Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley are both among the greatest basketball players of all time. While 7ft 1′ Shaq is remembered as one of the most dominant players ever, Chuck at 6ft 5′ was arguably the most dominant at his size.
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However, neither of them was a true defender per se. They did a solid job when it mattered, but they were not as good at defense as they were on the other side of the floor. They might have been godly on offense, but both were feel-good defenders.
On a good day, they wouldn’t let anybody get past them. On most other days they would literally let ANYBODY make a mockery of them as basketball players on that end of the floor. This is why Sir Charles went off on The Diesel while talking about who the 2023 DPOY, Jaren Jackson Jr, reminds him of.
Charles Barkley calls Shaquille O’Neal big and ugly
On the sets of Inside the NBA, Monday night, the boys were discussing Jaren Jackson Jr winning the Defensive Player Of the Year. Chuck was naming guys like Dikembe Mutombo and Alonzo Mourning, telling how they intimidated the opponents with their intentions.
Meanwhile, Shaq was hilariously waving his hands behind Ernie Johnson to remind his studio partner to take his name as well because he is also in the top 10 among all-time shot blockers.
And when The Diesel was arguing about it, insisting that he should be in that conversation too, that’s when the Chuckster hysterically mocked him by saying you were just “big and ugly”.
How was Shaq actually on the defensive end?
A premiere All-Star and All-NBA presence throughout his career, O’Neal was a top-shot blocker in the post who even averaged 3 blocks per game in a couple of seasons.
However, he never made it past the All-Defensive second team. For a guy with his size and agility, that was a big underachievement. It was just because of his intent, which never put fear in opposition to score on him as it did on the opposite end.
And so, most of the blocks were out of surprise because almost all throughout the game he wouldn’t put any effort on defense and then come out of nowhere to get a couple of blocks on the stat sheet.
