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Loved the triple plays video! Something just as rare is MLB home run robberies where guys have unbelievable timing and jump above walls to grab potential home runs
have had the pleasure of running into Shaq a couple of times. he mostly lives in the Atlanta area now. first time i met him i was taking an elevator down from a friend's condo in Buckhead area of Atlanta. the doors opened and the largest human being ive ever seen stepped inside. this was while the NBA all-star game weekend was in town, had some small talk with him. he is just a big kid at heart, nice funny dude.
We had the Final Four come to our city during my freshman year of college and met him and Charles Barkley at a celebrity basketball game where they were coaches against each other. Super nice and down to earth guys!
Yeah I met him and Barkley a few times when I worked at Turner. It’s way different to see them in real life! TV doesn’t do their size justice. Shaq was nice but Barkley was always super nice and funny/friendly with everyone.
He's wildly underrated considering he played in the 40s and 50s but you could argue that all big men in the NBA came from his success. Before him, all teams were running 5 guards and speed/shooting was thought to be the only way to play until they got someone much taller then everyone who dominated. Most of the rules we see today are also because of how dominant he was, goaltending for example was a rule created to basically slow him down, he was WAY to OP lol
@@joshjohnson2753 underrated?? hell nahhh 😂. more like overrated bro. being that tall and only taking layups near the rim. his best fg% is no more than like 42%, while averaging only 23 pts... which is horrible for a big man. his last few seasons he wasnt even at 40% from the field… he just doesnt hold up to today’s standards… gilbert arenas has a whole vid explaining this. he was probably missing so many layups thats why its called the “mican drill” to be funny bc he had ALOT of room for improvement. if averaging 23, 20, and 18 (diff years) in 40 mins is “OP”, then idk what to tell you 🤷♂️. drop lebron, or shaq in that era they might aberage 50 on like 60-70%.
You cannot compare eras in the NBA. Game has evolved, now it is the long ball, the post game is done. Perhaps Shaq would have been obsolete in this era. Mikan was a dominate at his era, would have sucked now ? Yeah sure, but that is how sports evolves. @@xenon1800
@@shawnanderson6313 exactly, I hate these magic time machine people who think they can just read a stat line and point and say "better". Jordan (any many other modern stars) for years has scoffed at these people, saying you cannot compare eras , because you aren't giving the player the chance to learn and play in the same system (many of which could do just fine).
The Sacramento Kings series was in 2002, and it was the western conference finals. The Kings were up 3-2 going into game 6. There was plenty of missed calls and phantom calls and one of the referees later got imprisoned for betting on NBA games. There’s TH-cam videos of it
That was a very frustrating time because of those calls!! I remember it well! Heartbreaking, because the Kings had a “genuine” shot at winning!! Thanks for mentioning a video. I’ll look for it!!
If the officiating was so bad and the king's really should have won then why is it that the king's actually took 19 more free throws over the whole series? Oh and also the Lakers actually got called for six more fouls over the whole series so it sounds like it was actually pretty a pretty fairly called series and you just don't want to admit it
@@bradleybailey8893 I don’t know if you fully read my comment but I was talking about game 6, which in the fourth quarter the lakers shot 27 free throws (in one quarter!) and the kings had 25 for the whole game and they only lost by 4. And the “I don’t want to admit it” part is confusing because I never said I was a kings fan
@@alexarmstrong4036 well I'll see your game 6 and I'll raise you game three. Where in the overall game the kings took an extra 20 free throws and took three times as many free throws as the Lakers in the second half
Yall should REALLY do a Jason Williams AKA White Chocolate reaction. Or did yall already and i missed it? One of my fav ball handlers/facilitators ever. He does things with a basketball i guarantee you have never seen
The old white guy in the pic with Shaq and Kareem was George Mikan. He played for the Lakers back when they were in Minneapolis. As for the best center ever, my vote goes to Kareem.
It's definitely Hakeem for me. Only reason he didn't win more than two titles is that he didn't have that great of a supporting cast for most of his career.
@@cobra7282 And his 2 championship were surrounded by 2 Jordan threepeats. Winning 2 championships is plenty, expecting someone to win more than that just because other guys did it is unrealistic, only 1 team can win every season
One of the refs from that Sacramento Kings game was sent to prison a few years later for fixing games. That game, in particular, often gets pointed to as an egregious example. I don’t think he’s ever actually admitted to fixing that particular game, though.
Regardless of the officiating that Sacramento Kings team is worthy of deep dive purely on basketball terms alone. Every now and then teams come along that play the game on such an elite level as a team, it has to be acknowledged just for the pure love of the sport. They were an absolute joy to watch. It would be worth doing a poll on your discord for the top ten teams who played the game the right way. Not who had the greatest star or even who won, although winning is a big part of doing it right. But I'm betting the Chris Webber Sacarmento Kings makes that top ten list. Others would - or should -include the Larry Bird Celtics team with Bill Walton. Bill Walton leading the Portland Trailblazers. Micheal's team with Rodman. Multiple San Antonio Spurs teams. Magic Johnson's Lakers teams. Golden State with Curry and Durant. -Ball movement. Player movement. High basketball IQ. Defensive intensity. Working for the best shot. Sacrificing personal numbers. Commitment to winning. All while delivering THE BEST SHOW a ticket holder could want to see. The Kings really put on a great show.
I was already an NBA fan when Shaq got into college. Before him, every 7-footer looked like a tall person, long and lean with extra long legs. Shaq had a normal shape, so that if he was at a distance with no one around, he didn't look big. Up close or with a normal human next to him, holy cow, he looked HUGE.
Just so you know, that series against the Kings was fixed by gamblers. The head ref went to jail eventually, for other things. And wrote a book about it.
