NBA: Why can't Shaq make those free throws?

[buzzsaw13]

Originally posted by: bigi

Do you even watch basketball? Shaq is one of the best Centers ever.

:roll: Yea, and Britney Spears is one of the best singers ever.

Rookie of the year, 2 scoring titles, 9 time All-Star, and leading the Lakers to 3 straight NBA finals victories isn't one of the best Centers ever?

 

[oboeguy]

Originally posted by: jagec

Originally posted by: buzzsaw13

Originally posted by: jagec
He isn't that great a basketball player on the professional level, he's just tall, and that's all you need in B-ball?

Do you even watch basketball? Shaq is one of the best Centers ever.

Mostly because he's tall. He's good, not exceptional, but he's unusually tall, and that confers enough of an advantage to make him look awesome on camera.

That's ridiculous. There have been plenty of big man busts which make your statement look idiotic. He's tall and ridiculously agile and quick.

I never head the wrist injury story. Sounds quite plausible to me. He should learn to shoot lefty or underhanded, though, if the right wrist is a problem.

So, does Ben Wallace have a childhood injury too? I doubt it. Also, he doesn't have very large hands (can barely palm the ball, I think). What's his excuse?

 

[greys2k]

$h@q i$ 0n3 0f th3 b3$t c3nt3r$ 3v3r n0 d0ubt @b0ut th@t.
h0w3v3r h3 i$ p@$t hi$ prim3

i d0 @gr33 th@t in hi$ prim3, h3 sh0uld h@v3 d0min@t3d th3 g@m3 lik3 Wilt did, 0r @t l3@$t @vg 30ppg thr0ugh0ut hi$ c@r33r

 

[JS80]

Originally posted by: jagec

Originally posted by: buzzsaw13

Originally posted by: jagec
He isn't that great a basketball player on the professional level, he's just tall, and that's all you need in B-ball?

Do you even watch basketball? Shaq is one of the best Centers ever.

Mostly because he's tall. He's good, not exceptional, but he's unusually tall, and that confers enough of an advantage to make him look awesome on camera.

Yea Wilt Chamberlain was nothing if he didn't have his height :rolll;
Along with Dr J

 

[NeoV]

the idiot saying Shaq is only good because he is tall should be banned from posting in any sports-related thread, ever.

Shaq did have a wrist injury as a child, but he really could have learned to shoot them left-handed or two-handed, anything would be better than what he does now.

 

[sciencewhiz]

If Shaq was an 80% free throw shooter, he'd be the greatest player ever.

 

[SKoprowski]

You guys that blind?? Shaq is big- that is what makes him good- period. His skills are a bit lacking. Take him 5 feet from the basket and he's an average player at best. I don't understand how anyone can argue this. Please tell me the skills (that are not attributed to his size) that he has that are so above most NBA players.

 

[notposting]

Originally posted by: oboeguy

Originally posted by: jagec

Originally posted by: buzzsaw13

Originally posted by: jagec
He isn't that great a basketball player on the professional level, he's just tall, and that's all you need in B-ball?

Do you even watch basketball? Shaq is one of the best Centers ever.

Mostly because he's tall. He's good, not exceptional, but he's unusually tall, and that confers enough of an advantage to make him look awesome on camera.

That's ridiculous. There have been plenty of big man busts which make your statement look idiotic. He's tall and ridiculously agile and quick.

I never head the wrist injury story. Sounds quite plausible to me. He should learn to shoot lefty or underhanded, though, if the right wrist is a problem.

So, does Ben Wallace have a childhood injury too? I doubt it. Also, he doesn't have very large hands (can barely palm the ball, I think). What's his excuse?

Don't try this at home. Ben Wallace takes his left wrist in his right hand and squeezes. The wrist shifts, making a soft cracking noise that sends a shiver down an observer's spine.

*snip*

Let's get back to the wrist thing. In Orlando, more than a few years back, he says, he needed surgery for carpal tunnel issues. He says he would "come out and shoot five shots and then my hand would go dead."

The surgery, however, cut into some ligaments near his right wrist, he says, thus leaving him with a hand that is sort of like a half-screwed-on bottle cap. The wrong angle, it can come loose.

"I spent one summer going to two or three specialists," Wallace says, "but they all said the same thing: that I pretty much have to get the wrist reconstructed ... surgery, pins inserted. ... I'll wait until my career is over. I'm not getting cut anymore. Not while I'm playing."

So the wrist can pop loose when he dunks, or when he falls on his hands, or when he tries to make the perfect free throw. Thinking about it, he admits, only makes his free throws more unpredictable. He has an awful percentage at the line -- 41.6 for the season -- but who knew that with every shot he has to wonder if his hand is going to flop like a noodle?

"My teammates know about it," he says. "If I shoot an air ball, the first thing they do is look at my hand and they'll be like, 'There it goes.' "

He shrugs again.

"Just one of those things."

from Mitch Albom column in Detroit Free Press.

 

[oboeguy]

Go freakin' figure, Benny Wallace also has a medical reason.

Next up, Tim Duncan. What's his deal? Did he have one season where he was money from the line yet all his other seasons he's been mediocre?

 

[oboeguy]

Originally posted by: SKoprowski
You guys that blind?? Shaq is big- that is what makes him good- period. His skills are a bit lacking. Take him 5 feet from the basket and he's an average player at best. I don't understand how anyone can argue this. Please tell me the skills (that are not attributed to his size) that he has that are so above most NBA players.

How can you say that? Have you ever watched him play? The guy has the agility of a cat.

 

[swtethan]

one big reason: Shaq Fu vs Chuck Norris


chuck broke shaq's arm