Could Moses Malone defend Shaq?

[JaK]

What do you guys think?... I was just watching the 88' All Star Game and I almost forgot how effective of a big man he was... Altho. he only measured in at 6'11... Do you think he could have stopped Shaq in his prime?

[TheRifleman]

Originally posted by <b>JaK</b>!
What do you guys think?... I was just watching the 88' All Star Game and I almost forgot how effective of a big man he was... Altho. he only measured in at 6'11... Do you think he could have stopped Shaq in his prime?

NOBODY stops Shaq, but Moses would have made it very tough for Shaq to get his points and Moses rebounded better than Shaq, as he almost always had the best positioning.

Moses was a scorer, too, so he would have made Shaq have to work on both ends of the floor, which Shaq hasn't had to do much of in his career, as his body is all the positioning he needs for defense nowadays (in other words, he doesn't have the competition that a Moses would give him).

[pharcyde]

Shaq's really only 6-11 anyway, so Malone's height wouldn't be a problem.

[SkywalkerAC]

actually i'm pretty sure that malone's size vs. the big fella would be a HUGE problem. after all, that IS and always has been shaq's advantage, even against some of the world's biggest athletes. on top of that, shaq isn't 6'11. have you seen this man and how he towers over EVERYONE? he might not be 7'2 but he's taller than 7 feet, guaranteed.
moses gets dominated by shaq. that's just the way it is. please look at this logically. even shaq would have a hard time guarding shaq in the low post.
as for rebounding, are you sure that moses would rebound better than shaq? he was a better rebounder overall but one's rebounding impact is definately diminished by shaq presence. in a series i'm pretty sure that oneal would come out with the better rebounding numbers, especially considering that he provides the majority of LA's rebounding force.

[IV]

Depends on what you mean by stop Shaq. While Shaq is dominant, I think he gets too much credit as being the most dominant player of all time. He excells in against unworthy opponents. There are no great defensive centers in the league.
Could Moses stop him? He might not be able to shut him down but he may have been able to contain him. Moses was 6-11. Dennis Rodman used to D shaq up this was while Dennis was an old man, and he is much smaller than moses.

[kflo]

moses would have made shaq work hard at both ends of the floor. but no, moses wouldn't be that successful defending shaq, imo. shaq's too big and strong for moses. tactics that worked for moses against kareem or the chief wouldn't have worked very well against shaq. he just wasn't big enough. and moses wasn't much of a shot blocker, so he's relying mostly on keeping shaq out of position.

rodman didn't guard shaq that often, and had alot of help when he did. shaq still usually shot a high % against dennis, but the double teams and rodman establishing good position kept shaq's shot totals reasonably low.

[rainman]

Originally posted by <b>moTIGS</b>!
Shaq's really only 6-11 anyway, so Malone's height wouldn't be a problem.

i hope you are kidding about shaq being 6-11,he towered over jamal magliore last night.

[Showtime84']

Shaq would end up outplaying Malone but the 83' Sixers would destroy the present Lakers!

[gamadict]

Great centers don't stop other great centers, they just stop everyone else on the floor. I don't think Moses could defend Shaq/Kareem/Wilt/Hakeem that much better then anyone else...

[I'm Just Saying]

Originally posted by <b>SkywalkerAC</b>!
actually i'm pretty sure that malone's size vs. the big fella would be a HUGE problem. after all, that IS and always has been shaq's advantage, even against some of the world's biggest athletes. on top of that, shaq isn't 6'11. have you seen this man and how he towers over EVERYONE? he might not be 7'2 but he's taller than 7 feet, guaranteed.
moses gets dominated by shaq. that's just the way it is. please look at this logically. even shaq would have a hard time guarding shaq in the low post.
as for rebounding, are you sure that moses would rebound better than shaq? he was a better rebounder overall but one's rebounding impact is definately diminished by shaq presence. in a series i'm pretty sure that oneal would come out with the better rebounding numbers, especially considering that he provides the majority of LA's rebounding force.

The how do you account for hakeem outplaying Shaq in the '95 finals?

[pharcyde]

Originally posted by <b>rainman</b>!



i hope you are kidding about shaq being 6-11,he towered over jamal magliore last night.

I've read in a lot of places that Shaq said this himself.

[ShaqAttack3234]

This is an OLD thread but I'm going to bump it because I feel this particular question is interesting and it's similar to a thread I made. However I'd like to focus individually on the Moses vs Shaq comparison.

1.The argument about if a 6-10, 260 could guard Shaq is interesting so i'll compare what a similar size elite center did vs Shaq.

Alonzo Mourning is about 6'10" and 260 pounds and a 2-time defensive player of the year. Here is his head to head matchup with Shaq from their rookie season until 2000.