I was sitting in front of the TV watching the Lakers win the 99'-00 championship. I was 9 years old. I remember freaking out when they went down in the 4th quarter. I watched almost every game that season. Shaq was my hero. Him and Kobe were in my opinion the greatest duo that basketball has ever seen. It's a shame that they didn't stay together for a few more years. They could have gotten 2 or 3 more championships together Yes, he's my greatest center of all time. I think top 3 centers are Shaq, Kareem, and Hakeem. All 3 are interchangeable. Only Shaq was unstoppable though. Free throws were his only kryptonite, so teams would literally just foul him, because they couldn't do anything else to slow him down. They called it "Hack-a-Shaq."
It's crazy to go 68-1 but also not really if you have a dominant player like Shaq. Individual players can have outsized influence on the game. Especially at lower levels if one player has such a huge physical advantage.
I’m highschool we had a HUGE guy originally from Africa who had CRAZY stats come to our soccer team we thought he was about to be unstoppable. Tall af, w unheard of stats & fast af but then he was just so underwhelming, scared tf out of the opposing team was his best quality. We found out he was just playing in really shitty leagues & that’s how he had such an incredible record. Was such a letdown, he was still really cool just not the beast we were expecting
It's pretty common for NBA players to absolutely dominate their high school careers. Even the ones that don't wind up being all that great in the NBA still obliterate players at lower levels and they're almost always freakishly taller than anyone else their age so even if they're not good defenders in the NBA, they are against 5 ft school kids. One great player in basketball has a lot more individual impact on the outcome of a game than most other team sports.
Probably the most physically dominant center of all time. Heck, probably one of the most physically dominant players ever period. Guy was unstoppable in the paint during his prime (and that was with his lackluster training and preparation).
The old guy in the picture was George Mikan, the Original Laker. He played for the Lakers back when they were in Minneapolis in the 1950s. Largely considered the first great center the NBA had and defined how the position was played. The other guy behind Shaq is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, arguably the greatest big man ever.
16:33 That's George Mikan. My dad used to watch him play at DePaul (a college in Chicago). Mikan was the first great big man and named the greatest player of the 1st half of the 20th century.
I don't know what went on with the 2002 Lakers-Kings matchup; I would have given the worst officiating title to the 2003 Finals. Referee Tim Donaghy featured prominently in the latter series; he later went to jail for conspiring with gamblers to affect the outcomes of games, and if you think he was the only ref who did that, you didn't watch the NBA that decade; he's just the only one who got caught.
Should of watch Wilt, then Kareem, then Shaq. Ypu could have seen the evolution of the Center postion in basketball nd they are the three best centers of all time.
Wilt is the greatest center ever. Hes the most physically talented player to ever grace a basketball court. People dont believe it because of the era he played in but you can time his running across the court and see his leaping ability on the little film that does exist of him. He just had the unfortunate luck of playing in an era where the rules were against him and league had the most stacked team of all time with the 50's and 60's Celtics. Back then a guy couldnt use his body to twist and bull through defenders without it being an offensive foul. An aging Wilt still had the leaping ability at the end of his career to be the only player to block Kareems skyhook and he did it twice.
I would have to agree. My personal ranking is Kareem, Wilt, Shaq, Russel, Robinson, and the only reason Wilt is second is simply because of his era and his awards, if Wilt would have played even 8-10 years later alongside of Kareem's full career, I have no doubt he would have been considered the best. The thing about Wilt was yes he wasnt as big as Shaq, but he was real close, and he was a better defender and a MUCH better shooter, and he was quicker by far than Shaq, and he would have bullied Kareem throughout his career if they had been the same age throughout their career as he was just a much more muscular and heavier build than Kareem. Kareem had the drive to do the most with his talent, Wilt not as much, and Shaq had basically no drive to try to be the best ever, he just wanted to be dominate and party the rest of the time (he coasted on his size alone), but didnt have the drive to put the work in to become truly great. If Wilt hadn't been destined to play during the run of the most dominate team ever (the 11 time champions in 12 years Boston Celtics), I believe he would have had a lot more drive as he would have won a lot more and had more to compete for and thus more championships, but that shit has to be disheartening when basically the same team wins ever single year, and you are not on that team.
Would be really cool to react to something on those early 2000’s Sacramento Kings teams. I don’t have a good recommendation off the top of my head, but any substantial video about those years will discuss the 2002 Lakers series. Those Kings teams really won a lot of hearts, even though they never got their championship. One of the funnest teams to watch in NBA history.
Shaq is a prankster too. One season he made one of the rookies carry his big electronic keyboard everywhere they went that season. At the end of the season, the rook asks Shaq why he made him carry it all over the country for him while not seeing him ever play it even once. Shaq replies, “oh that old thing, it’s been broken for years!”
One way to explain his dominance in his prime that they didn't exactly mentioned is that the league basically revolved around his presence. Any team that wanted to be a real contender, had to first answer the question of "how do we deal with Shaq?" Teams would carry multiple replacement-level centers/power forwards on their roster just to be able to FOUL Shaq, much less contain him.
through Shaqs' career he was listed at or around 300 Lbs.. but young Shaq was listed at 296Lbs.. and when you look at him then, and when he was playing with the lakers later on he was sooo much bigger.. I really think he weighed closer to 400Lbs in alot of those seasons..
In the 2002 WCF the kings were up 3-2 against the lakers when the worst officiating in nba history took place. Vlade divac and Scott pollard both the Starting and backup center fouled out despite multiple “fouls” where they didn’t even touch Shaq. Mike bibby got elbowed in the face by Kobe and they called the foul on Bibby. The lakers ended up shooting 27 free throws in the 4th quarter alone while the kings shot 25 all game.
Shaq is hard to rate because at his peak he was the best human to ever play basketball. But his peak was so short because he was so physically dominant he had no reason to give full effort. Most other greats are great because of their work ethic. Shaq was great in spite of his. But even with all that said. I'd still put him as possibly the 2nd best center of all time behind only Hakeem.
