here are a lot of “Top Ten” and “All Time Great” lists out there. But here at ShaqFu Radio, we’ve gotta say, this latest list from the Big Man is a first in our experience. A top all-time players list, ranked by player height!
What does that mean, you ask? Simple: Shaq has prepared his all-time best list, with just one player per height. For example, choosing the height of six feet, seven inches tall…Shaq chose Julius Erving (Doctor J, for those who remember) as the best player at that size. Interesting!
To make it even more interesting, Shaq made some … to use the word again … “interesting” choices. The size-ranked list does not include Michael Jordan or LeBron James. We’ll get to who Shaq picked for those two sizes in a moment. Keep in mind that the NBA has been around now for 75 years, and there were great players in virtually every generation. So picking only one player at a certain height to fill the new list was probably quite a good mental (and statistical) exercise.
Of course O’Neal is never one to back down from controversy, or to express his opinion. Like a lot of other fantasy gamers, he probably found it fun to compare players from different ages and styles of the NBA past and present.
OK, you’ve waited long enough. On to the list! For the record, Shaq’s player-size best-of list starts at six foot even (6’0”), and his selection as best player ever at that size is Allen Iverson. We can probably all agree that’s a good call. It gets more interesting from there.
On the smaller size-end of the list, it looks like this:
- 6’1” – Bob Cousy (Wow! Set the WayBack Machine for that one.)
- 6’2” – Kyrie Irving (More up-to-date, for sure.)
- 6’3” – Stephen Curry (No doubt.)
- 6’4” – Dwyane Wade (Former Heat teammate and all-round great guy.)
- 6’5” – James Harden (Fear the Beard.)
Time for the middle of the pack. BTW, this small-medium-large thing is our categories at ShaqFu Radio… you can sort ‘em any way you like.
- 6’6” – Kobe Bryant (Is there anyone else?)
- 6’7” – Julius Erving (Is there a doctor in the house? Yes!)
- 6’8” – Tracy McGrady (Hmmmm….)
- 6’9” – Karl Malone (Tell you why this is an interesting pick in a moment.)
- 6’10” – Bill Russell (All-Time Classic.)
- 6’11” – Kevin Durant (Still making good waves…)
- 7’0” – Dirk Nowitzki (Dallas superstar.)
- 7’1” – Shaquille O’Neal – (What? You thought it would be somebody else? Please!)
- 7’2” – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Another all-time classic… never to be forgotten.)
OK, so here’s the interesting names not on the list:
Michael Jordan – playing size: 6’6”. OK, we get it, that’s Kobe’s slot. Still, couldn’t we have made an exception and put the both of them on the list at that size? Still, we completely understand the selection. Bryant was, of course, Shaq’s Laker teammate and (later in life) close friend.
This one is a bit more divisive… and a lot more confusing. LeBron James. Depending on where you look online, King James is listed on the Lakers official website as six foot nine inches. That means – in Shaq’s opinion – that Karl Malone is the better player? Admittedly, that would have been a great matchup: Both super-physical, and alike in so many other ways.
But here’s where it gets a little weirder (more weird?). In their post about the new Shaq-list, website TheSportsRush.com says LeBron is six foot eight, and that puts Tracy McGrady in the same size-ranked list. Our opinion: No way is T-Mac the same level as King James. More clarification may be needed here…
Of course any list with only ONE player in any particular category (size, position, etc.) is going to miss some other all-time greats. Missing from this particular list: Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson, Jerry West, and Larry Bird.
Perhaps a little more info will be forthcoming from Shaq. After all, it was just a few months ago when O’Neal called LeBron the greatest small forward in the history of the game. So… no place on the list for the greatest to play the position? Hmmm…
Now, speaking of LeBron: He’s just inked a juicy new contract with the Lakers. It’s a two-year contract extension valued at about $85 million. James had two years left on his previous deal with the Lakers with a player option for next season, so it seems he’s going to be with LA for the foreseeable future.