[MSNBC] Don't be fooled

We'll see Sunday

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David J. Phillip / AP Don't be fooled: Shaq
vs. Yao is no rivalry
Pundits, All-Star voters wrong:
O'Neal owns overrated Rocket
Shaquille O'Neal has dominated nearly every matchup he's had with Yao Ming, proff that despite what pundits say, there isn't much of a rivalry between the two players, writes NBCSports.com's Mike Celizic.
COMMENTARY
By Mike Celizic
NBCSports.com contributor
Updated: 2:25 p.m. ET Jan. 28, 2005

For the 12th time in three years, the NBA hypemeisters are ballyhooing a confrontation between Yao Ming and Shaquille O’Neal, as if it were the second coming of Wilt Chamberlain vs. Bill Russell. The only problem with that storyline is that no matter how many All-Star votes Yao gets, he’s still not in the same league as Shaq.

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Let’s face it. At the age of 24, Yao isn’t nearly the center Shaq was at that age or is now. All the All-Star votes in the world aren’t going to change the fact that the big man from China who was going to be the next great NBA center isn’t even the best center in the West; San Antonio's Tim Duncan and Phoenix's Amare Stoudamire, who is two years younger than Yao, vie for that title, though both also could be considered power forwards.

If this great battle of the giants is ever going to be what it’s played up to be, Yao is going to have to start doing his part. Shaq will be 33 on March 6 and doesn’t have that much time left for his alleged rival to catch up.

There have been 11 previous meetings between the two, six in the regular season and five in the playoffs. They are 3-3 in the regular-season meetings, but, in the only playoff series in which the two have faced each other, Shaq and the Lakers are 4-1 against the Rockets and Yao.

Shaq has outscored Yao when they’ve gone head-to-head, 22.1-16.1 points per game. At 9.8 rebounds per game, he’s 1.5 boards ahead of Yao. Yao has averaged 1.9 blocks and an identical number of assists; Shaq, who, at 7-foot-1 is five inches shorter, has averaged 2.5 blocks and 2.8 assists. Shaq plays nearly eight minutes more per game than Yao.

None of these numbers adds up to a true rivalry. Shaq was better when Yao arrived and remains better. The newcomer has narrowed the gap a bit, but he’s nowhere near closing it.

Individual rivalries have always been the NBA’s meat and potatoes. Larry Bird and Magic Johnson defined a generation and drove the league to unparalleled heights of popularity. Before them, it was Wilt and Russell.

There’s a dearth of those rivalries today. A big part of that is because there aren’t two dominant teams with great stars playing the same position whose match-ups you have to watch.

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Vote: Who's the better center?




But it takes great players to make great teams. Shaq is one of those players, an athletic monster who can control a game on offense and defense, one of the few truly dominating centers in the history of the NBA.

Yao was supposed to be another one, but he hasn’t nearly lived up to his advance billing. He has a lot of great qualities, among them humility and civility. All-Star voters love the guy, giving him more votes than anyone in the balloting, including Shaq.

But he’s not a dominant player; he doesn’t scare the pants off of you when he gets the ball in the post. Because he doesn’t, when he plays Shaq, you don’t feel you need to watch. Regardless of which team wins the ballgame, you know that Shaq will win the contest at center. Yao will hit a higher percentage of free throws — a sixth grader will hit more than Shaq — but Shaq will take more. The big man in Miami already has taken more than 100 free throws more than Yao has, and that’s because the only way to stop Shaq is to foul him.

And there’s the real problem with this rivalry that isn’t. There’s more to being a great center than standing 7-6 and weighing 310 pounds, just as there’s more to being a great point guard than having a terrific crossover dribble.

Considering all the large bodies that have come through the NBA, it’s amazing how few truly great centers there have been. The reason is that playing center is as much about attitude as altitude.

Some of the great ones haven’t been even seven feet tall. Put Russell, Moses Malone and Willis Reed in that group. And some of the giants haven’t been that good — just look at Shawn Bradley, Ralph Samson, and Manute Bol.

What all great centers have in common is assertiveness and aggression. And power. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is one of the exceptions, the great center who wasn’t bulging with muscles. He was as agile as anyone on the court, a center who scored not by taking it to the hoop but by that graceful sky hook he made his own. Hakeem Olajuwon was the same way.

Both Kareem and Hakeem had that aggression, the determination to beat the other muscular giant. Shaq has it in abundance. He’s always figured he’s the biggest, strongest, baddest man on the court, and he feels obliged to show you how pathetic and puny you are by powering right through you and slamming the ball down in your face. The first tattoo he got was a Superman “S” on his bicep. That pretty much tells you what he thinks of himself.

Yao isn’t even going to get a tattoo that matches Shaq’s. It’s not him. He doesn’t give you the impression he’s burning with passion to embarrass and humiliate the opposition. If he had that, he’d lead the league in rebounding and he’d collect more fouls. He’d average more points and more minutes played. He would, in short, dominate the way a man who’s often got six inches on his opposite number should.

You wouldn’t mind having him as your center. You can’t, as the saying goes, coach 7-6. But if you do have him, you might want to stop believing that he just needs to learn the NBA game and work more to be the next Shaq. You might want to consider that this is what he is, Shawn Bradley with muscle; a useful player, even a desirable one, but not the guy who’s going to carry a team on his back to the NBA finals.

There’s still time for him to prove that assessment wrong. But if he’s going to take over as the NBA’s reigning big time, he’s going to have to bring it against the current king. Sunday when he lines up against Shaq for meeting number 12, would be a good time to start.

Mike Celizic writes regularly for NBCSports.com and is a freelance writer based in New York.