Best center ever is a tough one. Wilt, Kareem, Hakeem, Russell, Mikan, Shaq are all in the conversation. It's hard to compare across different eras. Mikan was so dominant for the Minneapolis Lakers that they had to change the rules because of his dominance, Russell won Championships seemingly every year, Wilt was a fantastic athlete who once averaged 50 ppg and scored 100 in a single game, Hakeem was a great defender and posessor of the "dream shake", Shaq was massive and agile. My vote goes for Kareem, Wilt 2nd, and the rest I can't separate.
As a Laker fan, I had wished that Shaq was as fanatical about winning as Kobe and MJ. But he was very, very immature early in his career and seemed to believe that having fun might be just a little bit more important than winning NBA championships. His talent and skills were mediocre but his size, athleticism and agility were superhuman. If he had been more dedicated to his fitness and working on his poor shooting (including his free throw shooting) he would have had no equal in the history of this league. He frequently had to be taken out of close games because of his inability to make free throws. Imagine having to remove your best player in a close game because if you fouled him and put him on the free throw line, he was guaranteed to miss one and most often both of them. Opposing teams knew this and would send in bench players just to foul Shaq and send him to the free throw line. Predictably he would miss free throws time and time again and becoming a huge liability to his team in the process. Teams brought in all kinds of experts to help Shaq improve this part of his game. Even Kareem was hired to help him. But to no avail. ***Here is something we now know about basketball players. If you don't develop good shooting ability in your youth, you can't do it in the NBA. There have been many, superstar players that were poor shooters and you simply cannot make them into one. The dye has been cast by the time they are late teens. Thats my opinion anyway! Shaq has a HUGE ego and he still retains much of that bully mentality too. Just ask Charles Barkley who is his co-host on "Inside the NBA." If he doesn't like you, he must be a nightmare to work with. Because even in retirement and on that show in particular, he's still the biggest star. ♠ Very entertaining video guys. And what a brilliant memory Damo brings to the team. I would never want to piss him off because he would never ever forget it. lol...♣
For what it's worth, Kobe believed the same thing. Kobe was quoted as saying that if Shaq had the same mentality and drive to win that he did, they would have won somewhere around 12 championships together. Kobe was in awe of Shaq's talent, and physical gifts. To him he was just being held back by immaturity and if he wasn't he would have been hands down the greatest player of all time. End of the day Shaq is still an all time great and one of the best Centers ever. Most dominant peak in NBA history. If he could do all of that while still being able to party as much as he wanted, hard to argue that he had anything else to prove.
Shaq vs Hakeem was the best finals matchup ever. I dont care what anyone says. Remember eating chicken fried steak and watching game 4 on a tiny crt tv at a restaraunt in houston back then.
Growing up in Southern California and being a Lakers fan prime Shaq an d Kobe were my childhood. When Shaq wanted to no one in the league could stop him and I mean no one.
Well done getting Kareem in that photo. The old white guy appears to George Mikan. The first great NBA player and the last before basketball was integrated at the pro level.
Going 68-1 is crazy and definitely not common. But its not a statistical anomaly at the high school level. For exactly the reason you said, if you get a generational talent or 2 on a high school team they will just overmatch the other schools made up of kids who will go on to be office workers. You see it once a lifetime at levels higher than high school. Everyone else is too good at that point.
all you need to know about the 2002 playoffs is, i quit watching basketball because of the refs, i had never seen such blatant bullshit in my life.. years later the refs admitted they had fixed the Game 6 so they could have a Game 7 and get paid more i wasn’t even a Lakers or Kings fan, but as a basketball fan i just couldn’t take it, it soured me for life 😑
I was 6'4 at 12 but sadly never grew any taller. They always played me at center but eventually I was out grown and couldnt dominate lile I did at a youmger age. Thankfully I was a baseball player first and that worked out for me.
You abosulty need to do a reaction to that Lakers vs Kings game! So many fouls called in the final quarter and one of the top games people called "Rigged" in sports history
The Kings-Lakers series was rigged and an NBA ref went to prison for a couple years for fixing games including that series. The NBA loves big cities playing in the Finals versus small markets. It’s all about money
The 2001 Sacramento Kings, to this day, is probably the most infamous basketball cheating scandal, up there with the rigged drafts and ref betting. It is...a story that still haunts that franchise. It's a great story.
Shaq was the most dominant player since Wilt, there was no stopping him. The scariest part of Shaq was known to not being a serious person, and although he was a hard worker, but if he had really put in the next level work in he would have been even better. Because he so interested in everything else, he probably didn't live up to his full potential. Which is actually the scariest part about him.
The photo of the 3 Lakers over the line "one of the best centers ever" is Shaq in fact with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar but also Minneapolis Lakers great George Mikan. Mikan is probably one of the first dominant centers in NBA history. He played in the late 40s and early 50s and won 4 NBA Championships.
You have the wrong inflection at 6:55 should be, "Four free throws missed in a row? On a team with Shaq on it, and it wasn't Shaq? Bizarre." Shaq was a 52% free throw shooter for his entire career. Though his 58% from the floor for his career is also a bonkers number, Shaq joined a very weird list of legends that shot worse from the charity stripe. In the picture at 16:45 that is Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Shaq and George Mikan, three great centers that played for the Lakers.
Loving the content. HIGHLY reccomend watching Tracy McGrady's ultimate mixtape posted by the NBA. He is Vince Carter's cousin and one of Kobe's best friends. Freak of nature and was similar to Kobe in a lot of ways. Can't recommend him enough
Shaq was 7'1 and easily over 400 lbs of pure power in his Lakers days. The NBA had him listed at 350 lbs when he was with the Lakers, which is a lie lol, it's impossible to be 7'1 with his massive frame and only be 350. But needless to say he was impossible to guard without fouling. He manhandled pretty much everyone including Rodman and Malone who were both very powerful defenders. Nobody could stop him one on one
As a Laker fan I would like to deny what happened against the Sacrament Queens but when the paid off refs who were betting on the games did their thing it was egregious lol
The 3rd great center in that pic was George Mikan, the first dominant center in the NBA who led the Minneapolis Lakers to 5 championships in the first 6 years of the NBA's existence from the late 1940s to the mid 1950s.
