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  1. #1
    moral victory, tbh. Franklin's Avatar
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    https://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-b...181106639.html

    Shaquille O'Neal believes Julius Erving is the greatest basketball player ever, and that seems significant since Shaq's a paid NBA analyst on TNT and most folks wouldn't put Dr. J in their all-time top five. Some will even leave Erving out of the top 10, and others would argue O'Neal himself made a bigger impact.But Shaq offered this take to Antenna magazine in response to the question: "Kobe or LeBron?"
    "They’re different. LeBron is more of an all-around player — Hey this guy’s open, let me kick it to him. Kobe is more of, Oh, we’re down six? I’m going to shoot it three times and get us six points. But they’re both great players. It’s a matter of opinion. To me, Dr. J was the greatest player ever. But I ask other people, they say Jordan, some say Kobe, some people say LeBron. It’s always going to be a matter of opinion."
    I'm not about to say Shaq's opinion is wrong, but Shaq's opinion is totally wrong. An eight-time First Team All-NBA center could dismiss this as a failed basketball player's analysis of a legend he never saw play in person, and he'd be right, but better men than I have left Erving off their Mount Rushmore entirely.
    Sure, Dr. J pioneered above-the-rim basketball — capturing 16 All-Star nods (5 ABA, 11 NBA), four MVP honors (3 ABA, 1 NBA) and three les (2 ABA, 1 NBA) in the process — but he amassed a third of his 30,026 career points in a watered-down league, never earned NBA All-Defensive honors, submitted sub-par perimeter shooting stats and wasn't even the best player on his own team in his only NBA le run.
    Compare Erving's resume to, say, Jordan, Bill Russell, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar — heck, even Kobe, LeBron and Tim Duncan more recently — and Shaq seems certifiably insane. Recent evidence further supports this notion. Even Dr. J left Dr. J off his own top five, but at least his reasoning behind leaving Michael Jordan off that list is more sound than O'Neal's declaration.
    "This is an emotional choice, so there are no analytics associated with it, and as a matter of fact probably the last 50 years are not a part of it, because I made this decision when I was a teenager. I was 14-15, and this is what I saw. And I saw Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor — who is my favorite — Oscar Robertson and Jerry West. That became my top five as a teenager, and they have remained my top five, so even as good as the great ones are, they've got to be on the second team."
    Even if Shaq conceded his opinion was shaped by watching Erving as a teenager in the 1980s, Bird and Magic's eight rings that decade might have something to say about it. It's a surprising perspective from O'Neal, a four-time NBA champion who apparently spends a lot of time thinking about his own historical impact on the game, if this somewhat disturbing answer during the Antenna Q&A is any indication.
    What do you think happens when you die?
    “Hopefully, my wish is to have one of those big mausoleums, on the inside, it would be stadium seating, and as soon as you close the door, all my highlights would come on, and the door locks, so you have to watch twenty minutes of who I was.”
    OK, then. Perhaps we shouldn't have been surprised by O'Neal's thoughts on the game's greatest player, taking into account his response to Antenna's question, "What’s the best TV show out right now?"
    “Maury Povich in the morning, and then I gotta watch First 48. That’s a must, every day. And Love & Hip-Hop Atlanta.”
    Granted, "The First 48" is a pretty sweet show, especially given Shaq's love for law enforcement, but remind me again how many Emmys "Maury" and "Love & Hip-Hop: Atlanta" have taken home?
    Having a doctorate's degree does help a lot, imho. Shaq must also consider DMC the best poster ever on ST if he also posts here, tbh.

  2. #2
    Wrecks and Effects RsxPiimp's Avatar
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    Not a problem with his selections. Can't fault him vouching for players in his era. Love the fact he's brutally honest in most of his interviews.

  3. #3
    1ST BALLOT HOF Buddy Mignon's Avatar
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    Shaq never played with Dr. J.

  4. #4
    Got Woke? DMC's Avatar
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    Shaq just says whatever pops into his head. An example would be the penalty box, then saying he's never watched hockey. It's his opinion, and he's sure of it, but he doesn't know anything about it. Sounds like most American voters tbh.

  5. #5
    Veteran InRareForm's Avatar
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    He just said that to create a stir.

  6. #6
    Believe. kobe4life's Avatar
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    Shaq knows God is the greatest player of all time but doesn't like to admit because its a constant reminder of how he was the second banana on the Lakers during the 3 peat years.

  7. #7
    moral victory, tbh. Franklin's Avatar
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    yes he was a 2nd banana on the lakers I guess that was why Kobe had shaq's fat butt on his tongue so much during that time, tbh.

  8. #8
    TheDrewShow is salty lefty's Avatar
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    Shaq must not have watched Bird handing Julius' ass to the Dr
    Last edited by lefty; 08-23-2014 at 09:59 PM.

  9. #9
    Savvy Veteran spurraider21's Avatar
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    Shaq must have not watched Bird handing Julius' ass to the Dr


    we're very... VERY... sorry

  10. #10
    TheDrewShow is salty lefty's Avatar
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    we're very... VERY... sorry
    yeah that was a good moment

  11. #11
    Veteran ginobilized's Avatar
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    Dr. J had a style like no other....did Jordan get a lot from the good doc,um, yeah.
    I have never witnessed another player humiliate a team in crucial moments with 2 points like the Dr. He was an artist and his grace, style, creativity and compe iveness made him incredibly special.
    He had a flair for the dramatic and rose to occasions under pressure as well as anyone. His game declined as one would expect, but, he was capable of controlling a game like no one pre-Jordan.

  12. #12
    That's my mans! Red Hawk #21's Avatar
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    A lot of posters in this one...

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