Eden_Burns

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)?

I was thinking about how Nick Young turned into a legit 3&D guy in his last year in LA and his year for Golden State, and how he will always be a meme, but ended his career as a legitimately useful role player.

Rajon Rondo's role in the Lakers title I think is overlooked, but he was also very good for the Kings and Pels. Shot above 40% from 3 for Lakers and Pels in the playoffs. Doesn't get talked about enough that Rondo got much better as a shooter in his late career. Obviously he was never Steph, but got reliable.

Ish Smith is a guy who if he hasn't played on your team you don't understand why he's still in the league, but everywhere he goes the fans of that team really appreciate him.

For my friend back in the day it was Biyombo for the Raptors.

I'm sure there are more egregious examples of players the general NBA fanbase doesn't appreciate but fans of the team they play for recognise play a vital part. Any examples?

Like, he IS a unicorn. He is every bit as potentially great as people say he is, and he is still remarkably polished for his age and size, but I think the shooting percentages he's at now - 44% and 27% - will be, give or take a little, about what we should expect from him for a year or two. He's also gonna continue to be an absolute turnover machine, and he will probably rack up a lot of fouls.

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And that's FINE. But I can just hear people freaking out about it already. Historically it takes these kind of 'unicorn' players - super tall, lean and skilful - a while to adjust. KD and Dirk, two of the greatest shooters ever, shot the ball terribly in their first year. Porzingis too.

In fact, KP got the benefit of the doubt in a way Wemby never will, as for some reason fans - Knicks fans in particular - where absolutely certain he was gonna be a bust, then he became NY's favourite son as soon as he started to show that he was actually good with good/great potential.

Wemby is gonna turn it over a lot due to ball handling at his height. It's worth sticking with though cause if he polishes that it just makes him even more unstoppable. He's gonna foul a lot because he thinks he can block everything. His outside shot is still streaky and may take a while to get good. It may never get much better than league average, but the fact he can do it off the dribble attack off the bounce makes him shooting at league average way more valuable than it sounds.

But you just know this season and next are gonna be full of people waiting on him having an extended run of poor shooting to be like 'they really said he was gonna be the next Lebron fr'