What made Shaq so dominant in his prime?

[ShaqAttack3234]

Obviously size, strength and athleticism, but also his unusually good footwork for a 7 footer(much less one over 300 pounds), a good shooting touch from 8-10 feet and in, several very consistent post moves and counters for them, the ability to read double teams and use his excellent passing skills and of course, a relentless physical style inside.

[Mr. Jabbar]

his weight/speed ratio

[Apocalyptic0n3]

Way stronger, way bigger, and way more athletic than pretty much every player that ever tried to guard him. People have called Lebron a freak of nature his entire career but he has nothing Shaq.

[JohnnySic]

He takes up more space than any player I've ever seen*. Even players like Yao and Rik Smits who were taller weren't really "bigger" than Shaq when you take length, width, and mass into account.

Combine that with great athletic ability and underatted skills, and you have an unstopable beast.

*Anyone remember Thomas "Hamhock" Hamilton? 7'2" Fat ass who played for the Celtics in the mid 90's, and the only player I ever saw who made Shaq look small.

[Crown&Coke]

the fact that he was unguardable in his prime. You couldn't put one guy on him and expect him to be stopped. even double teams rarely stopped him as he would find open shooters/cutters or even overpowered doubles. You can't bring a small to double, he would just shed those cats with those explosive elbows.

-His speed and size will never again be seen in the combo in which he had.
-His post game coming into the L was polished.
-His footwork was outstanding.
-He demanded the ball.
-He would pass out, and repost immediately with even deeper post position (I don't see any big who does this today).
-His passing gets a solid grade A.
-Willing passer to his shooters or cutters.
-He KNEW he was the best and went out on gameday to PROVE it.
-He played with players who enabled him to be dominant
-He wanted to kill opposing players
-He is the MDE, nuff said

Being as good as Shaq was takes more than the skill he had, he also had the mindset in which made him great. He wanted to dominate, he wanted to crush you, he wanted to maime you, he wanted to win.

If he had a little stronger work ethic, he would clearly be seen as the best ever. But he was able to get by on being a little selfish in his workouts due to his extreme talent.

[Laimbeer_Rodman]

his skills are heavily underrated ,he's not the only guy with that kind of size & strength but it takes a brain to put those in work
look @ Luther Wright

[Disaprine]

skills, strength and speed.

[Goliath Uterus]

His free throw shooting

[Godzuki]

Shaq skills in his prime were lacking if anything. he could barely make a jumper, let alone a free throw. he was mostly dunks/lay ups, but as for a polished skilled bball player, most of that didn't come until later from what i saw.

if you see Shaq next to Dwight they're the same freak height, but Shaq is like 5x's thicker.

[swi7ch]

7'1", 300+ pounds with the quickness of a small forward.

It's like creating a big strong center in NBA 2K11 and giving it a rating of 99 in quickness, speed, agility, etc.

It was unfair. He was basically using a cheat code and obviously dominated everyone because of it.

[FKAri]

his size. i swear 3/4's of his baskets in his prime were post throw in's and throw downs. i'm sure someone will come in and pretend it was his athletic ability, but when you're that big over most of the competition(talking height/weight/girth) its not that hard to be that dominant IMO.

its something i'll always take away from Shaq's greatness because imo the game was easier for him than someone like MJ, iin terms of ability to dominate.

wtf? so.....

But when you're that quick, tall, strong, and have huge hands compared to most of the competition, its not that hard to be that dominant IMO.

Its something I'll always take away from MJ's greatness because imo the game was easier for him than someone like ____ iin terms of ability to dominate.

[Godzuki]

wtf? so.....

But when you're that quick, tall, strong, and have huge hands compared to most of the competition, its not that hard to be that dominant IMO.

Its something I'll always take away from MJ's greatness because imo the game was easier for him than someone like ____ iin terms of ability to dominate.

a guard can't dominate with just physical ability alone. only a Center if he's so big and can't be guarded in the post, he doesn't even need a skill set than catching and jumping to dunk/lay up.

guards have to shake, dribble, and drive, AND be able to knock down jumpers. they HAVE to have game to be good. all around game.

its like a 6'5 player playing against 5 footers. he doesn't really need skills to score. it doesn't work the other way around.

[kizut1659]

One side claim that it's because Shaq was too quick and strong for the opposition defense.

Another side claim that it's because Shaq got away with a lot of offensive fouls.

So which one is it?

both? there was no way to stop him cause he just shoved you out of the way to get within a foot of the basket and then dunked or made a layup. I personally think a lot of this WAS offensive fouling.

[eliteballer]

Got away with offensive fouls? If they called Shaq like a normal player the other team's bigs would have all fouled out after one half in every game.

[DetroitPiston]

Size and the fact that he was able to move so quick despite the fact that he was the size of a tank.