Who has the better Career, Tim Duncan vs Shaq

[ShaqAttack3234]

I agree. I find it fascinating when I read someone who says that Duncan has had a better CAREER. My god, Shaq was the best player in the league from '98-'04. And, he was probably top-3-4 in every other season, except perhaps from about '06 to current. That means that Shaq was among the best players in the league, if not THE best, in about 14 seasons.

I am not diminishing Duncan's CAREER with the above statement, but clearly, Shaq HAS had the better CAREER, at least so far.

Still, IMHO, Duncan's impact has gone beyond stats (much like Russell and Magic.) He made his TEAMMATES better. If you were to rank contributions, I really think that Rusell, Magic, and Duncan have been three players who made the sum of the whole, greater, greater than the sum of the parts.

Once again...I have them deadlocked. I wouldn't argue with either side, except to say that, at his PEAK, Shaq was arguably a top-3 or 4 player, all-time. The same could not be said for Duncan.

I think Shaq's impact went well beyond stats as well from his intimidation in the paint(how often did you see players try to dunk on Shaq?) to the double teams he drew and the foul trouble he caused teams as well which got them into the penalty early, often had their starting centers on the bench and helped Shaq's teams set their defense as well as wearing down their frontlines physically.

Shaq doesn't get enough impact for his defensive impact either. I saw quotes from Robert Horry and Rick Fox(2 good defensive players and winners in their own right) talking about how having Shaq behind them made them better defensively.

As amazing as Shaq's numbers were(27.6 ppg, 12.1 rpg, 2.8 apg and 2.6 bpg on 57.7% shooting from 1992-2003 and better in the playoffs) they don't begin to do justice to his impact. In fact, here's a quote from Chuck Daly about even an older Shaq circa 2006.

[QUOTE]"It's amusing to me," Hall of Fame coach Chuck Daly said, adding that O'Neal remains one of the top five players in the league regardless of his stats. "Every night, people are playing him with two, 2

[BallinSinceBirf]

Shaq = Greatness through physical gifts
Duncan = Greatness through hard work

Duncan maxed himself out and you have to respect that. If Shaq had half the work ethic and dedication that Duncan has he would be hands down the greatest player to ever play the game.

[RocketGreatness]

So? What an arbitrary thing to give him as an advantage.

First of all, Duncan's cast had more depth than Shaq's, particularly in 2000. Duncan played alongside much better big men, even Robinson in his last year was clearly a better player than an old AC Green or Robert Horry(who did little things well and was a good role player, but not as good as D Rob) and Malik Rose was also a very good big man to have coming off the bench.

Tony Parker even at that point was a much better player than an old Ron Harper was. Harper was a smart palyer and a solid who provided defense, but he wasn't much of a scoring threat. Parker could penetrate and have big nights even at that point. In fact, people were saying he outplayed Jason Kidd through the first few games of the finals.

Duncan's two shooting guards were inconsistent, but already proving to be very talented and because he had 2 talented shooting guards, they usually got a lot of production from that position because while either could go for 20+ or score in single figures on any given night, but chances were either one of them would have a good game or they'd combine for a very productive night from the position.

And Bruce Bowen was a much more valuable player than Glen Rice was in the playoffs that year. Rice was a one-dimensional scorer/shooter who was way passed his prime. Bowen was the best perimeter defender at the time and his defense on Kobe in the WCSF was a huge reason why the Spurs went as far as they did, and actually, Bowen shot 3s better than Rice did in terms of makes and % in the playoffs while only scoring 4 fewer ppg despite that not being his role.

I'm not taking away anything from Duncan's '03 run which is one of the best I've ever seen, but while Shaq's number 2 guy was much better than anyone on Duncan's team, Duncan had more depth which makes up for it.

And don't forget that while 2000 Kobe was an all-star and one of the better perimeter players, he wasn't the superstar/franchise-caliber player he'd become and the Lakers won the finals despite Kobe missing virtually 2 games and only having 1 good game the entire series.

Supporting casts shouldn't come into play much because both had good championship-caliber casts, but both were still required to carry a very heavy load.



8 years isn't a long time? The Lakers had Shaq for 8 seasons and were a title contender every year.

ROFL, nice job trying to deflect how good Duncan's 03 season was. What Duncan did in 03 separates himself from Shaq. Shaq has never won without a star wing player like Duncan. I'm not sure how much simplier I can put this.

[rzp]

ROFL, nice job trying to deflect how good Duncan's 03 season was. What Duncan did in 03 separates himself from Shaq. Shaq has never won without a star wing player like Duncan. I'm not sure how much simplier I can put this.

