I was thinking, obviously he was more mobile and handled the ball in Orlando, and he’d do that a lot more in a modern offense, but MVP Shaq who was bigger and handled less, would he be better or worse?
It’s common to just say any legend from the past would dominate now, and Shaq would definitely draw even more fouls now than he did even back then. But also, so much of Shaq’s game would be an offensive foul now, I think hack-a-Shaq would be even worse, and he’d be drawn away from the basket and into pick and rolls CONSTANTLY so his weaknesses would be exploited a lot more.
Personally, I can see Shaq averaging a lot more points, but fouling out a lot and being nowhere near the defensive presence because he’d be hunted on switches constantly and drawn out to the perimeter, and his rim protection would be less useful when you’ve got bigs who stretch the floor and can pass (Jokic being the prime example but even Embiid is passing really well this year).
Or do you just surround Shaq with shooters like Dwight in Orlando except he’s twice the offensive player, and you live with him being exploited on defence because your offence would be unstoppable (aside from hacking him)?
He’d definitely still dominate on offense as nobody would be able to handle him , and Shaqs post game was elite as well as being an above average passer , if you surrounded him with shooters and a PG who could help set the table I think he’d still dominate
Dwight was dominant with a similar team build, and Shaq is above and beyond what dwight could be, so I could we it working for sure
Defensively is something yet to be desired but I’m sure he wouldn’t get as big as he got as for a legit 7 footer Shaq was quick on his feet, especially in ORL. He was basically a dancing bear . With the drop coverage and the precedence of shooting he could get exposed but hard to know