The Top 10 NBA Players Ever - #8

This is yet another installment in my list of the top 10 NBA players of all time. It is admittedly a subjective list. Are individual statistics more important than the number of championships a player led his team to? Admittedly, these types of lists will always be contentious.

#8 Shaquille O'Neal
Shaq was far and away the most dominant player of the first half of the 2000s. In his first incarnation in Orlando, in an epic era of legendary centers, Shaq more than held his own. As they began to age, Shaq took over the league. He was an unstoppable force near the paint. He possessed an uncommon court awareness for a man with his finishing ability. He also intimidated opponents from driving to the basket.

Shaq left a generation of bewildered centers in his wake. No player relished having to guard the Diesel. Teams eventually realized that a traditional center couldn't stop Shaq. No one could. So, opposing coaches went with quicker smaller guys or good outside shooters against Shaq in the hopes of getting some offensive production from their own center. The league still has a dearth of low post scoring bigmen as a result.

O'Neal was such a scoring threat from the field, and such a liability at the free throw line, the NBA had to change the rules because opponents would intentionally foul Shaq off the ball late in games. Now, the Hack-a-Shaq tactic with less than two minutes to go resorts in the offensive team getting free throws and possession of the ball. Shaq has led the league in scoring twice and has been in the top 5 7 more times. Shaq, who currently averages 23.8 ppg for his career, has the 5th most points in NBA history. He has the 2nd highest FG% ever (58.2%)

Shaq's playoff numbers are better than his regular season averages. He's averaging 24.5 ppg in the postseason and 11.7 rpg (10.9 in the regular season). He has led his teams to 4 championships and two more NBA Finals. Shaq's clubs have missed the playoffs only twice during his 18 year career (those came when he was rookie and with the 2008-9 Suns when Shaq was 36 years old).

O'Neal won the MVP award in 1999-2000. He has finished in the top 10 in the MVP voting 13 times. He's won 3 Finals MVPs, all during the three-peat with the Lakers. Shaq is an 8 time All-NBA 1st team member. He made the 2nd or 3rd team 6 other times. He was also voted to the All-Defensive 2nd team 3 times.

But Shaq's strongest attribute was the utter devastation he caused on the offensive end. If you wanted to win the title during his prolonged heyday, you needed someone to deal with Shaq. Often times, opponents would use at least three revolving players to guard/foul O'Neal as a desperate ploy to slow Shaq's scoring. It rarely worked. Instead, Shaq was able to display his array of slick post moves coupled with some of the most frightening dunks.