I have to put Shaq on the bottom half of the top 10 because he never fixed the flaw in his game - the FT shooting. Except for one bizarro year where he 62.2% of them, he was a coin flip at the FT line.
he shot 52.7% on FT for his career. Duncan shot 69.6% and Olajuwon shot 71.2% and both of them improved dramatically over time.
If Shaq had shot 70% instead of 52.7% from the free-throw line in his career, he would have scored an extra 1,941 points in his career. That is a staggering number.
Add that to his career totals and he's up over 30,000 points in his career and his scoring average goes from 23.7 to 25.3 per game.That small jump in points per game would have had him finish 11th in scoring average instead of 21st.
Magic Johnson was a rookie in the NBA 40 years ago and no one player before or since has matched that skill set in that size of body. Oscar Robertson (6 foot 5) and LeBron James (6 foot 8) come the closest, but I hold the unpopular, oft-ridiculed opinion that when it comes to the post 1980 NBA, it goes #1) Michael, #2) Magic. Unfortunately, he didn't take his personal life as seriously as his professional life and it cost him at least half a decade of basketball that had he kept playing in, he might have added 4,500 more assists and 450 more steals to his totals. That would have him top 2 in assists and top 10 in steals. Regardless, his talent combined with size is, IMO, the most unique in basketball history.
he shot 52.7% on FT for his career. Duncan shot 69.6% and Olajuwon shot 71.2% and both of them improved dramatically over time.
If Shaq had shot 70% instead of 52.7% from the free-throw line in his career, he would have scored an extra 1,941 points in his career. That is a staggering number.
Add that to his career totals and he's up over 30,000 points in his career and his scoring average goes from 23.7 to 25.3 per game.That small jump in points per game would have had him finish 11th in scoring average instead of 21st.
Magic Johnson was a rookie in the NBA 40 years ago and no one player before or since has matched that skill set in that size of body. Oscar Robertson (6 foot 5) and LeBron James (6 foot 8) come the closest, but I hold the unpopular, oft-ridiculed opinion that when it comes to the post 1980 NBA, it goes #1) Michael, #2) Magic. Unfortunately, he didn't take his personal life as seriously as his professional life and it cost him at least half a decade of basketball that had he kept playing in, he might have added 4,500 more assists and 450 more steals to his totals. That would have him top 2 in assists and top 10 in steals. Regardless, his talent combined with size is, IMO, the most unique in basketball history.