Just for fun: if you could see any player from past eras play in today's NBA, who would you want to see?

[BigFin]

Cuttino Mobley

 

[Pastafazul]

So clearly wrong. It's #11.
You're not Worthy!

View attachment 388110

Jamesssssss is

 

[ElPatron1]

Jordan

See if he was as good or just played in a weak era

 

[logic]

Jordan

See if he was as good or just played in a weak era

Easy. He was as good

 

[UK Cowboy]

I would love to see Shaq with today's rules and all the Euro/3 point shooting big men that he would have 100 pounds on. With today's rules? Is a dunk a high percentage shot?

 

[trojanfan12]

I would love to see Shaq with today's rules and all the Euro/3 point shooting big men that he would have 100 pounds on. With today's rules? Is a dunk a high percentage shot?

 

[tlance]

I would love to see Shaq with today's rules and all the Euro/3 point shooting big men that he would have 100 pounds on. With today's rules? Is a dunk a high percentage shot?

Shaq would be dominant offensively.

But unless he stayed at his rookie playing weight, he would have been attacked relentlessly in pick and roll limiting his overall value.

Also, zone rules make it a lot easier to double the post.

 

[UK Cowboy]

Shaq would be dominant offensively.

But unless he stayed at his rookie playing weight, he would have been attacked relentlessly in pick and roll limiting his overall value.

Also, zone rules make it a lot easier to double the post.

He likely would have stayed closer to his younger weight as the weight didn't hurt him In that era. But to worry about his D is pretty comical. Most teams have the big that can shoot the 3 but almost every team has a big that doesn't. He would be as dominant or Moreno, easily. No one could guard him when you could forearm to the back and there were multiple post bigs trying. And...ZONE

 

[tlance]

He likely would have stayed closer to his younger weight as the weight didn't hurt him In that era. But to worry about his D is pretty comical. Most teams have the big that can shoot the 3 but almost every team has a big that doesn't. He would be as dominant or Moreno, easily. No one could guard him when you could forearm to the back and there were multiple post bigs trying. And...ZONE

It isn’t about the shooting.

Unless he stayed near his rookie weight he couldn’t move his feet well enough to guard pick and roll.

You can’t just hide him on a non-shooter because today, the non shooter sets a ball screen for a shooter. And if Shaq stays under it like he usually did, he is getting cooked today.

And zones do a lot more to take away post than being physical. Shaq was the biggest strongest dude out there. An elbow in the back isn’t slowing him down.

2-3 defenders on the catch absolutely are.

 

[DJ Fieri]

Shaq is the guy I would want to see. All these rail thin stretch fives would get broken in half.

This.

LOL.

 

[UK Cowboy]

It isn’t about the shooting.

Unless he stayed near his rookie weight he couldn’t move his feet well enough to guard pick and roll.

You can’t just hide him on a non-shooter because today, the non shooter sets a ball screen for a shooter. And if Shaq stays under it like he usually did, he is getting cooked today.

And zones do a lot more to take away post than being physical. Shaq was the biggest strongest dude out there. An elbow in the back isn’t slowing him down.

2-3 defenders on the catch absolutely are.

Comical. Agree to disagree because we certainly do

 

[tlance]

Comical. Agree to disagree because we certainly do

Game is different rules are different

Current rules set up to reward skill. And as dominant as Shaq was, he couldn’t score outside 8-10 feet.

Shaq would have to adapt.

Or he would just be the best rim runner in the league.

Which is valuable, but certainly not MVP level performer

 

[UK Cowboy]

Game is different rules are different

Current rules set up to reward skill. And as dominant as Shaq was, he couldn’t score outside 8-10 feet.

Shaq would have to adapt.

Or he would just be the best rim runner in the league.

Which is valuable, but certainly not MVP level performer

36/15 rim protector

 

[tc1]

You can’t just hide him on a non-shooter because today, the non shooter sets a ball screen for a shooter. And if Shaq stays under it like he usually did, he is getting cooked today.

Fine, shoot all the threes and pick-and-roll floaters that you want. You're still losing if you can't stop your opponent from dunking on every possession.

We already saw this play out once, and every team in the league was forced to sign every big strong player they could find, to try and stop O'Neal. He literally changed the make-up of the league, to a degree rarely, if ever, seen.