@@Peakfreud wilt played in the 60s when the game was still developing and there was only 8 teams… as for kareem i was talking abt the nba. but anyways thats arguably the dumbest rule change in all of basketball… harden and dwade changed the rules also. so what was the point of ur comment?
16:50 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shaq and George Mikan. Missing from that picture is Wilt Chamberlain who had died a few years prior. Anyway, those 4 are all Hall of Fame Centers that played for the Lakers.
If you guys want to check out what Shaq is up to these days there are some videos that show the "Funniest Moments of Charles Barkley and Shaq" from NBA On TNT. It is by far the most entertaining sports commentary show on TV.
1 game for my life, and i could pick any prime player ever in the history of the game i know mj is the goat but i might take 1999-2001 shaq just taking shaq's peak for me personally i don't think there has been anyone with a more dominate peak
i know what ppl say but i have Shaq as the best Center to ever play. I know, i know, Kareem... but for me its Shaq, he had rules and whole strategies developed bc of him, they even changed what materials and how backboards were made bc he broke so many.
The record is pretty ridiculous. Cole is a smaller school though. I was not around to follow TX ball back then...But when smaller schools land a talent like that, it's not super uncommon to have a couple of perfect seasons
Kareem is the top center, but Shaq is the most dominate in the modern era. Analysts aren't lying though when they say Shaq could have been the best player ever had he taken better care of himself. I can't remember the exact details, but there's a funny story about Kobe showing up to the gym super early to train before practice and Shaq being late with a bag of fast food burgers that he ate while everyone else worked out.
the "best centers ever" image: That's definitely Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the left, and I'm not sure who on the right but it looks like it might be George Mikan. As for who's the best center: I think Kareem was better over the course of his career, but Shaq in that 2004 season has a case for best peak. I'd give the vote to Bill Russell, however.
Wilt was a better athlete--he was one of the fastest players in the league (fastest on his team, which included HoF guard Jerry West--whose silhouette is the logo for the NBA), was a track star--high jump, long jump, and one of the best volleyball players ever.
Wilt had the same issue as Shaq, partying and poor work ethic because of God given ability. Not judging either of them, they lived their lives as they sought fit.
I like that the video was pretty balanced. I feel like too many of these sports retrospectives are excessively positive whereas this was pretty realistic about Shaq's career and ranking. Though I think they actually underrated him a bit. Consensus he's top 12, probably even top 10.
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Loved the triple plays video! Something just as rare is MLB home run robberies where guys have unbelievable timing and jump above walls to grab potential home runs
Look up a video about the Lakers and Kings and how the refs rigged the game
One of the refs said that the NBA was rigged and that they. We’re calling the game to try to help the Lakers win
Need to check out highlights of Shaq and Charles Barkley as commentators on TNT basketball
Check out Clyde Drexler! Michael Jordan described him as a very legitimate threat on the court!
have had the pleasure of running into Shaq a couple of times. he mostly lives in the Atlanta area now. first time i met him i was taking an elevator down from a friend's condo in Buckhead area of Atlanta. the doors opened and the largest human being ive ever seen stepped inside. this was while the NBA all-star game weekend was in town, had some small talk with him. he is just a big kid at heart, nice funny dude.
Love this, he sounds all round awesome 😎
I saw him at a high-school B-ball game. Like seeing a Sasquatch! One of the coolest dudes of all time.👍
We had the Final Four come to our city during my freshman year of college and met him and Charles Barkley at a celebrity basketball game where they were coaches against each other. Super nice and down to earth guys!
Well that's cool as hell.
Yeah I met him and Barkley a few times when I worked at Turner. It’s way different to see them in real life! TV doesn’t do their size justice. Shaq was nice but Barkley was always super nice and funny/friendly with everyone.
The guy at 16:39 was George Mikan. The first true NBA star, he was also a center for the Lakers.
Appreciate this info, thank you 🙏
He's wildly underrated considering he played in the 40s and 50s but you could argue that all big men in the NBA came from his success. Before him, all teams were running 5 guards and speed/shooting was thought to be the only way to play until they got someone much taller then everyone who dominated. Most of the rules we see today are also because of how dominant he was, goaltending for example was a rule created to basically slow him down, he was WAY to OP lol
@@joshjohnson2753 underrated?? hell nahhh 😂. more like overrated bro. being that tall and only taking layups near the rim. his best fg% is no more than like 42%, while averaging only 23 pts... which is horrible for a big man. his last few seasons he wasnt even at 40% from the field… he just doesnt hold up to today’s standards…
gilbert arenas has a whole vid explaining this. he was probably missing so many layups thats why its called the “mican drill” to be funny bc he had ALOT of room for improvement. if averaging 23, 20, and 18 (diff years) in 40 mins is “OP”, then idk what to tell you 🤷♂️. drop lebron, or shaq in that era they might aberage 50 on like 60-70%.
You cannot compare eras in the NBA. Game has evolved, now it is the long ball, the post game is done. Perhaps Shaq would have been obsolete in this era. Mikan was a dominate at his era, would have sucked now ? Yeah sure, but that is how sports evolves. @@xenon1800
@@shawnanderson6313 exactly, I hate these magic time machine people who think they can just read a stat line and point and say "better". Jordan (any many other modern stars) for years has scoffed at these people, saying you cannot compare eras , because you aren't giving the player the chance to learn and play in the same system (many of which could do just fine).
The Sacramento Kings series was in 2002, and it was the western conference finals. The Kings were up 3-2 going into game 6. There was plenty of missed calls and phantom calls and one of the referees later got imprisoned for betting on NBA games. There’s TH-cam videos of it
That was a very frustrating time because of those calls!! I remember it well! Heartbreaking, because the Kings had a “genuine” shot at winning!! Thanks for mentioning a video. I’ll look for it!!