1999/2000? do u believe that a 20-year-old-ballhog-chuker-40%fg-Kobe-Bryant-wanna-be-the-alpha-dog-right-now was that mutch better than Parker and Manu combined?

[ShaqAttack3234]

ROFL, nice job trying to deflect how good Duncan's 03 season was. What Duncan did in 03 separates himself from Shaq. Shaq has never won without a star wing player like Duncan. I'm not sure how much simplier I can put this.

Except you're WAY too stupid or biased to realize that simply having a better 2nd option doesn't mean you had more help.

If you look at what their casts did in the 2000 and 2003 playoffs respectively

Parker>Harper/Shaw
Kobe>Ginobili/Jackson
Bowen>Rice
Robinson/Rose>Green/Horry

[spursdynasty420]

if you asked each of shaq and duncans teamates who is the better teamate and player to play with. it will be duncan hands down. duncan has the better career the better attitude overall

[spursdynasty420]

Shaq = Greatness through physical gifts
Duncan = Greatness through hard work

Duncan maxed himself out and you have to respect that. If Shaq had half the work ethic and dedication that Duncan has he would be hands down the greatest player to ever play the game.

truth right here....

imagine shaq with duncan or ginobilis heart or with kobes work ethic he would be the greatest of all time hands down. instead hes not hes a ring chaser a dominant one but still a ring chaser. duncan has done things the right way and taken pay cuts for his team something shaq NEVER did

[Rose]

Shaq = Greatness through physical gifts
Duncan = Greatness through hard work

Duncan maxed himself out and you have to respect that. If Shaq had half the work ethic and dedication that Duncan has he would be hands down the greatest player to ever play the game.

That's why I would choose Duncan. Duncan's game shouldn't have worked as well as it did in this Era of basketball. Plus I think Duncan's intangibles far out weigh Shaq's.

[chazzy]

Shaq = Greatness through physical gifts
Duncan = Greatness through hard work

Duncan maxed himself out and you have to respect that. If Shaq had half the work ethic and dedication that Duncan has he would be hands down the greatest player to ever play the game.

Regardless of what you think about his work ethic/potential, it doesn't take anything away from what he actually did.

[rzp]

truth right here....

imagine shaq with duncan or ginobilis heart or with kobes work ethic he would be the greatest of all time hands down. instead hes not hes a ring chaser a dominant one but still a ring chaser. duncan has done things the right way and taken pay cuts for his team something shaq NEVER did

What a BS...do you know Shaq started ring chasing after 36 right? he is broken down, washed up, he isnt on LeDecision mode, so who the fvck cares? he just want to play on a competitive team and have some fun. You cant count this as a legacy since he isnt even relevant (would be relevant Shaq winning another ring now with the Celtics?no , so why is relevant his ring chasing style at this point? )

[rmt]

Shaq = Greatness through physical gifts
Duncan = Greatness through hard work

Duncan maxed himself out and you have to respect that. If Shaq had half the work ethic and dedication that Duncan has he would be hands down the greatest player to ever play the game.

I agree with this. Shaq could have been the greatest ever but didn't maximize his potential by combining his unique size and athleticism with hard work. He also hasn't had the major injuries that the other elite bigs (KG, Duncan) have had.

Duncan has done more with less - size, athleticism, team mates, owner, coach, small market. He's in decline now but still top 5 in PER (only Lebron, Wade, Durant and Bosh ahead of him). Not bad for a 34 year old with bad knees. If I'm a GM, I'd pick Duncan.

[TheLogo]

They have equal careers but Shaq probably drops out of the top 10.

[rzp]

They have equal careers but Shaq probably drops out of the top 10.

Ya probly he lost his spot to Kobe...

[jlauber]

I KNEW this topic would be reduced to absudity...

Look, once again, if you want to argue for either Duncan, or Shaq, above the other, fine. Just don't feed me an BS about one of them being considerably worse than the other. They are BOTH solidly in the top-10, all-time. Anyone claiming otherwise has a clear agenda.

[spursdynasty420]

I KNEW this topic would be reduced to absudity...

Look, once again, if you want to argue for either Duncan, or Shaq, above the other, fine. Just don't feed me an BS about one of them being considerably worse than the other. They are BOTH solidly in the top-10, all-time. Anyone claiming otherwise has a clear agenda.

i totally agree with them both being top 10. we are just sayin he could be GOAT with duncans mind and heart ;p