Shaq's teams went 11-3.
Shaquille O'Neal- 30.7 ppg, 13.1 rpg, 3.3 apg, 3.1 bpg, 55.7 FG%
Alonzo Mourning- 22.6 ppg, 9.6 rpg, 1.4 apg, 2.4 bpg, 44.2 FG%

I'd expect similar domination in a Shaq vs Malone matchup. You simply can't guard Shaq 1 on 1 with a guy 3 inches shorter. Zo was roughly the same height and weight as Moses but Mourning was in better shape, more athletic and a superior defender. So Moses making Shaq work on the boards and on defense more evens out. Shaq will still put up about 30 ppg on a good % while pretty much matching Moses on the boards and blocking.

Shaq also isn't 6'11". he was measured without shoes at the 1992 pre-draft camp at 7'1" even. Moses wasn't 6'11" either, he was 6'10" and listed that height.

[tsherkin]

FYI:

Shaq's draft combine measurements put him at 7'1 WITHOUT shoes, at 303 lbs and with a 7'7 wingspan.

More to the point, Moses wasn't really that good a defender; acceptable for most of his career, rewarded with an All-Defensive 2nd Team in '83 but in general, not a dominant defender. Yeah, he was strong and stuff but Shaq's considerably heavier and taller.

And getting "outplayed" by Olajuwon is a myth that anyone who watched the series or read the boxscores knows; Dream's team kicked Shaq's team's butt roundly, but Dream didn't do anything in the individual matchup that really rousted him and he was posting huge numbers himself.

[BadBaronRudigor]

Shaq was close to an unstoppable force with the ball in his hands down low. Hakeem didn't stop Shaq, he barely slowed him down; on the other hand, Shaq was helpless to slow Hakeem also. Moses was a solid man defender, particularly in the post where he would use his strength to force opponents off their sweet spot, he wasn't a great help defender which most of the other elite centers were. Moses would probably be better against Shaq than Alonzo Mourning because he relied more on strength and positioning while Zo tended to play looser and rely on his shotblocking more. Obviously that didn't work against Shaq who shoots more dunks than any other great big man ever . . . you can't block a dunk very easily, but you can work to keep Shaq from getting position that far inside. But, my guess is that Moses wouldn't be able to stop Shaq any more than anyone else did (maybe a little better than the seasonal averaged when Shaq was fattening up against the weak sisters of the league)

[ShaqAttack3234]

Originally Posted by tsherkin

FYI:
Shaq's draft combine measurements put him at 7'1 WITHOUT shoes, at 303 lbs and with a 7'7 wingspan.

Yeah I posted that. It's incredible how big he is. I don't think many people realize how few players are legit 7 footers without shoes. Not to mention how few players have had ideal weights over 300 pounds(Shaq, Yao, Muresan....?)

More to the point, Moses wasn't really that good a defender; acceptable for most of his career, rewarded with an All-Defensive 2nd Team in '83 but in general, not a dominant defender.

Yeah but Shaq would have to use up some energy guarding Malone and fighting him for rebounds so it evens out. I'd say Shaq would average about 30 and 12 head to head with Malone.

Yeah, he was strong and stuff but Shaq's considerably heavier and taller.

Exactly and look what he did to similar sized Alonzo Mourning who was more athletic and a superior defender.

And getting "outplayed" by Olajuwon is a myth that anyone who watched the series or read the boxscores knows; Dream's team kicked Shaq's team's butt roundly, but Dream didn't do anything in the individual matchup that really rousted him and he was posting huge numbers himself.

Yeah here is Shaq and Hakeem head to head during the 1995 Finals.

Shaq- 28.0 ppg, 12.5 rpg, 6.3 apg, 2.5 bpg, 59.5 FG%
Hakeem- 32.8 ppg, 11.5 rpg, 5.5 apg, 2.0 bpg, 48.0 FG%

Shaq was probably better statistically, Hakeem was better as far as intangibles but who knows how the series would've turned out if Nick Anderson hadn't missed FOUR straight free throws when Orlando was up by 3.

Shaq and Hakeem head to head from 1993-1997
Shaquille O'Neal
25.9 ppg, 13.7 rpg, 3.4 apg, 1.3 bpg, 59.1 FG%

Hakeem Olajuwon
27.4 ppg, 9.6 rpg, 4.1 apg, 3.3 bpg, 47.8 FG%

Shaq's teams went 6-1 in those games. He outplayed Olajuwon usually averaging 4 more rpg, shooting over 11% better from the floor and averaging just 1.5 less ppg. That also didn't include Shaq's true prime in 2000 and 2001.