Being a Kings fan those days was just pain. The team was so good, but man
If the officiating was so bad and the king's really should have won then why is it that the king's actually took 19 more free throws over the whole series? Oh and also the Lakers actually got called for six more fouls over the whole series so it sounds like it was actually pretty a pretty fairly called series and you just don't want to admit it
@@bradleybailey8893 I don’t know if you fully read my comment but I was talking about game 6, which in the fourth quarter the lakers shot 27 free throws (in one quarter!) and the kings had 25 for the whole game and they only lost by 4. And the “I don’t want to admit it” part is confusing because I never said I was a kings fan
@@alexarmstrong4036 well I'll see your game 6 and I'll raise you game three. Where in the overall game the kings took an extra 20 free throws and took three times as many free throws as the Lakers in the second half
Yall should REALLY do a Jason Williams AKA White Chocolate reaction. Or did yall already and i missed it? One of my fav ball handlers/facilitators ever. He does things with a basketball i guarantee you have never seen
Hey 👋 You haven’t missed him but we have got him on the list. Appreciate the comment, he sounds like he’s gonna be another great one
White chocolate’s highlights are insane
And THE single funniest tattoo ever on his hands
The old white guy in the pic with Shaq and Kareem was George Mikan. He played for the Lakers back when they were in Minneapolis.
As for the best center ever, my vote goes to Kareem.
Hakeem should be in the conversation of best centers ever.
Thank you for the confirmation, appreciate it 🙏 A lot of support for Kareem. Another player we have to look at
It's definitely Hakeem for me. Only reason he didn't win more than two titles is that he didn't have that great of a supporting cast for most of his career.
@@cobra7282 And his 2 championship were surrounded by 2 Jordan threepeats. Winning 2 championships is plenty, expecting someone to win more than that just because other guys did it is unrealistic, only 1 team can win every season
George Mika. 2as the first big man who wasn’t a complete stiff. However by today’s standards, he nowhere near the modern athletes that play now.
One of the refs from that Sacramento Kings game was sent to prison a few years later for fixing games. That game, in particular, often gets pointed to as an egregious example. I don’t think he’s ever actually admitted to fixing that particular game, though.
Tim Donaghy didn't coach that Game
But he did know the two refs who did and said the fix was in.
The older white guy in the great centers photo was George Mikan, the first superstar center in the NBA for the Minneapolis Lakers in the 50's.
Regardless of the officiating that Sacramento Kings team is worthy of deep dive purely on basketball terms alone. Every now and then teams come along that play the game on such an elite level as a team, it has to be acknowledged just for the pure love of the sport. They were an absolute joy to watch. It would be worth doing a poll on your discord for the top ten teams who played the game the right way. Not who had the greatest star or even who won, although winning is a big part of doing it right. But I'm betting the Chris Webber Sacarmento Kings makes that top ten list. Others would - or should -include the Larry Bird Celtics team with Bill Walton. Bill Walton leading the Portland Trailblazers. Micheal's team with Rodman. Multiple San Antonio Spurs teams. Magic Johnson's Lakers teams. Golden State with Curry and Durant. -Ball movement. Player movement. High basketball IQ. Defensive intensity. Working for the best shot. Sacrificing personal numbers. Commitment to winning. All while delivering THE BEST SHOW a ticket holder could want to see. The Kings really put on a great show.
agree but im surprised you didnt mention the team that is most known for being the only team in history to win a chip without a superstar, 05 Pistons
@@jaaku6608good call. I've gotta add some of the Lebron/Wade teams too.
I was already an NBA fan when Shaq got into college. Before him, every 7-footer looked like a tall person, long and lean with extra long legs. Shaq had a normal shape, so that if he was at a distance with no one around, he didn't look big. Up close or with a normal human next to him, holy cow, he looked HUGE.
Just so you know, that series against the Kings was fixed by gamblers. The head ref went to jail eventually, for other things. And wrote a book about it.
I was sitting in front of the TV watching the Lakers win the 99'-00 championship. I was 9 years old. I remember freaking out when they went down in the 4th quarter. I watched almost every game that season. Shaq was my hero. Him and Kobe were in my opinion the greatest duo that basketball has ever seen. It's a shame that they didn't stay together for a few more years. They could have gotten 2 or 3 more championships together
Yes, he's my greatest center of all time. I think top 3 centers are Shaq, Kareem, and Hakeem. All 3 are interchangeable. Only Shaq was unstoppable though. Free throws were his only kryptonite, so teams would literally just foul him, because they couldn't do anything else to slow him down. They called it "Hack-a-Shaq."
It's crazy to go 68-1 but also not really if you have a dominant player like Shaq. Individual players can have outsized influence on the game. Especially at lower levels if one player has such a huge physical advantage.
Its one of those records where i'm impressed but not surprised.
I’m highschool we had a HUGE guy originally from Africa who had CRAZY stats come to our soccer team we thought he was about to be unstoppable. Tall af, w unheard of stats & fast af but then he was just so underwhelming, scared tf out of the opposing team was his best quality. We found out he was just playing in really shitty leagues & that’s how he had such an incredible record. Was such a letdown, he was still really cool just not the beast we were expecting
It's pretty common for NBA players to absolutely dominate their high school careers. Even the ones that don't wind up being all that great in the NBA still obliterate players at lower levels and they're almost always freakishly taller than anyone else their age so even if they're not good defenders in the NBA, they are against 5 ft school kids. One great player in basketball has a lot more individual impact on the outcome of a game than most other team sports.
To sum it all up. Shaq was one of the 5 or 6 greatest players ever without ever really trying because he was ridiculously gifted athletically
Probably the most physically dominant center of all time. Heck, probably one of the most physically dominant players ever period. Guy was unstoppable in the paint during his prime (and that was with his lackluster training and preparation).
Crazy thing is Nick Anderson was one of the best shooters in the league but he was never the same after missing those free throws smh
Nick was almost as worse a free throw shooter as Shaq, He hovered around %60
Dropped as low as %40 for one season.
The old guy in the picture was George Mikan, the Original Laker. He played for the Lakers back when they were in Minneapolis in the 1950s. Largely considered the first great center the NBA had and defined how the position was played.
