HoopsCritic Hot 50 – #10 Shaquille O’Neal

 

Shaquille O’Neal comes under dominant in the dictionary. He had his flaws, most noticeably free throw shooting. That being said, he has a real case for the best Finals performer of all time. In Shaq Daddy’s first four runs to the NBA Finals (95, 00, 01, and 02) he averaged an inhumane 34.2 PPG, 14.6 RPG, 4.1 APG, 2.8 BPG, all while shooting 60%. Those numbers don’t even exist in the modern game.

There isn’t a single NBA junky who believes the one MVP awarded to Shaq during his career sums up his impact. Proof of such assumptions; he was voted top five in MVP voting on seven other occasions. While Tim Duncan and Kobe Bryant have their own chalk full camps, many would argue Shaq-fu was the best player post-Jordan and pre-LeBron.

Shaq finished his career 8th in points, 15th in rebounds, and 9th in blocks. We will wonder for eternity what could’ve been accomplished had Shaq and Kobe put differences aside, and stayed together.

The Resume:

First Overall Pick 1992 – Orlando Magic

15x All-Star

14x All-NBA

3x All-NBA Defense

Rookie of the Year

3x All-Star MVP

3x Finals MVP

MVP

4x Champion

How did the guys rank him?

The Flag Bearer: Josh Eberley and Justin Salkin (6).

The Barn Burner: Adi Joseph (15).

How did the other guys rank O’Neal: Justin Rowan (8), Will Reeve (8), Robert Littal (8), Marc Griffin (9), Matt Drappel (10), Shane Young (10), Jacob Noble (11), Brian Geltzeiler (11), Lang Greene (13), James Holas (14), and Justin Termine (14).

Average vote: 10.2

#9 Tuesday, September 29th.

 

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Contributors:

Josh Eberley – hoopscritic.com / Host of the @PullUpPodcastHC, @JoshEberley

Jacob Noble – hoopscritic.com / Host of the @PullUpPodcastHC, @JacobNoble_HC

James Holas – hoopscritic.com / BballBreakdown, @SnottieDrippen

Adi Joseph – sportingnews.com, @AdiJoseph

Matt Drappel – sportsnet.ca, @MattyD416

Justin Rowan – fearthesword.com / hoopslounge.com, @Cavsanada

Robert Littal – blacksportsonline.com, @BSO

Shane Young – hoopshabit.com, @YoungNBA

Justin Termine – Sirius XM NBA / cinesport.com host, @TermineRadio

Marc Griffin – hoopslounge.com / sportsnet.ca, @montrealmarc

Lang Greene – basketballinsiders.com, @LangGreene

Justin Salkin – hoopscritic.com / brooklynsbeat.com, @brooklynsbeat

Will Reeve – awfsports.com / Host of the All Weather Fan Podcast, contributor for hoopscritic.com @WillReeveJr

and of course,

Brian Geltzeiler – hoopscritic.com / Sirius XM NBA / the-cauldron.com / 120sports.com, @hoopscritic

 

Links to previous #HCHot50 pages:

HCHot50 Intro / Missed the Cut

#50 Pete Maravich
#49 Dave Cowens
#48 Wes Unseld
#47 Dolph Schayes
#46 Paul Pierce
#45 Kevin Durant
#44 Dominique Wilkins
#43 Chris Paul
#42 Bill Walton
#41 Gary Payton
#40 Elvin Hayes
#39 Clyde Drexler
#38 Allen Iverson
#37 Steve Nash
#36 Willis Reed
#35 George Mikan
#34 Patrick Ewing
#33 Kevin McHale
#32 Jason Kidd
#31 George Gervin
#30 Walt Frazier
#29 Dwyane Wade
#28 Rick Barry
#27 Bob Cousy
#26 Scottie Pippen
#25 John Stockton
#24 David Robinson
#23 Dirk Nowtizki
#22 John Havlicek
#21 Isiah Thomas
#20 Bob Pettit
#19 Kevin Garnett
#18 Charles Barkley
#17 Karl Malone
#16 Moses Malone
#15 Elgin Baylor
#14 Julius Erving
#13 Jerry West
#12 Hakeem Olajuwon
#11 Oscar Robertson