Matt39 Posted June 1, 2011 Share Posted June 1, 2011 NBA star Shaquille O'Neal appears ready to hang up his size 23 basketball shoes after one of the most dominant careers at his position in league history. "I'm retiring" and "Shaq ooout" was posted Wednesday to his Twitter account, which also links to a video where he talked of his intentions. “We did it. Nineteen years, baby. (I) want to thank you very much. That’s why I’m telling you first, I’m about to retire. Love you. Talk to you soon,” Shaq said in the video on Tout.com, linked from his Twitter account. His team, the Boston Celtics, has not announced his retirement. The 7-foot-1-inch center won four NBA titles in a 19-year career. He is fifth on the NBA’s all-time career scoring list with 28,596 points - short of only Hall of Famers Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain - and 12th on the league’s all time rebounding list, with 13,099. Drafted after his junior year at Louisiana State University in 1992, O’Neal would earn NBA rookie of the year honors with the Orlando Magic, with whom he played four seasons before signing with the Los Angeles Lakers. He started collecting his championship rings in Los Angeles, teaming with Kobe Bryant to win three straight NBA titles from 2000 to 2002 and earning NBA Finals MVP awards in all three years. Amid a feud with Bryant, O’Neal went to the Miami Heat, with whom he would pick up his last NBA championship in 2006. He went on to play for Phoenix and Cleveland before signing with the Boston Celtics in August. Limited by injury, his points-per-game average was under 10 (9.2) for the first time in his career, and he missed the first round in this year’s playoffs before scoring two points in two games in the Celtics’ second-round loss to Miami. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustInFudge Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 I think so Matt. Not the greatest ever, but definitely the most dominate of my life time. FWIW, I love this guy. What an awesome character. Some of the best interview quotes ever. Definitely needs to be side by side with Barkley. Could you imagine? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyHector Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 FWIW, I love this guy. What an awesome character. Some of the best interview quotes ever. Definitely needs to be side by side with Barkley. Could you imagine? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klecko73isGod Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 No. Wilt is by far the most dominant ever. Shaq could have been, he certainly had that kind of talent. Had he had the dedication to his game of Hakeem Olajuwan or Patrick Ewing he would have been the most dominant force the game had ever seen. If he spent his offseasons working on his game rather than being a bad rapper and actor no one else would even be close to being considered the best ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyHector Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 No. Wilt is by far the most dominant ever. Meh. Like him or not, Simmons book really reinforced what I had always thought about Wilt in that his accomplishments were tremendously overrated. The year that Chamberlain averaged 50/25, the league scoring average was 118.8ppg on 107.7 FGA and 42.6% shooting, leading to a ridiculous 71.4 rebounds per game. Shaq's best statistical season was probably '99-'00, when he lead the league in scoring at 29.7ppg while averaging 13.6 boards. The league averages that year - 97.5ppg, 82.1 FGA, and 42.9 rebounds per game. Adjust Chamberlain's numbers based on the percentage difference in FGA, FTA, total rebounds, etc. between eras and you come up with a line of 33.6/17.2, which is no doubt still great, but not as impressive when you consider his efficiency (barely above 50% from the field compared to Shaq's 57.4%). He also didn't have to share the ball with Kobe. And for all Chamberlain's dominance, he only managed to win 2 titles, the second of which was as the 4th leading scorer on a Lakers team that had lost Elgin Baylor to an injury. So, Wilt managed to win a single, solitary title as the alpha dog on his team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbatesman Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 Meh. Like him or not, Simmons book really reinforced what I had always thought about Wilt in that his accomplishments were tremendously overrated. The year that Chamberlain averaged 50/25, the league scoring average was 118.8ppg on 107.7 FGA and 42.6% shooting, leading to a ridiculous 71.4 rebounds per game. Shaq's best statistical season was probably '99-'00, when he lead the league in scoring at 29.7ppg while averaging 13.6 boards. The league averages that year - 97.5ppg, 82.1 FGA, and 42.9 rebounds per game. Adjust Chamberlain's numbers based on the percentage difference in FGA, FTA, total rebounds, etc. between eras and you come up with a line of 33.6/17.2, which is no doubt still great, but not as impressive when you consider his efficiency (barely above 50% from the field compared to Shaq's 57.4%). He also didn't have to share the ball with Kobe. And for all Chamberlain's dominance, he only managed to win 2 titles, the second of which was as the 4th leading scorer on a Lakers team that had lost Elgin Baylor to an injury. So, Wilt managed to win a single, solitary title as the alpha dog on his team. They don't give us enough rep to properly recognize the yeoman's work you've put into this forum in the last 6 hours or so. /ghey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyHector Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 They don't give us enough rep to properly recognize the yeoman's work you've put into this forum in the last 6 hours or so. /ghey Thanks. My employer would be happy to hear that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T0mShane Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 Thanks. My employer would be happy to hear that. God bless you, John Hector. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T0mShane Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 On a related note, I only got to see the fat version of Magic Johnson. When people talk about his otherworldly greatness, I really can't relate to what they're saying. Actually, that's not related to this topic at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason423 Posted June 8, 2011 Share Posted June 8, 2011 I think its very hard to call Shaq the best ever simply because you never got the feeling that he ever worked at it. Sizewise he was dominant. He was so much stronger and bigger than anyone else in the game. Early in his career he was probably more explosive too. But skillwise he was so below average and never improved. The refs used to have such a hard time calling his games because almost every time he had the ball it was probably close to being an offensive foul. He got called more for that when he got older because he was so much slower that it was tougher to swallow the whistle whereas guys would just bounce off him when he was young but he was so fast it wasnt as blatant. I think he also benefitted from playing in an era where there were 0 centers of note in the league. From the group of players I got to see I dont think its even close that Olajuwon was a better player. Just way more skilled and he did it for a long time before falling apart in Toronto. I think on a great night Robinson could put up more points that Shaq, but was nowhere near as consistent and didnt have the longevity. He was a much better defender too, but in the clutch the he couldnt get the Spurs anywhere until Duncan showed up. Shaq pretty much handled 2 titles in LA on his own. He's clearly better than Ewing. There are times when I wonder how much he would have improved his game if he came up in the 80s rather than the 90s when the big centers were on their way out, but at the same time he did match up with Olajuwon when Hakeem was in his prime and never really got much better. Teams like the Jazz used to brutalize Shaq running pick and rolls at him and the twin tower approach of the Spurs seemed to frustrate him too. When Jackson showed up the team became far better defensively but I dont think Shaq was exactly the centerpiece of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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