The other guy behind Shaq is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, arguably the greatest big man ever.
16:33 That's George Mikan. My dad used to watch him play at DePaul (a college in Chicago). Mikan was the first great big man and named the greatest player of the 1st half of the 20th century.
I don't know what went on with the 2002 Lakers-Kings matchup; I would have given the worst officiating title to the 2003 Finals. Referee Tim Donaghy featured prominently in the latter series; he later went to jail for conspiring with gamblers to affect the outcomes of games, and if you think he was the only ref who did that, you didn't watch the NBA that decade; he's just the only one who got caught.
That IS Kareem.
I love what you guys do, it’s amazingly entertaining to see the perspective of you two on an array of our greats! Thank you!
Thank you so much, we really appreciate the support 🙏
Should of watch Wilt, then Kareem, then Shaq. Ypu could have seen the evolution of the Center postion in basketball
nd they are the three best centers of all time.
Its possible that Shaq could have been the Goat with the Right work ethic.
Definitely getting more than 4 titles.
Wilt is the greatest center ever. Hes the most physically talented player to ever grace a basketball court. People dont believe it because of the era he played in but you can time his running across the court and see his leaping ability on the little film that does exist of him. He just had the unfortunate luck of playing in an era where the rules were against him and league had the most stacked team of all time with the 50's and 60's Celtics. Back then a guy couldnt use his body to twist and bull through defenders without it being an offensive foul. An aging Wilt still had the leaping ability at the end of his career to be the only player to block Kareems skyhook and he did it twice.
Debatable
I would have to agree. My personal ranking is Kareem, Wilt, Shaq, Russel, Robinson, and the only reason Wilt is second is simply because of his era and his awards, if Wilt would have played even 8-10 years later alongside of Kareem's full career, I have no doubt he would have been considered the best.
The thing about Wilt was yes he wasnt as big as Shaq, but he was real close, and he was a better defender and a MUCH better shooter, and he was quicker by far than Shaq, and he would have bullied Kareem throughout his career if they had been the same age throughout their career as he was just a much more muscular and heavier build than Kareem.
Kareem had the drive to do the most with his talent, Wilt not as much, and Shaq had basically no drive to try to be the best ever, he just wanted to be dominate and party the rest of the time (he coasted on his size alone), but didnt have the drive to put the work in to become truly great.
If Wilt hadn't been destined to play during the run of the most dominate team ever (the 11 time champions in 12 years Boston Celtics), I believe he would have had a lot more drive as he would have won a lot more and had more to compete for and thus more championships, but that shit has to be disheartening when basically the same team wins ever single year, and you are not on that team.
Would be really cool to react to something on those early 2000’s Sacramento Kings teams. I don’t have a good recommendation off the top of my head, but any substantial video about those years will discuss the 2002 Lakers series. Those Kings teams really won a lot of hearts, even though they never got their championship. One of the funnest teams to watch in NBA history.
No question, Webber, White Chocolate, Peja.... Great great team.
Shaq is such an entertaining person, I find his activities after retiring just as entertaining as when he was playing
I remember seeing him for the first time when he was playing for LSU.. He looked like an adult playing against 10 year olds .
Shaq is a prankster too. One season he made one of the rookies carry his big electronic keyboard everywhere they went that season. At the end of the season, the rook asks Shaq why he made him carry it all over the country for him while not seeing him ever play it even once. Shaq replies, “oh that old thing, it’s been broken for years!”
One way to explain his dominance in his prime that they didn't exactly mentioned is that the league basically revolved around his presence. Any team that wanted to be a real contender, had to first answer the question of "how do we deal with Shaq?" Teams would carry multiple replacement-level centers/power forwards on their roster just to be able to FOUL Shaq, much less contain him.
through Shaqs' career he was listed at or around 300 Lbs.. but young Shaq was listed at 296Lbs.. and when you look at him then, and when he was playing with the lakers later on he was sooo much bigger.. I really think he weighed closer to 400Lbs in alot of those seasons..
In the 2002 WCF the kings were up 3-2 against the lakers when the worst officiating in nba history took place. Vlade divac and Scott pollard both the Starting and backup center fouled out despite multiple “fouls” where they didn’t even touch Shaq. Mike bibby got elbowed in the face by Kobe and they called the foul on Bibby. The lakers ended up shooting 27 free throws in the 4th quarter alone while the kings shot 25 all game.
Shaq is hard to rate because at his peak he was the best human to ever play basketball. But his peak was so short because he was so physically dominant he had no reason to give full effort. Most other greats are great because of their work ethic. Shaq was great in spite of his.
But even with all that said. I'd still put him as possibly the 2nd best center of all time behind only Hakeem.
Best center ever is a tough one. Wilt, Kareem, Hakeem, Russell, Mikan, Shaq are all in the conversation. It's hard to compare across different eras. Mikan was so dominant for the Minneapolis Lakers that they had to change the rules because of his dominance, Russell won Championships seemingly every year, Wilt was a fantastic athlete who once averaged 50 ppg and scored 100 in a single game, Hakeem was a great defender and posessor of the "dream shake", Shaq was massive and agile. My vote goes for Kareem, Wilt 2nd, and the rest I can't separate.
The word unstoppable is overused in sport but Shaq in his prime qualifies
As a Laker fan, I had wished that Shaq was as fanatical about winning as Kobe and MJ. But he was very, very immature early in his career and seemed to believe that having fun might be just a little bit more important than winning NBA championships. His talent and skills were mediocre but his size, athleticism and agility were superhuman. If he had been more dedicated to his fitness and working on his poor shooting (including his free throw shooting) he would have had no equal in the history of this league. He frequently had to be taken out of close games because of his inability to make free throws. Imagine having to remove your best player in a close game because if you fouled him and put him on the free throw line, he was guaranteed to miss one and most often both of them. Opposing teams knew this and would send in bench players just to foul Shaq and send him to the free throw line. Predictably he would miss free throws time and time again and becoming a huge liability to his team in the process. Teams brought in all kinds of experts to help Shaq improve this part of his game. Even Kareem was hired to help him. But to no avail. ***Here is something we now know about basketball players. If you don't develop good shooting ability in your youth, you can't do it in the NBA. There have been many, superstar players that were poor shooters and you simply cannot make them into one. The dye has been cast by the time they are late teens. Thats my opinion anyway!
