Shaquille O’Neal faced off against numerous Hall of Fame big men throughout his 19-year career. Playing in three different decades, Shaq got a taste of several eras of basketball. When he first joined the Orlando Magic in 1992, though, Shaq was entering the NBA during one of its most physically demanding and challenging eras – especially for big men.
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Shaq dominated throughout the 1990s and into the mid-2000s, but acknowledged how the rules changed once the new millennium began. When Brandon Jennings asked the four-time champion what defenses gave him the most fits, Shaq stated that it was a hard question to answer because he was rarely guarded 1-on-1. But the rule changes implemented in the 2000s made it more difficult to score.
The Diesel explained that once opponents began fronting him on defense, making it more difficult for guards to get an entry pass into the post, he struggled to get the ball as much. After years of getting fed down low and simply overpowering his defender for an easy slam, Shaq had to put in extra work for his buckets later in his career.
“That’s why I was a runner, I tried to be a runner and be the first guy out,” Shaq shared on The Big Podcast. “But when I first came in, it was tough. It was the end of that Bad Boy era. The Knicks were up … All the teams had respectable big guys.” The rule changes of the 2000s may have been a nuisance to Shaq, but it was the talented bigs of the 1990s that truly gave him fits.
“I was telling somebody the other day, Rik Smits used to embarrass me,” Shaq continued. “I couldn’t do nothing with him. And then after he went out it was Big Country [Bryant Reeves]. But then after I killed most of the guys off, Hakeem [Olajuwon] was the last one to give me work. I repaid him back, but he was old, it didn’t count.”
Shaq may have been being humble in his comments regarding Smits, as O’Neal still dominated the former Pacers center to the tune of 29.1 points, 12.6 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game in their 35 career matchups. Meanwhile Smits put up a modest 15.8 points and 5.8 rebounds in the same. Their records against each other are nearly identical, but their statistics certainly aren’t.
O’Neal didn’t have the same reverence for many of the other bigs of the time, though, and explained how he put an end to the primes of several legends. “But I got [David] Robinson out of there. I got Ewing out of there. I got Hakeem out of there. Then it was pretty much just me. I ain’t really have a lot of competition, especially in the West.”
By the time Shaq was winning championships with the Los Angeles Lakers, many of the bigs he faced off with as a young player were nearing retirement. Once he was in his prime, Shaq stressed that there wasn’t another big who came close to him besides Tim Duncan.
Shaq was undoubtedly the best center in the NBA for at least a five-year stretch. Had he taken better care of himself toward the end of his prime, he may have been able to extend his status for a couple more seasons. Instead, he’ll simply be remembered as the most dominant center of the late-90s and early 2000s.
