kidrock8: You have posted some ridiculous things here, but saying that Shaq is more athletic than Wilt Chamberlain is such a stupefying statement that it confirms my suspicion that you don't have a clue of what you are talking about.
i'll give kidrock the benefit of the doubt, he simply forgot that little smiley face at the end of his post. napster- what exactly is the problem with mentioning dream w/ magic and mj? is it just because he's not worshipped by the media and had his face plastered across the globe? because certainly, no question about it, talent-wise he is their equal.
Here's a nice, meaty link that corroborates much of what the pro-wilt crowd here has been expounding. This is my favorite: Another one: I think i read somewhere that it was Buck Williams, who said that... or he might have been just agreeing, since he did play both artis and shaq... ~Absolute~
Bottom line: Fundamentals? Advantage Wilt Athletic skills? Advantage Wilt Statistical proof? Advantage Wilt One last reason why i pick Wilt over shaquille O'Neal for my G. O. A. T. team is that Kareem refused to create a monster like Wilt did in his godzilla-like rampage through the NBA. Would a center in the post-shaq days even entertain that notion about the Big Aristotle? Nah.
1) Duncan could be considered a center, but for now he plays at power forward, where his a dominant, um, POWER FORWARD. Within the next year, when DR retires I fully expect him to assume the role of center for the Spurs (much like Hakeem, who if you remember played PF when Sampson was with the Rockets) As for Shaq's "dominance" over Duncan, I distinctly recall Duncan faring extremely well against Shaq every time they have faced one another. In fact if I recall It seems rare that Shaq guards Duncan, for fear of foul trouble. To further expound on the point Duncan has fewer years in the leauge than Shaq (who obviously gets the calls and "rarely" fouls anyone) and thus less experience, esp at playing center. Duncan is also less of a physical player. In fact as I recall the Fakers were able to dominate the Spurs as a team, but not Duncan. Problem is Duncan is the only dominant player on the team as well as the only consistant scoring threat. Mark my words, S.A. gets an all star caliber 2 or 3, and its fits for the Fakers. 2) As YOU said Zo WAS a dominant center WHEN he was healthy. Problem he is not healthy and has about as much chance of a return to his former self as do Ewing and Hakeem. However were he still healthy Shaq would have fits playing him. Zo was quite the defensive player and had quite a knack for physical play, along with getting under his opponents skin. I could just see Shaq becoming frustrated with Zo's physical play, becoming upset, then fouling out, or being tossed as the result of T's
I don't know, I think a lot of people are just stupid. I mean, hanging on too long doesn't seem to have affected Ali's legacy...or Jabbar, Bird, Magic, Montana, etc. Hakeem just wasn't a big media guy and was never really hyped, that's the only explanation. The difference between Hakeem and those guys is the length of their dominance. Hakeem was awesome for a long period, but his team was in the finals only twice (during his heyday -- plus the one early in his career). Those other guys were in the mix for for titles for a much longer period of time. That helped to build their legacies. The larger the legacy, the harder it is to ruin. For all those guys, they were the always the favorites during their era. For Hakeem, his team was dominant for only two years.