Shaq has a HUGE ego and he still retains much of that bully mentality too. Just ask Charles Barkley who is his co-host on "Inside the NBA." If he doesn't like you, he must be a nightmare to work with. Because even in retirement and on that show in particular, he's still the biggest star. ♠
Very entertaining video guys. And what a brilliant memory Damo brings to the team. I would never want to piss him off because he would never ever forget it. lol...♣
For what it's worth, Kobe believed the same thing. Kobe was quoted as saying that if Shaq had the same mentality and drive to win that he did, they would have won somewhere around 12 championships together. Kobe was in awe of Shaq's talent, and physical gifts. To him he was just being held back by immaturity and if he wasn't he would have been hands down the greatest player of all time.
End of the day Shaq is still an all time great and one of the best Centers ever. Most dominant peak in NBA history. If he could do all of that while still being able to party as much as he wanted, hard to argue that he had anything else to prove.
With all respect, crap video. It did not capture his on-court domination, as the Most Dominant Player ever.
You should watch some extended highlights. To see how dominant Shaq really was. Unstoppable.
100% will come back for more Shaq. Once we’ve had the story, we gotta have the highlights. Appreciate the comment
I got Kareem #1, Shaq #2, and either Wilt or Hakeem #3 depending on the weather.
Shaq vs Hakeem was the best finals matchup ever. I dont care what anyone says. Remember eating chicken fried steak and watching game 4 on a tiny crt tv at a restaraunt in houston back then.
Growing up in Southern California and being a Lakers fan prime Shaq an d Kobe were my childhood. When Shaq wanted to no one in the league could stop him and I mean no one.
Well done getting Kareem in that photo. The old white guy appears to George Mikan. The first great NBA player and the last before basketball was integrated at the pro level.
L-R Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shaq, George Mikan.
Going 68-1 is crazy and definitely not common. But its not a statistical anomaly at the high school level. For exactly the reason you said, if you get a generational talent or 2 on a high school team they will just overmatch the other schools made up of kids who will go on to be office workers.
You see it once a lifetime at levels higher than high school. Everyone else is too good at that point.
They showed 3 LAKER all-time centers. Best centers ever are Wilt, Bill Russell and Kareem--they are the top 3, but there are others who were great.
Ah thanks Greg, appreciate the info 🤝
That’s Kareem, Shaq and George Mikan. The 3 best living lakers centers. If wilt was alive he would’ve been in that photo as well.
all you need to know about the 2002 playoffs is, i quit watching basketball because of the refs, i had never seen such blatant bullshit in my life.. years later the refs admitted they had fixed the Game 6 so they could have a Game 7 and get paid more
i wasn’t even a Lakers or Kings fan, but as a basketball fan i just couldn’t take it, it soured me for life 😑
I was 6'4 at 12 but sadly never grew any taller. They always played me at center but eventually I was out grown and couldnt dominate lile I did at a youmger age. Thankfully I was a baseball player first and that worked out for me.
You abosulty need to do a reaction to that Lakers vs Kings game! So many fouls called in the final quarter and one of the top games people called "Rigged" in sports history
The Kings-Lakers series was rigged and an NBA ref went to prison for a couple years for fixing games including that series. The NBA loves big cities playing in the Finals versus small markets. It’s all about money
Tim wasn’t reffing that series. He just said that the refs that were admitted to rigging it.
Cannot believe this happened. Have added to our list, feel like I gotta know the full story behind it! Appreciate the comment
@@TheIcemanthomas oh okay, my bad
Kareem, Shaq, and George Mikan were great Laker centers (photo).
Shaq is the closest thing we have to a real life superhero
16:50 note- that's George Mikan's Jersey is blue because the Minneapolis Lakers color scheme was Blue and White.
The pic 16:47 is of Kareem , Shaq , and George Miken all considered the best big men of their generations and all were lakers.
The 2001 Sacramento Kings, to this day, is probably the most infamous basketball cheating scandal, up there with the rigged drafts and ref betting. It is...a story that still haunts that franchise.
It's a great story.
The Ref Betting and Kings scandal are connected.
Shaq was the most dominant player since Wilt, there was no stopping him. The scariest part of Shaq was known to not being a serious person, and although he was a hard worker, but if he had really put in the next level work in he would have been even better. Because he so interested in everything else, he probably didn't live up to his full potential. Which is actually the scariest part about him.
The photo of the 3 Lakers over the line "one of the best centers ever" is Shaq in fact with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar but also Minneapolis Lakers great George Mikan. Mikan is probably one of the first dominant centers in NBA history. He played in the late 40s and early 50s and won 4 NBA Championships.
You have the wrong inflection at 6:55 should be, "Four free throws missed in a row? On a team with Shaq on it, and it wasn't Shaq? Bizarre." Shaq was a 52% free throw shooter for his entire career. Though his 58% from the floor for his career is also a bonkers number, Shaq joined a very weird list of legends that shot worse from the charity stripe.
In the picture at 16:45 that is Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Shaq and George Mikan, three great centers that played for the Lakers.
Records like that happen quite a bit with dominant high school teams
Yes and high school sports in the United States you have a lot of dominant schools. 68 and 1 is common
Loving the content. HIGHLY reccomend watching Tracy McGrady's ultimate mixtape posted by the NBA. He is Vince Carter's cousin and one of Kobe's best friends. Freak of nature and was similar to Kobe in a lot of ways. Can't recommend him enough
Thank you, really appreciate that! Have also made a note of this one
You should watch more videos like these with the highlights. The highlights are great but don’t give you the bigger perspective. Awesome video!
