I jumped in just to say, if DH would block his shots, what was he doing being evenly played ALL the time but by a MUCH older Shaq? LOL prime Shaq would easily embarrass Howard... not even prime but a younger Shaq would give DH a lot of trouble!!!! Stop with revisionist history, if someone can't handle an old man, how do you expect them to handle the same man but much younger?
Shaq as a rookie was better than anything Dwight prime
Shaq ROOKIE (20year old) year 23.4 and 13.9 rb, and 3.5 blk
Dwight PEAK (25year old) year 22.9 and 14.1 rb and 2.4blk
Vincent Thomas:
Shaq turned a generation of big men into whimpering babies when they played him. ("He keeps dropping his shoulder!" "He keeps initiating contact!" "He's so big what do you want me to do?!" "If I can't foul him, how can I stop him?! This is unfair!") Adonises would get about six minutes of Shaq, throw up their hands and quit. He was more than dominant. He was frightening and demoralizing. In fact, Shaq basically voided the center position for a good 10 years. If Shaq never existed, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Rasheed Wallace, Chris Webber, Zach Randolph, Al Jefferson -- a lot of dudes 6-foot-10 and bigger, probably -- would have played center their whole careers. I've never been able to get a coach or exec to corroborate this theory, but it's true. I know it is. And I'm not the only who believes this to be the case.
http://www.nba.com/2009/news/features/03/03/thomas.shaq.20090303/index.htmlShaq 7'2 320lbs, Dwight 6'10 270lbs you do the math
Shaq size (7'2 320lbs), footwork, post game, passing skills, and killer instinct was unmatched. Every night he wanted to humiliate the opposing center. Dwight wants to be besties.