NBA Unofficial Thread

What do you think about the new Miami Heat team (Wade, Lebron, Bosh)?

Awesome! They're going to win multiple championships!	32.8%	[ 45 ]
Good, but not enough to compete with the Lakers.	29.2%	[ 40 ]
Terrible. You are a sell-out, Lebron.	38.0%	[ 52 ]
Total Votes:			[ 137 ]

[Vengeful-Suicide]

Ethan Dirtch

Shaq's nowhere near as mobile and agile as he once was, but he's still got raw strength and big (and I do mean big) presence.

YES! thank you for saying that, Cuz i really thin kshaq is just POWER no skill....ok maybe a lil skill, but most of his FG's come from dunks, bank in, tip ins, he cant shoot, no ball handle, just power to dunk!

[IceColdShower]

chicken32

Ethan Dirtch

Shaq's nowhere near as mobile and agile as he once was, but he's still got raw strength and big (and I do mean big) presence.

YES! thank you for saying that, Cuz i really thin kshaq is just POWER no skill....ok maybe a lil skill, but most of his FG's come from dunks, bank in, tip ins, he cant shoot, no ball handle, just power to dunk!

It seems to work though. Especially if no one can stop it.

[Ethan Dirtch]

See, this is why it absolutely baffles me why Shaq's skill/overall attribute is 95-99 in most NBA vid games!!

Yes, of course Shaq needs a certain amount of skill; he'd be nowhere near effective if he had no skill. His skill is utilizing his gift of being ridiculously big.

Does he have or used to have good footwork? Definitely.
Is he near unstoppable around the hoop? Definitely.
Can he pass? Yeah, he has to be good at that.
Does he have good basketball IQ? Oh yeah, no doubt.
But is he a SKILLED player? Defining skill as overall basketball mechanics and fundamentals, no. He can handle the ball well enough in the paint when he has to, but you don't ever see him bringing up the ball, or going out to the 10-15 foot area with the ball. You've never really seen him take a JUMP SHOT, it's all hook-shots, dunks, tip-ins, lay-ins; he doesn't HAVE a jump shot. Free-throw line? His form was a lot better when he first started out, but it's progressively, and some years drastically, gotten worse.
His best skill is using his size well. But in terms of centers, Yao Ming and Zydrunas Ilgauskas are the most skilled (among other centers, but these two other than Shaq are the few PURE centers. Yes, that means I don't count Marcus Camby).

With that said, no denying that even at his worst Shaq is still pretty dominating.

[Poppyskull]

Shaq is getting old. I'm not saying he sucks, I'm just saying he's not as dominating as he was in the game. You still might need to double team him now and then, but his hook shot is slowly falling apart. His less agile than he used to be. Same thing goes with KG. His shot is slowly fading away. He used to be clutch, but not his shots are banking off the rim. And of course, his rebounding title has been taken away by Dwight Howard, a young and rising center. 3nodding

[slick16]

Ok well actually shaq is good in the paint, but if he goes outside the paint he turns. Horrible and he can not do anything. Cause he was taught to score in the paint and that is what he does.

[Poppyskull]

He's averaging career lows this year. Yeah, he was injured, but I'm just trying to point out that he's getting old. I don't think he'll get a ring in the future years with the Heat. Not this year at least. He can average 20pts, compared to past years, where he could average at least 30pts. This year, most of his points are ally-oops/dunks.

Anyways, Clippers beat the Spurs. Yay.

[Ethan Dirtch]

Yeah, that was surprising. Not that the Clippers beat the Spurs, but that they beat the Spurs pretty badly neutral

As for Shaq, he might be able to do more if he maybe lost a bit more weight and get back into better shape. Also, a lot of the new rules in the NBA prevent him from doing some of what he normally did before.

[Msl187Killa]

Shaq is still a great player
hes not getting old its just how the heat uses him
plus he averages like 24 points a game but thats because they got wade he averages like 30 points a game so one of them either have to score more plus it dont matter the heat are doing pretty good this season we got a better point guard from last season we lost a good small foward but got 2 good ones james posse and antoine walker
we got 3 good guards wade payton and williams
hopefully i would like to see the heat in the finals winning a ring for their first time in franchise history

[Sir Blake]

Shaq is still a good player any team would pay to have him. But you know your career is coming to an end when your advertising in an IceyHot patch commercial.

[Eyez49]

slick16

Ok well actually shaq is good in the paint, but if he goes outside the paint he turns. Horrible and he can not do anything. Cause he was taught to score in the paint and that is what he does.

back in the day he was a presence on the whole paint but now he just dunks and makes tip ins

[bracston1]

ninja iverson rules

[Vengeful-Suicide]

i agree, iverson does rule! im REALLY dissappointed that he wasn't chosen for the Olympic team and they said "we needed role players/team players not scorers! then why the hell do you have kobe! i think kobe is great offensivley but Iverson can do it all! hes avgeraging over 30 pts and about 7 ast! what about kobe...over 30 pts and like 4 ast! if your looking for team work iverson is your starting poit guard he is the greatest player to play the game, i think

[Poppyskull]

This is only a three-year commitment and (basically) tryouts for the team. It's not the final makeover of Team USA. They still have to slice it down to twelve and maybe other rookies next year (exluding Morrison or Redick) will make an impact to be chosen for the team. Iverson is wearing out. There were even trade rumors about him being traded before the deadline this season. =p

[Eyez49]

Iverson IS a beast but I wish they had better GMs so he can actually have a team to play with

[`co0kie]

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