“I took it to another level unlike him” Shaquille O’Neal reasons why he is better than Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1-on-1
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Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Shaquille O'Neal
While talking about his inspirations, Los Angeles Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal claims that he took the game to another level from the era of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain. He put forward some details to prove his point.
The center position is considered one of the most important pieces of the NBA roaster and a strong center would help the team to control the game. Over the years many big men have led the league in MVP conversations, and on 28 occasions, center position players have claimed the top individual accolade for the regular season. While talking about the centers, Shaquille O’Neal is considered by many the most dominant player in NBA history. However, that title is debatable with many former Center playing stars dominating the league in their era. But still, 2 other names do make a very frequent appearance in the discussions are, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain. Shaq himself had acknowledged that he idolizes those big-game players, and knows the competition is tough for the top spot.
But on his podcast – The Big Podcast with Shaq, he was explaining that despite being inspired by the other two Lakers legends, he took things to a different level. O’Neal touched on this topic as he said, “My inspiration was Kareem and Wilt, and look where I am at. I took it to another level,”.
Shaquille O’Neal considers himself bettering the game from Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Big Diesel is known for his funny comments, but also his outspoken nature. Once, Shaq agreed that he was the 4th greatest center of all time putting forward Bill Russell and the other 2 Lakers legends in the rankings. But Shaq never misses a chance to make a case for himself, and even after praising Wilt Chamberlain, he also claimed that he would destroy the former Lakers icon.
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The hosts of the Podcast – Shaq, Nischelle, and Spice were earlier talking about Michael Jackson and Chris Brown. According to big man, Brown was a better performer due to the evolution of RnB/Pop singers since the 1980s. O’Neal said that MJ had innovated the moonwalk and many other steps but he was not as good as Brown and then said, “My inspiration was Kareem and Wilt, and look where I am at. I took it to another level”.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is considered as the scale for all the upcoming centers In the league, Shaq also had to go through the KAJ’s comparisons. But Shaq recently decided to explain why he was better than Kareem and the Big dipper on the recent edition of his The Big Podcast with Shaq.
Shaq won 4 NBA Titles and Wilt Chamberlain won 2. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar won 6 NBA titles in total. But ironically, Wilt had 1 Finals MVP award; Kareem has 2 Finals MVP Awards, while Shaq has 3 Finals MVP Titles in his bags. No wonder he considers himself the most dominant player in league history, and to be fair, it’s hard to make a case against that.
Shaq was a nightmare for his defenders during his prime, and he did things that are nearly impossible to see in today’s NBA. While Wilt and Kareem were elegant centers around the rim, Shaq with his massive body bossed the paint area against his opponents.
So the top scorer in the NBA history – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the top individual game scorer in the league – Wilt Chamberlain, and the most dominant guy on the court Shaquille O’Neal may have played in different eras, but they had their specialties to impact the game.
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Kunal Chawda
(600 Articles Published)