ESPN Got Shaq In His Feelings...Throws Shots at DunGawd After Being Ranked Below Him

[Swagnificent]

From 97-2004, put Shaq on the Spurs, and put Duncan on the Lakers

Who wins more titles?

*walks away from fire*

Lakers but only because of Kobe.

You coulda paired KG with Kobe and gotten the same results.

Kobe is the difference.

 

[MeachTheMonster]

Shaq better than Duncan anyway so.......

 

[Mike the Executioner]

That's my belief. I don't care what you or anyone else thinks. I watched Duncan's entire career and never once thought he was that dude. He has the accomplishments of a GOAT candidate but he never actually played at that level.

I would rate Kevin Durant higher than Duncan as far as being a dominant basketball player. Duncan is rated highly because of the awards he's accumulated not because of his actual playing ability.

Maybe those awards he's accumulated is because of his playing ability.

And I don't remember Duncan needing to join the team that eliminated him in order to win a championship.

 

[A Tribe Called Quest ™]

Lakers but only because of Kobe.

You coulda paired KG with Kobe and gotten the same results.

Kobe is the difference.

You and @stepbackj34spud are a different type of dikkriders , I say it time and time again but I feel bad for grown men who treat other grown men like their superheroes , shyt is mad sus to me .. RIP Bean though

 

[A Tribe Called Quest ™]

That's my belief. I don't care what you or anyone else thinks. I watched Duncan's entire career and never once thought he was that dude. He has the accomplishments of a GOAT candidate but he never actually played at that level.

I would rate Kevin Durant higher than Duncan as far as being a dominant basketball player. Duncan is rated highly because of the awards he's accumulated not because of his actual playing ability.

nikka don't know which direction to go

 

[Field Marshall Bradley]

Duncan doesn’t get his just dues and is a magician due to the way he won with some of those rosters But we all know, 8 out of 10 GMs are picking Shaq....

 

[Field Marshall Bradley]

Have a basketball strategy named after your biggest liability and claim to be GOAT, brehs

I love Shaq, but he's the real mvp clown

That just means that the competition did not wanna compete straight up.. so they invent hack a Shaq to slow the big man down.... it’s really a testament to how great he really was

 

[Crude]

TD didn’t have the luxury of having someone like Kobe to perform at the most vulnerable moments. Y’all get so stuck on giving Shaq all the credit y’all ignore the two most vulnerable moments in the 2000 title run: Portland Game 7 kobe had the better game and Game 4 Finals Kobe prevented the series from being tied up. 2001 west playoff run Kobe did a lot of heavy lifting.


Look at the early 00s Spurs, 2nd highest scorer dropping 12-15ppg and shyt. TD himself was only a low to mid 20s type scorer, imagine if he had someone like Kobe spazzing out. Tim would have won 6+ titles if he had Kob.

You dropped some jewels here.

Shaq's prime was better albeit shorter and he didn't have the durability or longevity of Duncan.

An old David Robinson and Tony Parker and Manu both were career 13-15 ppg guys. Dude didn't really have an elite second option scorer.

 

[Don Homer]

Timmy the Gawd. The definition of "letting one's game speak for himself"

 

[Ziggiy]

Somebody needs to son the fukk outta Shaq dude has gotten so fukking annoying

 

[Swagnificent]

Maybe those awards he's accumulated is because of his playing ability.

Not really. Duncan was never the best player in the league but won back to back MVPs in 2002 and 2003 cause Shaq and Kobe were on the same team. Shaq and Kobe eliminated each other from the award so the media gave it to Duncan.

And eventhough Duncan didn't join another team he was lucky enough to play for the best run franchise in the NBA for the last 20 years. They drafted Tony Parker, Manu, and Kawhi to play alongside him. No other superstar had such luck when it comes to having that many eventual Hall of Famers being drafted alongside them while never winning less than 50 games.

Spurs organization made Duncan more than him making them.

