Official Detroit Pistons thread

[Whitley]

So they should have been playoff contenders after two years?

[froot loops]

They should show more progress. The endless patience is weird.

[chemiclord]

People use the words transformational and generational way too fucking much. I've seen a fair amount of Wembemyama. But you don't have to watch that much to see his stats and they don't come close to Shaq. 7 foot 3 sub 50 fg%, sub 30 on threes. As a prospect.he is not in the same.league as Doncic, Durant, Zion, Yao or LeBron. He puts decent stats in the French League, but Doncic was.the best player in Europe at age 18.

But again, three years in and they are still waiting on ping pong balls for hope. That's a sign of not much of a plan.

To be fair, Shaq's entire strategy was to be bigger and stronger than anyone else in an era where you were allowed to completely run over people as long as you went butt first. It's not that much of a stretch to hit close to 60% from the field when your average shot is about 3 feet from the rim.

[ghandi]

To be fair, Shaq's entire strategy was to be bigger and stronger than anyone else in an era where you were allowed to completely run over people as long as you went butt first. It's not that much of a stretch to hit close to 60% from the field when your average shot is about 3 feet from the rim.

Or as they used to say, he makes 60% of his dunks......

[froot loops]

If it were as easy as chemiclord says every 7 footer would have been able to do what Shaq did. Shaq was fucking awesome.

[Forsh]

Shaq was a bit of extra work ethic away from being the GOAT. So much talent

[froot loops]

Yeah, people say that, but he won 4 titles and had a very long career even though he had nagging injuries that always comes along with being over 7 feet. He probably wins more titles with the same work ethic if Kobe knew his place.

[Forsh]

Yeah, people say that, but he won 4 titles and had a very long career even though he had nagging injuries that always comes along with being over 7 feet. He probably wins more titles with the same work ethic if Kobe knew his place.

I think you're missing my point. Shaq was amazing. Incredible. I'm just saying that if he had Kobe or MJ drive ... he's the GOAT

As is he's top 20 all time arguably top 10 somewhere

[The King]

Shaq has publicly admitted this numerous times. Frooty Loops lives in some alternate reality.

We all remember the Fat Shaq and Hollywood Shaq. Except Frooty Loops.

[Whitley]

I still don't know why Kobe is regarded as such a winner. A winner would have never broke up the Lakers. I can't imagine MJ chasing a Shaq like player off his team.

[jaadam4]

Yeah, people say that, but he won 4 titles and had a very long career even though he had nagging injuries that always comes along with being over 7 feet. He probably wins more titles with the same work ethic if Kobe knew his place.

Shaq and Kobe were both at fault for that one. They definitely could have dominated if they were better with each other as teammates.

[CGVT]

Kobe was a selfish piece of shit.

When he was lobbying to get rid of Shaq, he said that he had more than HE wanted to accomplish. Nothing about what was possible to accomplish as a team. He threw away what could have been the greatest duo/team in history for his own personal glory.

Kobe was all about Kobe. Fuck him. He was a more talented Reggie Theus and terrible for basketball.

[chemiclord]

If it were as easy as chemiclord says every 7 footer would have been able to do what Shaq did. Shaq was fucking awesome.

No. Not at all. Every seven footer wasn't built like a truck and with the strength of about five men and the health to maintain that body for over a decade. The NBA is littered with big men whose bodies fell apart on them fairly quickly.

Dude was arguably the most dominant big man ever, but it wasn't due to any unique technique that he refined that anyone else could have simply replicated. He was significantly bigger and stronger than damn near anyone else on the court. About the only ones who matched him in those categories was Hakeem early on and Yao later (which not at all surprisingly were the only two big men that he acknowledges he struggled to get the better of, though he often did anyway).

For example, this is O'Neal's career shot chart.

https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask?q=s...eer+shot+chart

I will acknowledge I'm incorrect on one thing. His average shot was about five feet from the basket, not three. I apologize for the error.

He had a physical advantage that allowed him to do things pretty much no one else could do, in an era that allowed him to do that with impunity. I'm not sure why you take such umbrage with that, because it's simply the truth.

Now, what I will say is that he could have very easily been just as dominant in any era. The dude wasn't some empty-headed gorilla. He could have fashioned his game in any way he wanted to and had success. He never developed a mid-range game not because he couldn't, but because there was absolutely no reason to. He could have (and did) use any number of moves. Shaq actually had a rather astonishing arsenal of post moves that could dip into (look at some of his games against Yao Ming if you doubt that)... just... why use them when he could just back dat ass up without penalty?

[froot loops]

Shaq has publicly admitted this numerous times. Frooty Loops lives in some alternate reality.

We all remember the Fat Shaq and Hollywood Shaq. Except Frooty Loops.

I love I'm the same reality where you dismissed Stafford as a winner and said they needed to bring in Tua because all he did was win.

[ghandi]

I still don't know why Kobe is regarded as such a winner. A winner would have never broke up the Lakers. I can't imagine MJ chasing a Shaq like player off his team.

I remember when the Pistons played them in the finals...Kobe was so bent on being "the man" that he basically shot his team out of any chance of winning that series....Shaq was covered by Ben, but had about 4 inches and 60 pounds on him and was unstoppable...The only thing that could stop Shaq was Kobe, and he did.....I think of Kobe like Iverson...He just shot the ball alot and it was all about him.