Which NBA players were capable of inducing fear in others has suddenly become a hot topic of conversation in league circles. The often outspoken Gilbert Arenas describing LeBron James as someone NBA players aren’t scared of is what sparked the debate across the board.
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Naturally, it has extended to all sorts of basketball circles, and legends over the years have now been dissected as “scary” or not. And one name often in the thick of the debate, that invokes fear in various ways, in his own admission – is Shaquille O’Neal‘s.
Shaq was a force of nature and absolutely dominated his era in basketball. Shattering multiple backboards with their bare hands, for instance, isn’t something any other player can claim to have done. It was this level of dominance that coincided with “fear” being associated with the big man.
The level of fear O’Neal invoked was such that rules and how games were officiated were affected, according to Shaq himself. And these aren’t just usual outlandish Shaq-sized statements. They are factually correct statements that demonstrate the sheer extent of The Big Diesel’s dominance.
In Shaq’s eyes, he invoked fear in opponents and the league in itself
Superman knew he was built differently. Even other NBA players who were considered physical specimens in comparison to normal human beings weren’t able to deal with O’Neal’s sheer physical dominance.
And no one likes a league where dominance is a staple. The NCAA banning dunking to try to ease the defensive burden on others from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is one instance of rules having been bent in the past to keep things fresh in the presence of an unprecedented force.
O’Neal here believes that his dominance led to changes in officiating, in a similar vein. When asked about how he invoked fear in comparison to LeBron or MJ, Shaq had an interesting answer.
“Did I invoke fear? Yes. Not only on the players, but on the league. ‘Man, we got to call three seconds all the time. Man, we can’t just let him score on dunks, so we’re going to allow them to front and back’. They used to change the rules on me every summer.”
Often overlooked restrictions such as “three-second” calls were used to hinder O’Neal according to himself. Teams definitely needed help, and the league was paying heed to their needs, in Superman’s words.
At the peak of his powers, none of these seemed to matter anyways too. A threepeat with the Lakers marked the pinnacle of a stellar career which can only be best described by his sheer capability of running anyone in his path down.
Shaquille O’Neal quite literally led to changes regarding a couple of NBA rules too
After breaking backboards became more than a one-off, back-up backboards were introduced. And above all, the material was even changed. Imagine, the pure dominance one has to exert for even the engineering behind a centuries-old sport to see change.
Additionally, the “Hack-A-Shaq” rule came into practice too. Throwing bodies at Shaq and getting him to the free-throw line seemed to be a loophole to reduce his effectiveness. However, even this was rectified by the league later to allow for more fairness. Inconsistent with the sort of implication of fear O’Neal made earlier, but necessary nonetheless.
Players couldn’t foul opposing players that didn’t have the ball in their hands during the past two minutes of the game anymore. Any such foul came at the expense of free throws and possession. And having to defend Shaq for another possession was definitely not something to look forward too.
It is clear that two-fold fear was invoked by the presence of Big Shaq. Is he actually to be considered the unanimous most dominant player ever?