 

[Kid Dynamite]

Man I wish I could find my neg from when I said Shaq was a weirdo... Now yall smell what I'm cooking

 

[frush11]

Lakers but only because of Kobe.

You coulda paired KG with Kobe and gotten the same results.

Kobe is the difference.

No no no

 

[Remote]

Not really. Duncan was never the best player in the league but won back to back MVPs in 2002 and 2003 cause Shaq and Kobe were on the same team. Shaq and Kobe eliminated each other from the award so the media gave it to Duncan.

And eventhough Duncan didn't join another team he was lucky enough to play for the best run franchise in the NBA for the last 20 years. They drafted Tony Parker, Manu, and Kawhi to play alongside him. No other superstar had such luck when it comes to having that many eventual Hall of Famers being drafted alongside them while never winning less than 50 games.

Spurs organization made Duncan more than him making them.

Sounds like you're arguing Shaq and Kobe were a super team and it killed their MVP votes

But yall mad at Golden State

 

[Erratic415]

A lot of his fans are too. They'd do everything they could to rip down Duncan and not give him his due. While the entire NBA was recognizing his dominance and he was winning MVPs and Finals MVPs in the middle of Shaq's prime you could see them foaming at the mouth. They want Shaq's "potential" or "fear factor" to be credited, but they ignore that on an actual day-to-day basis Shaq wasn't performing at the level that Duncan was or making the same contribution to winning.

It leads them to say straight stupid shyt like, "In 2001 the Western Conference Finals were the real Finals!"

Really? Let's look at the starting lineup.

PG: 38yo Terry Porter (7ppg that season)
SG: Antonio Daniels (9ppg)
SF: 35yo Danny Ferry (5ppg that season)
Center: 35yo David Robinson (14ppg that season)

That roster is shyt. D-Fish outscored Porter 18ppg to 6ppg in the series (Fish shot 61%, Porter 35%). Fox ourscored Ferry 11ppg (49%) to 3ppg (33%). Shaq outscored Robinson 27ppg (54%) to 14ppg (40%). And that's before you even get to prime Kobe dominating a lifetime bench player like Antonio Daniels!!!!

If Duncan isn't on Shaq's level, then how the fukk is that series even considered meaningful? Literally every other position is a gigantic mismatch. Even the Laker bench (Robert Horry, Brian Shaw, Tyronne Lue, Mark Madsen) shyts all over the Spurs bench (Malik Rose and 36yo Avery Johnson were the only Spurs who even appeared in all four games).

The only thing that made that Spurs team meaningful was a dominant Tim Duncan who was neck-and-neck with a prime Shaq. If Duncan isn't dominant, that roster wouldn't even be a playoff team.

(For comparison, prime KG that year was playing with Terrell Brandon, Wally Szczerbiak, Anthony Peeler and Rasho Nesterović, none of whom were over 31. That's a FAR superior lineup to what the Spurs had. Yet the Timberwolves were an 8-seed who got swept by the Spurs in round 1).

Damn, I forgot how bad that lineup was. Somehow they were able to be the top seed and have HCA against LA. Duncan’s 03’ postseason run was one of the best ever.

The Spurs system back in the late 90s to early 00s wasn’t the great “Spurs system” everyone remembers. The Spurs hadn’t gotten to that point yet. Often times I remember them in the postseason being over reliant on Duncan and would just feed him the ball in the post and hope he does something.

That 2 game stretch by Kobe in 01’ BTW, to close out Sacramento and start off against San Antonio, might be the 2 best postseason performances he

Duncan overrall had the better career at length but in there prime years which Shaq's was shorter but more dominant...I would actually lean to Shaq because he has a 3 peat and Duncan didnt have a single b2b...Its close Shaq getting swept by the 95 Rockets is stain on his resume as is not being able to get out the West til 2000...

I think Shaq’s longevity is really underrated. He was an elite player about as long as Kobe, who had great longevity. Shaq was an elite player from his rookie season in 92-93 through his first season in Miami in 04-05.