Shaq's teams with and without him from 2001-2007

[mehyaM24]

Shaq was calling Kobe the best player in the WORLD, circa 2001-2003

Lol. Come on bro. Now you're talking about coaching. lol

shaq appeased kobe's ego. phil & everyone who watched at the time, said shaq was the best & most dominant player on the lakers. this is backed by data & accolades (3 fmvps to kobe's nil) - and ofc, kobe himself saying he was shaq's sidekick.

suggesting kobe was ever better than shaq from 2000-02 is flat out sacrilegious & honestly troll bait.

[Roundball_Rock]

Regular season records...how illuminating. I'd muster a "meh" but I'm too busy not caring.

Tell me why "underrated" "greater than Bird" Shaquille O'Neal was getting swept damn near every year from 1994-1999? His teams were supremely stacked.

One of those sweeps came in the Finals (where third year Shaq fought peak Hakeem to a draw) and two others came in the conference finals. In one of those series he faced the GOAT team, the 72-10 Bulls, without his third best player, who went down halfway into the first game and in the other Jones, Van Exel and Kobe were abysmal. It isn't as if Shaq playing poorly was responsible for these sweeps.

Is it better to get swept in the Finals or conference finals or to lose 4-2 in the second round?

Interesting you bring up 1995 Clyde. Didn't Shaq have an even better Penny Hardaway that year? The alleged MDE couldn't win a ring with a talent like that? But he's the MDE! Pair him with peanut butter and he win titles! Or so I've been told.

Hakeem (at his absolute peak) 33/12/6 on 48%
Shaq (as a 22 year old) 28/13/6 on 60%

How about their "supporting casts"? Let's see if Hakeem "did it by himself."

Drexler 22/10/7
Horry 18/10/4
Elie 16/4/3
Cassell 14/2/3

Penny 26/5/8
Grant 14/12/2
Shaw 13/3/3
Anderson 12/9/4

Who had more "help"?

If you want to make a case for Shaq, stick to tall tales of how he destroyed whoever the hell was playing center for the 2002 Nets. More interesting that way.

How about the center for the 01' Sixers? You know, the DPOY that year and an all-time great defender. The MDE lit him up for 33/16/5 on 57%.

at bringing the 1998 WCF up repeatedly.

Shaq 32/9/1 on 56%
Jones 15/4/3 on 41%
Kobe 10/2/1 on 37%
Van Exel 9/2/4 on 24% (not a typo, he actually shot 24%!)

Fisher shot 35%, Horry 36%, Campbell 21% and Fox 41%--yet it was Shaq's fault? Yeah, I am sure Hakeem or prime Kobe would be winning with that kind of "help."

[Soundwave]

He's the second best player I've seen in the last 25 years after Jordan.

That said he did lose a lot of playoff rounds where he had a fairly talented supporting cast and when his teams imploded .... they reeeeeeally imploded.

He left a lot on the table too by getting lazy and being immature. Could've been the GOAT if he really wanted it bad enough, but he never did.

[Roundball_Rock]

That said he did lose a lot of playoff rounds where he had a fairly talented supporting cast and when his teams imploded .... they reeeeeeally imploded.

True but how many times was Shaq at fault? Look at the 98' WCF stats above, for example. What could Shaq do if his teammates struggled? In 95' he fought peak Hakeem to a draw as a 22 year old (yet Hakeem>Shaq ? ). Is it his fault the team got swept? People get caught up in the big names he played with but those big names did not always have big production in the playoffs.

Also, look at his losses. To a team with peak Hakeem, to the 72-10 Bulls, to the Spurs dynasty, to the Malone-Stockton Jazz, to the reigning champion Pistons with Wade going down. So it isn't as if he was losing in inexplicable upsets to trash teams.