Shaquille O’Neal continues his criticisms of today’s NBA, mentioning its lack of defense, which he believes to be a total contrast during his years. He was particularly displeased during a Lakers-Spurs match where two players guard each other despite a considerable height difference.
In his podcast with co-host Adam Lefkoe and comedian Godfrey, O’Neal reflected on how the NBA had changed since his generation. He brought up how players like him back then would think of complex strategies to defeat formidable enemies, which, for him, is absent in today’s league.
“I hate that we’ve lost chasing the mystery. What I mean by that, every morning we had a shoot around to try to solve how the f**k we going to stop [Patrick] Ewing? How are we gonna f***ing stop Kevin Garnett? How are we going to stop Michael Jordan and his fucking triangle? How are we going to stop Utah and a million f***ing pick and rolls?,” O’Neal said.
Shaq says today’s NBA is “f*cking terrible” and soft, criticizing teams for lacking real defensive strategies and relying too much on switching everything on defense
“How do you switch a 5’11 guy on a 7’5 guy?”
(🎥 @bigpodwithshaq / https://t.co/ciIKDoO4Al) pic.twitter.com/mcQtdVUjK0
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) December 11, 2024
Shaq then recalled how Austin Reaves of the Los Angeles Lakers was guarding Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs during their match, which he finds concerning.
“Now, f***ing switching. I saw Lakers were playing the Spurs and you had f***ing Austin Reaves on f***ing Wembanyama. I turned the TV off. How you switch a 5’11” guy on a 7’5″ and expect him to be… I’m like, ‘Come on, man’ and turned the s**t off,” O’Neal added.
Physicalities and defensive strategies were the trend during Shaquille O’Neal’s era, as everyone had the primary duty to stop players like him from dominating the interior court. While people with sheer size are still present in today’s NBA, they focus on providing versatile, fast-paced gameplays like three-point shooting and positionless gameplay.
Shaquille O’Neal commends Memphis Grizzlies youngster for physicality low in today’s NBA
In another episode of “The Big Podcast with Shaq,” Shaquille O’Neal and his guest Alonzo Mourning praised Zach Edey of the Memphis Grizzlies for sharing their generation’s physical style.
Shaquille O’Neal and Mourning criticized the lack of defense in today’s NBA when they raised Edey. They were satisfied with the young’s gameplay.
“I watched Zach Edey the other day. drop stepping and doing a lot of jump hooks and that actually made me feel proud,” O’Neal said.
“We loved Zach Edey in our pre-draft workouts. I mean we were looking at him man and he had a great pre-draft workout with us. He’s one of those guys whose commited to get better and I love it,” Mourning added.
Edey averages 11.1 points and 6.9 rebounds at the Grizzlies. He is out of the court for a while due to an ankle injury.
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Dan has been active in sports since 2016 and has worked behind the scenes as a scriptwriter for basketball, volleyball, and other sports. At a time, Dan has also been working as a sports commentator for CBA Pilipinas. During the pandemic, he has also been actively writing betting articles for CashBet and BetNow.
