Regardless of what you think of Shaq at this point in his career, he is still without question one of the best big men ever. Plus he seems more motivated with the Suns this season since he knows he has to play well to help them win and stay competitive in the West.
Anyhow, my point is that Shaq's a future Hall of Famer who knows a bit about the position, and last night he matched up against Greg Oden - and utterly dominated him when the two were on the floor.
The two went against each other mostly in the second and third quarters, and Shaq even dunked on Oden at one point in the third.
Their stat lines were also drastically different. Shaq finished with 19 points and 17 rebounds, going 8-for-12 from the field while playing a strong 36 minutes. Oden, finished with just five points, one rebound, and five personal fouls in 14 minutes of action.
By the way, just in case you think Oden's a stiff because he couldn't do much against Shaq, let's all remember that Shaq also bested Andrew Bynum when the Suns played the Lakers this year. Bynum is a ways ahead of Oden, but he too is a long way from being anywhere near Shaq - even at Shaq's current advanced age.
After the game, Shaq was asked for his thought's on Oden.
"I don't give up the secrets," Shaq said. "He just has to get comfortable in his own niche, develop his own style, and just master that. Once he does that, he'll be fine."
Shaq also said he hadn't exactly been ooking at his matchup against Oden as any big deal, and that it wasn't something on his mind.
"It never is, because I'm the Shogun. And before you get to the Shogun, you gotta go through a lot of ninjas. He has to go through Dwight Howard and Yao Ming, and you know, by that time I'll be outta here."
Classic Shaq. God I'll miss that guy when he retires.
It's still early for Oden, but his matchup with Shaq proves just how much work and dedication it'll take for him to even come close to ever reaching what Shaq is at age 36, let alone what Shaq was at 28 or 29.
We should keep in mind though that Oden also played two fewer years of college ball than Shaq did, and that he missed a full year with knee surgery, so getting his feet wet in the NBA will take longer than normal. But it's also hard to ignore the fact that when Shaq came into the league, he was a force from Game 1 on. Oden has shown minor flashes, but they're few and far between so far.
Oden still has plenty of potential, and like Shaq says, I think he'll eventually find his spot. But as the sun sets on Shaq's career, I'm fairly certain that Oden will never come close to producing in the way that the Diesel did over his career. Not to say that Oden won't be a good player, just that if you're looking for him to be Shaq 2.0, forget it.
Shaq dominates in first meeting with Oden [Fanhouse]
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