Shaq was 7'1 and easily over 400 lbs of pure power in his Lakers days. The NBA had him listed at 350 lbs when he was with the Lakers, which is a lie lol, it's impossible to be 7'1 with his massive frame and only be 350. But needless to say he was impossible to guard without fouling. He manhandled pretty much everyone including Rodman and Malone who were both very powerful defenders. Nobody could stop him one on one
Again, you both do a GREAT job of paying attention to details. True fans of sport
The 2 guys in the picture are Kareem Abdul Jabbar and George Miken
That rigged kings lakers series made me stop watching basketball for a couple years growing up. Still pisses me off
Seen a few comments on this, sounds like one to maybe deep dive into. Can’t believe it happened
11:09 All-Star Selections is completely different to the U.S Olympic Team
As a Laker fan I would like to deny what happened against the Sacrament Queens but when the paid off refs who were betting on the games did their thing it was egregious lol
16:36 - Kareem, Shaq and _George Mikan_
The 3rd great center in that pic was George Mikan, the first dominant center in the NBA who led the Minneapolis Lakers to 5 championships in the first 6 years of the NBA's existence from the late 1940s to the mid 1950s.
the most dominant player to EVER play the game. they had to change the rules bc of him.
They change the rules for Wilt also.
They changed the college rules for Kareem.
@@Peakfreud wilt played in the 60s when the game was still developing and there was only 8 teams…
as for kareem i was talking abt the nba. but anyways thats arguably the dumbest rule change in all of basketball…
harden and dwade changed the rules also. so what was the point of ur comment?
@@xenon1800 My fault had no idea you were sitting around hoping to mimic Steven A & Role Play Skip Bayless like an attention starved 12yr old.
16:50
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shaq and George Mikan. Missing from that picture is Wilt Chamberlain who had died a few years prior. Anyway, those 4 are all Hall of Fame Centers that played for the Lakers.
Now do Shaq highlights as a tv host lol.
If you guys want to check out what Shaq is up to these days there are some videos that show the "Funniest Moments of Charles Barkley and Shaq" from NBA On TNT. It is by far the most entertaining sports commentary show on TV.
lol I came here to leave this exact comment. It’s must watch stuff if you’re trying to get into American sports culture.
@@OdieSalmon "Great minds..." Right?👍👍👍
I was just watching Chuck's bracelet story the other day. Absolutely destroys me every time lmao
On the 2002 Sacramento Kings series, basically the officiating was very suspicious. I’m pretty sure there’s videos on it.
1 game for my life, and i could pick any prime player ever in the history of the game i know mj is the goat but i might take 1999-2001 shaq
just taking shaq's peak for me personally i don't think there has been anyone with a more dominate peak
i know what ppl say but i have Shaq as the best Center to ever play. I know, i know, Kareem... but for me its Shaq, he had rules and whole strategies developed bc of him, they even changed what materials and how backboards were made bc he broke so many.
The record is pretty ridiculous. Cole is a smaller school though. I was not around to follow TX ball back then...But when smaller schools land a talent like that, it's not super uncommon to have a couple of perfect seasons
Kareem is the top center, but Shaq is the most dominate in the modern era. Analysts aren't lying though when they say Shaq could have been the best player ever had he taken better care of himself. I can't remember the exact details, but there's a funny story about Kobe showing up to the gym super early to train before practice and Shaq being late with a bag of fast food burgers that he ate while everyone else worked out.
My best ever. The guy taken no 1 overall in the 1984 draft ahead of Michael Jordan and no one complains about that to this day. Hakeem Olajuwon
Bill Russell and Kareem beat him out either way. Shaq was the Randy Moss of basketball. Freakish natural ability, but only when motivated.
This video is informative, which is cool. I'd really like for you guys to react to a pure Highlights video of Shaqs' he was so dominant!
the "best centers ever" image: That's definitely Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the left, and I'm not sure who on the right but it looks like it might be George Mikan.
As for who's the best center: I think Kareem was better over the course of his career, but Shaq in that 2004 season has a case for best peak. I'd give the vote to Bill Russell, however.
I love the video but I wish the original video showed more pure highlights. He has some of the craziest and jaw dropping highlights of all time.
Shaq had greatest peak/prime (2000-2002) of any player ever, but Russell/Kareem/Hakeem are centers who arguably had better careers
Harrison Barnes and Doug McDermott never lost in Iowa. If you get a couple guys together they can dominate smaller states.
The 2002 series with Kings was seen as "questionable " reffing. Lot of videos about it, not sure which is best one to recommend
allen iverson is one of the most influential basketball players to ever live, both on and off the court. he is the culture you see today.
Wilt was a better athlete--he was one of the fastest players in the league (fastest on his team, which included HoF guard Jerry West--whose silhouette is the logo for the NBA), was a track star--high jump, long jump, and one of the best volleyball players ever.
Wilt had the same issue as Shaq, partying and poor work ethic because of God given ability.
Not judging either of them, they lived their lives as they sought fit.
This video told you about Shaq more than anything else. Highlights were rare.
I wanna suggest the video about Wilt Chamberlain called the most athletic giant ever
Shaq WAS an animal
Most Dominant Ever! in his prime, 300lb men would bounce off of him!
George Mikan the guy on the right he's the NBA's first superstar.
Thank you 🙏🤝
He’s one of my superheroes. I never need marvel or their movies, I always had Shaq
Wilt Chamberlain next! Absolute inhuman unit.
Shaq may not be the best player of all time but with our a doubt the most dominant.
Shaq is a top 5 player and best center for me. Idc if his prime was short lived, there is no human to ever exist that could stop prime shaq
You guys should watch the craziest things that shaq owns
I like that the video was pretty balanced. I feel like too many of these sports retrospectives are excessively positive whereas this was pretty realistic about Shaq's career and ranking. Though I think they actually underrated him a bit. Consensus he's top 12, probably even top 10.
Video is garbage. Wish they chose a better one
Hakeem Olajuwon is the best center in my book