"I'm most dominant center ever" - Shaquille O'Neal claps back at Mad Dog for placing him 5th on his list of best centers ever
Shaquille O'Neal wasn't happy with outspoken TV personality 'Mad Dog' for claiming that he's the fifth-best center of all time. O'Neal, like many members of the NBA community, was quick to fire back at the First Take co-host for claiming that there are four centers better than him in NBA history.
In Mad Dog's list, ahead of Shaquille O'Neal were Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, Hakeem Olajuwon and Moses Malone. The list didn't go over well with O'Neal's co-host, Stephen A. Smith and NBA vet Jay Williams, who both engaged in a debate regarding it.
Both alleged that Moses Malone, although a great player and top-tier rebounder, lacked the dominance that O'Neal had on the offensive end. In the case of Wilt Chamberlain, the duo argued that O'Neal deserved to be ahead of him in the rankings.
During a recent episode of The Big Podcast, Shaquille O'Neal himself weighed in, sharing his list of the top five centers of all time. However, he didn't list himself in the No. 1 spot.
"I'm the most dominant center ever," O'Neal said. "I don't ever want to hear another name again. Okay? So that will put me at number three. I passed Hakeem Olajuwon up. The king beat me. I came back and beat him. Moses Malone, I passed him up four or five, six years ago, before I retired. So me, I will put myself at number three."
A look into Shaquille O'Neal's list of the ten best NBA players of all time
Shaquille O'Neal's list of the top five centers of all time has certainly sparked quite a bit of debate on the heels of Mad Dog's comments. Despite that, this isn't the first time the Hall of Famer has weighed in on such a topic.
During an August interview with the LA Times, O'Neal spoke about his All-NBA First Team. He named Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Magic Johnson, and himself.
In his Second-Team All-NBA list, O'Neal named Steph Curry, Allen Iverson, Tim Duncan, Isiah Thomas, and Karl Malone. Interestingly enough, his list didn't include Kareem Abdul-Jabbar or Wilt Chamberlain.
In addition, O'Neal also named Dr. J, Julius Erving, as one of the greatest players of all time, despite the fact that Dr. J had previously left Shaq off his top 10 list. As NBA fans may recall, it was Erving who inspired Shaquille O'Neal to pursue basketball.
As the story goes, his adoptive father, Sgt. Phillip Arthur Harrison told him that if he improved his grades, he would take him to a basketball game. When he did, the father-son duo went to see Dr. J play at the Madison Square Garden.
When the legendary dunker drove to the paint and threw down a vicious dunk, O'Neal was in awe, immediately recognizing that he wanted to follow in his footsteps. The rest, as they say, is history.