A big reason Shaq is overrated and not better than Duncan, Kobe, Hakeem, etc.

[stalkerforlife]

Games missed. To be honest, he was a lazy fat ass.

He has never once played a full 82 game season. He has missed 300+ regular season games in his career. He has missed 20+ games in a season 7 times. His durability and discipline were embarrassing throughout his career at times. He played in less than 80% of regular season games, which is a very low rate for players that played 1,000+ games. For example, Antonio McDyess played more and he had career threatening knee issues. His defense was suspect throughout his career, as he only made three ALL-DEFENSIVE teams and they were all second team.

Shaq was great when he played, no doubt, but you can't reward a player of his laziness with a to 5 all time status. Maybe not even top 10. And definitely not better than Kobe, Duncan, and Hakeem.

[bigkingsfan]

That lazy fat ass carried a sidekick to three titles.

[stalkerforlife]

That lazy fat ass carried a sidekick to three titles.

He played better in the finals against the weak east opponents, yes. However, the real finals were usually played in the west and Kobe was right on par with Shaq a lot of the time.

[navy]

He played better in the finals against the weak east opponents, yes. However, the real finals were usually played in the west and Kobe was right on par with Shaq a lot of the time.

No, the real finals are the real finals.

If the East was so weak Kobe should have elevated his game and performed better against the competition .

[Genaro]

Don't matter how he did, fact is: he is a top 10 player of all time.
And to be honest, if he wasn't lazy, overweight and cared more, we maybe would be talking about him as a top 3 player all time.

[Rodmantheman]

negged

[Bless Mathews]

Don't hate on Shaq fu.

[SHAQisGOAT]

Agree on various topics there but he's still a top10 player of all-time with a top5 peak, arguably the GOAT peak, and still pretty good longevity, plus let's not forget all of the times he went ham in the post-season, or how big he was doing it...

[stalkerforlife]

Agree on various topics there but he's still a top10 player of all-time with a top5 peak, arguably the GOAT peak, and still pretty good longevity, plus let's not forget all of the times he went ham in the post-season, or how big he was doing it...

You're a great poster and I am sorry if I hurt you.

Shaq was amazing while on the court, especially in the finals.

[SOD 21]

Shaq had the potential to be the best player in the history of the game based on his size, strength, athleticism, skill and explosiveness. He was simply a monster!

With that said, he is solidly ranked as a top 10 player all-time and most have him ranked somewhere about 6-9 all-time. He probably underachieve based on talent alone, but regardless is still an all-time great.

[dubeta]

Shaq for 50 games a season is still > Kobe for 82

[NumberSix]

He played better in the finals against the weak east opponents, yes. However, the real finals were usually played in the west and Kobe was right on par with Shaq a lot of the time.

If the Finals teams were so weak, why didn't Kobe perform on the big stage? Stage fright?

[GimmeThat]

I have decided to create a new category called Center.
for those whose body had misdeveloped and into form/shape/sizes ordinary people wouldn't, which is why they miss a lot of games.

for everything/everyone else, we will call them power forward.

[Lebron23]

He's still a better player than Kobe, and he still has the better NBA Career. Shaq could have been a 4x NBA Finals MVP. I think he deserves it over Nash in 2005, over Iverson in 2001, and Robinson in 1995.

[RichieW]

If Shaq had the work ethic of Duncan, Kobe or any of the other all time greats, he could have been greater than Jordan, Kareem or Russell.

He's still an all time great player, but had the potential to be even more. Incredible to think about.