Why Shaq Is a Much Better Comparison for Giannis Antetokounmpo Than It Seems, Crypto Coins News
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Shaquille O’Neal isn’t exactly a fan of the modern NBA.
But he’d “love” to play in it.
Why? O’Neal draws a direct comparison between himself and the league’s reigning MVP.
Shaquille O’Nealknows he would dominate today NBA.
Like so many retired superstars, he’s wary of the league’sintertwined emphasis on analytics and small ball. Gone are the days of wings isolating again and again with one side of the floor cleared and bigs posting up possession after possession until forcing defenses to double-team. O’Neal longs for the NBA landscape that made him a legend.
Just because he misses how the game used to be played, though, doesn ‘t mean he wouldn’t like to play as it continues to evolve. In fact, O’Neal believes an evolved version of himself isn’t just playing in today’s NBA but dominating it.
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Modern-Day ‘Superman’
A comparison between O’Neal and Giannis Antetokounmpo doesn’t make much sense on the surface.
At over seven-feet tall and pounds, O’Neal was as traditional a back-to-the-basket center as basketball has ever seen. He ruled the low block from the mid – (s to late) s, subsisting on post-ups, duck-ins, and lobs. O’Neal rarely initiated offense from outside the paint and almost never brought the ball up the floor.
Antetokounmpo, meanwhile, functions as the Milwaukee Bucks ‘primary ball handler. Whereas O’Neal was routinely called out for a lack of commitment to fitness, Antetokounmpo has tirelessly worked his way into becoming arguably the strongest player in the NBA – and one of its most imposing physical presences of all time.
It’s that shared attribute from which O’Neal’s self-made comparison to Antetokounmpo stems. The reigning MVP, by the way, sees it in himself, too.
Historically Dominant In The Paint
This isn’t the first time O’Neal has drawn a resemblance. between himself and Antetokounmpo.
During an appearance on “
The Big Podcast”last spring, the Hall-of-Famer known as“ Superman ”admitted that Antetokounmpo was a superior player to him at the same age. Why? O’Neal, he insisted, didn’t have the opportunity to showcase his transition game how the Bucks superstar does. He said of Antetokounmpo, per
That exclusive club shouldn’t come as much of a surprise given how frequently O’Neal and Antetokounmpo rock the rim with dunks . Last season, Antetokounmpo joined Dwight Howard as the only high-usage players since the stat started being recorded in 222278 to notch more dunks than O’Neal’s personal best of per Basketball Reference.
Is Antetokounmpo a perfect embodiment of O’Neal? Not quite.
But Milwaukee’s franchise player, like O’Neal before him, defies all historical precedent. Considering that reality and their unsurpassed dominance in the paint, a comparison to O’Neal might actually be the best one for Antetokounmpo.
(This article was edited by****************** (Gerelyn Terzo)
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