Greatest Peaks Ep. 9 | Shaquille O'Neal 2000-01

it's not strictly chronological, kg's confirmed to be after kobe (see the teaser at the very end of the kobe ep) theres like zero chance he's getting skipped, he was in the trailer and he's got one of the 5 highest peaks ever in ben's CORP (plus hes one of those historically under-appreciated players like david robinson so hes definitely getting an ep)

_kags

I can't believe he did

Please don’t tell me you are skipping KG 😥

I love thinking about the framework of overall value in this way. Shaq as a flawed defender but a slight positive on the defensive end. However, the bulk of his value coming from his almost goat level offense. It's just amazing to see Shaq's gravity and how he warped and broke defenses from his consistent ability to easy (or the easiest shots). Also, his off-ball and passing. I'm excited to see Steph's profile for this same reason. Steph seems to be almost like a Shaq comp in the respect of offensive gravity/good passing/off-ball movement, sans the power game. Overall, it's just interesting to see the contingent nature of measuring player value-- in the work of Thinking Basketball and others alike. I know doing this work requires a lot of humility because players like Steph and Shaq come along that break what we thought to be "Truth". Like, I've never thought of the greatest scorers as players who have and had the ability to generate easy shots. Now, it makes total sense to me.

Now I just want an Arvydas Sabonis honorable mention video for his play in Lithuania...

Isaac Gadberry

Is there any chance we might see an all-time starting five during this series?

Dirk '10-'11 may be covered instead of KD. KD's sub-optimal ability to make reads off the ball on offense and defense keeps him from having an all-time CORP value. But we'll see...

It's not going to be. He's not going to include the list I listed. He will have 6 more videos after Shaq. If I'm correct it will be Kobe 06-08, Duncan 01-03, Garnett 03-05, LeBron 12-14, Curry 16-18, and Durant 16-18. That would be my guess. I just listed the players that he had in Kobe's neighborhood according to his CORP. He said after the Hakeem one that he would only have 6 more player evaluatioins.

Liam I guess I'm just surprised those guys are listed too. Didn't expect this to be a 20 player series lol

Not for "peaks" they didn't. Robinson had the 12th best year (if all players were only allowed one) and Walton 14th. If I counted correctly Kobe is 18th.

While Kobe ranked higher for career value, both of the other players ranked higher on their single best seasons. I think that Kobe is just the highest player of the next group including Dwyane Wade, Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki, and maybe Chris Paul.

Kobe ranked higher than D Rob on his backpack rankings, and Walton wasn’t even ranked.

Somewhat surprised Kobe is making this cut based on your CORP ratings and the backpicks breakdown.. This must include quite a few players...

It flows better with Kobe and Shaq as teammates.

Either that or 06-08.

I know that Ben mentioned that it's roughly in chronological order, so I presume the Kobe video will be his 2008-10 yrs?

He said on twitter its only roughly chronological, that's probably why

Why are you doing Kobe next? I would have thought that Duncan and Garnett would be next since their peaks our earlier than Kobe's.

I have to agree with the passing. Did not know he had kind of passing skill. Great video

Yes! Finally, someone talked about Shaq's passing. When talking about him, most people would only mention his dominant interior scoring and not his underrated passing which added a dimension to him being an offensive threat. Shaq would probably take my number 2 spot on the greatest peaks only behind Jordan. Great work as always!

Jay

His passing really surprised me

Oh my goodness what a video!!!

If the GOAT conversation just started and stopped with "who was the best at their best" Shaq is probably the only player in modern basketball who could challenge MJ and Bron IMO.