 

[tlance]

Fine, shoot all the threes and pick-and-roll floaters that you want. You're still losing if you can't stop your opponent from dunking on every possession.

We already saw this play out once, and every team in the league was forced to sign every big strong player they could find, to try and stop O'Neal. He literally changed the make-up of the league, to a degree rarely, if ever, seen.

Illegal defense rules before 2001/2002 made it extremely easy to isolate the best offensive player in a 1 on 1. The easiest place to isolate was in the post.

That isn’t the case today.

Shaq was great and would certainly get his.

But thinking that he would be more effective than skilled bigs like Embiid and Jokic who can post, but also score from midrange and the 3 point line is wishful thinking.

Shaq would have multiple bodies on him on every catch. And sure he would get his, but he isn’t getting to iso and back his man under the rim.

His best play today would be rim runner on a pick and roll. Teams just have more options to limit a player with Shaq’s skill set.

 

[tc1]

Illegal defense rules before 2001/2002 made it extremely easy to isolate the best offensive player in a 1 on 1. The easiest place to isolate was in the post.

You could always double or triple the player in-possession. Did not matter then, and wouldn't now with much smaller players.

But thinking that he would be more effective than skilled bigs like Embiid and Jokic who can post, but also score from midrange and the 3 point line is wishful thinking.

Look up anyone's midrange efficiency and compare to O'Neal dunking.

Look up anyone's 3-point efficiency and compare to O'Neal dunking.

Contrary to wishful thinking, like I said, and like the entire league learned 25 years ago, if you cannot stop a guy from dunking all over you, you lose. Your offensive strategy literally does not matter, at that point.

By the way, you betray your ignorance when you insinuate that O'Neal was unskilled. He was very skilled, and huge, so he focused on the correct skills -- not becoming a 30% 3-point shooter, which is a losing strategy.

 

[tlance]

You could always double or triple the player in-possession. Did not matter then, and wouldn't now with much smaller players.


Look up anyone's midrange efficiency and compare to O'Neal dunking.

Look up anyone's 3-point efficiency and compare to O'Neal dunking.

Contrary to wishful thinking, like I said, and like the entire league learned 25 years ago, if you cannot stop a guy from dunking all over you, you lose. Your offensive strategy literally does not matter, at that point.

You could always double.

Before the change you could not double until after the catch guaranteeing time to make a move.

Not the case anymore.

There is a reason post play is all but dead today. While there isn’t a player like Shaq out there, there are plenty of guys who have the chops to score efficiently in the post under the old rules.

And LOL at you thinking he just going to dunk every time.

He has the most dunks of all time. But his best season was 4.7 dunks per game. And that was under the old rules.

You thinking he just going to dunk every possession is wild.

 

[trojanfan12]

Before the change you could not double until after the catch guaranteeing time to make a move.

Was just gonna post the same.

Back then, Shaq was so quick when he got the ball that it made having someone come to double him almost pointless because they couldn't get there in time.

These days he'd be doubled before they could throw it in to him...which makes it harder to get the ball to him in the first place and more difficult for him to make a move when he did get it.

 

[tc1]

You could always double.

Before the change you could not double until after the catch guaranteeing time to make a move.

Not the case anymore.

Now lookup when and why zones were made legal again. It was during O'Neal's career, and precisely to stop him. It didn't work.

There is a reason post play is all but dead today. While there isn’t a player like Shaq out there, there are plenty of guys who have the chops to score efficiently in the post under the old rules.

Post play is dead because everyone wants to hurl up threes, and few coaches seem to care -- even though almost half the league shoots a sufficiently low percentage that they are hurting their team.

And because no one teaches post play at lower levels anymore.

And LOL at you thinking he just going to dunk every time.

You cover him with a small-ball five like PJ Tucker, and he is.

 

[tlance]

Now lookup when and why zones were made legal again. It was during O'Neal's career, and precisely to stop him. It didn't work.



Post play is dead because everyone wants to hurl up threes, and few coaches seem to care -- even though almost half the league shoots a sufficiently low percentage that they are hurting their team.

And because no one teaches post play at lower levels anymore.



You cover him with a small-ball five like PJ Tucker, and he is.

Nope.

Post play is dead because it isn’t efficient within the modern rules.

Much easier to double and take away a dominant post player.

Teams aren’t going to let Shaq catch spin and dunk 5 times a game.