There was none of this stuff like today where you can take three dribbles and a head-fake and it counts. You got assists if you caught the pass and made the shot. So that meant Wilt would only pass it to guys who could catch and shoot -- Luke, Billy sometimes, Wali, Hal and me. In my case, he'd try to get me to just go backdoor for a layup, because he didn't trust me to do much else. And he'd never pass it to Chet Walker, because Chet always had to be pump-faking or use a dribble and take away the assist."

@@back2back379 lol is that why. From 67 to 68 his assist only went up .8? And why did everyone shoot the same amount of FGA as the year before? A bunch of baloney

@@back2back379 rondo assist😂 as a bigman in the post. You do realize wilts passes were most needle threaders.

Absolutely true, and I toss AI/Zeke with those two (or three with Wilt), for his own size. Or Stockton, in the other sense.

Best basketball content on the platform forever and ever and it's not even close. 0 dawg and killah bs too.

Indeed! And you're a proper basketball watcher 👍

Keep up the great work homie🤩

Probably easy as Fuck honestly. No pain at all.

He never was even top 8 in mvp voting probably an easy as fuck decision

@@oluwaseyijohnson3162 ben made a video about reggie 's playoff scoring. I suggest you look it up.

@@RLSmith-jt8qj The decision was actually pretty easy to exclude Reggie Miller. Ben Taylor on his podcast states that Miller did NOT have a Top 50 Peak in the Regular Season.

@@RLSmith-jt8qj this is a greatest peaks video. Reggie was good but he definitely aint got one of the greatest peaks lmao

Shaq is one hundred times better than any big man you've ever seen

And It's not even close

Huge missed opportunity

Now that you've mentioned this, I will never recover from this.

I guess its to honor him for that day 1 year ago.

KG is next probably.

Hopefully, he's doing this in the order that players were drafted. Kobe was drafted in '96, Duncan was in '97.

@@papa_maku Holy shit, 1 year already? It still feels like it happened only a few months ago.

Didn't they get drafted and retire after kobe?

He was ass that series

@@gabrielantunez7642 They were double him off in the Finals so Wade got easy uncontested layups and dunks because of Shaq

@@gabrielantunez7642 Ass? Casual, without Shaq attracting the double teams and still being Shaq in 2006 (and of course Mourning, clutch GP and coach Riley) Wade literally would have been quiet.

Dominant*

Old sabonis was still fun to watch

@@RLSmith-jt8qj True, especially together with his Jail Blazers. With the passing especially, he was there with the CWebb and Jokic! Very enjoyable, even in a state worse than later part of his career Wilt and Bill Walton.

It worked both ways though as groups of the other team would routinely wrestling and slap and whack him non stop at the same time

They need to get in the weight room then if they want to stop the Big Diesel!

Correct

I could never watch him for precisely that reason. He probably committed 3 uncalled offensive fouls per game. And I'm only counting obvious WTF-level offensive fouls.

yeah wilt didnt play like shaq because he wanted to play with skill so no one would complain about his freak athleticism and size

All correct. Would be insane to have an adjusted Wilt AND with still the finesse, shooting and skills. Especially paired against Shaq.

*1962/63 season: Prime Wilt Chamberlain missed the Playoffs ( Record: 31-49 ) despite having 3 players from the Hall of Fame.* Wilt Chamberlain is one of the most overrated players of all-time.

Iirc Wilt admitted he didnt play with as much power as he could have since he didnt want to be seen as just a brute. Public perception messed with Wilt alot and hes admitted it iirc.

@@allanhouston6759 yeah les jus ignore how no one else on his team even scored 20+ or even shoot 50% fg and les also ignore how wilt was doing everything he can shooting 50+% fg and dropping 44 points a night and grabbing 25 boards also a slight 4 assists a per game could be more as assist were tracked differently but ig wilts just overrated yall

His footwork and agility helped him a lot too very underrated part of his game

Shaq also moved defenders by pushing them back and even uprooting set defenders. In Wilt's day those were offensive fouls.

Actually, that series would be an outstanding idea for Ben and this channel. Statistically, what are the chances that the disparity between Sacramento and LA would be that large across a series?

@@ryandick9649 Indeed!

That was during the '02-'03 and '03-'04 Seasons where he was weighed that much. Dr. Jerry Buss would always get on Shaq about that too.

Shaq himself said he stopped trying as much in terms of training after that 2nd ring lol. 02-05 he just got bigger and slower. In 06 he finally accepted that a young player like Wade should be the primary option.

@@blacknetsmed actually kobe said this was during their second ring of the 3 peat. which was 01.

Yup -- I first saw this reported in the '02 season.

That's insane. Imagine that mass jumping on your back.

He did. For the 3 peat he won with the Lakers lmao really he did for 3 X all defense

The greatest Center of all-time.

Tbf he might have coasted at times in the regular season but from 93-03 he was arguably the best 1v1 post defender every great center shot a low percentage against him and he was a great shot blocker. Unsurprisingly Shaq has the most rebounds and blocks etc of the modern era in the play offs and finals only Wilt and Russel from the by gone age have more.

@@Comefollowme119 Saying he played defense just because he got an all defensive selection is a very casual thing to do. He may have been playing great defense before that and voters just don't notice. It's just the opinion of others. Shaq was always a better defender during his Orlando days.

@@allanhouston6759 I have Abdul-Jabbar over him (both offensively and defensively), but with the great centers, there are legitimate arguments for Russell, Wilt, Abdul-Jabbar, Olajuwon, and Shaq.

Yes, this and rules aren't ever brought up despite being the keys.

Flying Fish! Heeyaaa!

I think once his channel/podcasts get the following they deserve he will be able to do those deeper cuts. Can’t blame him, but I think his channel is just getting started.

@@Btn1136 oh, yes, I don't mean he has to dedicate an enormous ammount of resources to it. But instead of releasing only content about contemporary players like he did before the start of this series, would be nice if he mixed with some historical videos

Isiah Thomas would be a great player to look at for this series he most likely wont crack this series but man you just look at the box score numbers and dude could put up 22 and 12 in his sleep. Ben would probably argue his true peak and positive impact was during the bad boy days. Thats a great ides maybe we will see an honorable mentions video potentially.

@@bryanryder7196 he is not cracking in this series cause they are chronologically and we are in early 2000's now. But yea, although i think that his value comes mainly from his versatility. Hes a positive defender, and hes good setting his teammates in defense. In offense, he is a good shooter and ok rim finisher on good efficiency, and that keeps defense honest and also his vision and passing capabilities help him set his teammates very good

@@bryanryder7196 A Zeke-Stockton comparison would be insanity. Especially a CP3-Nash/Kidd one.

His defense and Motor in Orlando was insane. Much better than Lakers Shaq

Exactly. Wilt was stronger and more athletic... and that was in the 60s. If he'd benefitted from 90s/00s technology/knowledge he would have been even stronger/faster.