I assume that this has been discussed before, but I haven't seen it.   So, thought I’d post my thoughts about Bill Walton and Shaq. 

Walton was an ‘old 33’ when he was traded to the C's in 1985.  He had suffered multiple injuries in his career including a chronically broken bone in his left foot.  NBA.com describes him this way:

"At the top of his form, Walton scored, passed, intimidated, hustled and played the role of leader with the best centers of his day. He was a perfectionist whose range of skills and dedication never ceased to impress those who saw him play."

In 1985-86, like present-day Shaq, he was brought in to bolster the C's bench and to help them match up to the size and strength of the team out West.   He ended up playing in a surprising 80 games (Walton played in only 44% of his regular season games in his career).     He was a key to the C’s championship in ‘86, but could never regain enough health to follow-up in 1987.  Despite the death of Len Bias, the C’s with a healthy Walton would surely have beaten the team from LA.

Walton was just great in 85-86.  In a manner quite different from Shaq (personality-wise) he took the town by storm.  He was healthy, he hustled his butt off, played inspirational basketball.  He fit this highly intelligent team like a glove with his superior interior passing skills, high BBIQ and intense energy.  All in less than 20 minutes per game.

Unlike Shaq who seems to revel in his massive size, Walton was a reluctant 7-footer (most say he was clearly over 7 feet but he didn't want to be thought of as a 'freak' and always insisted that he was 6'11'').  Much thinner than Shaq, he was more agile and mobile (when healthy) and could do just about everything on the court.  Actually, he was more physically like KG than Shaq. His personality was  also very different from Shaq’s. In contrast to the gregarious Shaq (and present-day Walton), he was surly and defiant during most of his playing days (especially when younger). Walton seemed to have a huge chip on his shoulder, struggled with speech (a severe stutterer who later learned to manage/master the problem) and often was angry with everyone from reporters to coaches to the government.

 Like Shaq, before Walton joined the C's he was a world champion (Portland '77), a Finals MVP ('77)  and a League MVP ('78).

As we know, Shaq was brought here to bolster the bench, add bulk and physical presence, add another element to create favorable match-ups, clog the lane, rebound and bring some offense around the rim.  But Shaq was thought to be too old to be expected to play a lot and was presumed a shell of his previous self (similar worries – mostly about health -- preceded Walton’s arrival). 

Here are Walton's 1985-86 stats and Shaq's Celtics stats to date:
Bill         19.3  MPG    6.8  RPG      7.6  PPG
Shaq         21.9  MPG    6.4  RPG   11.2 PPG

Pretty darn close.   

Keep it up Shaq.  Give us 1 great year and, like Bill, you’ll be forever etched in our minds as a great Celtics champion.