Oh Shaq, this is why I love you. To simply go against the mould, you can’t help but respect it. All you millennials (and I say that as a 19 year old) just see Michael Jordan, the shoes, “The Shot”, the dunks and immediately crown him as the GOAT.
Or maybe you’re just a sheep and call him the GOAT just because it’s the norm. “Hey, ESPN call him the GOAT, guess he is.” but if you actually take some time to research the game. You realise that it’s not clear cut. Yes. Jordan was revolutionary, I’m not debating that, what I am debating is this pedestal most of you have put him on. Shaquille O’Neal knows where I’m coming from. Granted he’s not questioning MJ’s pedestal like I am, he simply thinks that Dr. J, Julius Erving, is the greatest to ever lace up. It comes from the “MJ vs LeBron” debate that we constantly love to have for some reason. Shaq threw in his two cents, and then proceeded to say Dr. J is the best.
“It would be an interesting game,” said O’Neal. “Young LeBron was more like (Lakers Hall of Famer) Magic Johnson. He was sort of like Magic with Jordan’s abilities. He liked to pass, and he liked to get it up.
“But Mike was Mike. He was just special, like no one else. He always did things no one else could do, and things you couldn’t compare to anyone else. So he was special, and he’d win.”
“I’ve seen young Mike and young LeBron and I must say Dr. J is still my favourite player,” said O’Neal. “A lot of people today don’t even mention his name but to me I still think he was the best. But these are questions that we’ll never know the answer to.
I think there’s I minority of people that would have Dr. J as the best ever. They’d probably be old enough to see Erving ball but hey, it’s all about opinions. I don’t think MJ is the GOAT. Shaq doesn’t think it either. It’s all opinion. Deal with it.
