Speaker 1: This episode is brought to you by all State. Some
Speaker 1: people just know they could save hundreds on car insurance
Speaker 1: by checking all State first, Like you know, to check
Speaker 1: the date of the Big game first before you accidentally
Speaker 1: buy tickets on your twentieth wedding anniversary and have to
Speaker 1: spend the next twenty years of your marriage making up
Speaker 1: for it. Yeah, checking first is smart, So check all
Speaker 1: State first for a quote that could save you hundreds.
Speaker 1: You're in good hands with All States savings. Very terms
Speaker 1: apply All State Fire and Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates, Northbrook, Illinois.
Speaker 2: All Right, Welcome in to another special edition of What's
Speaker 2: Right with Nick Wright. The podcast and YouTube show our
Speaker 2: countdown of the fifty greatest players of the last fifty years.
Speaker 2: Now players fifteen through ten, where we're really tall talking
Speaker 2: about the true top tier Pantheon greats, where we talk
Speaker 2: Isaiah Thomas, Kevin Durant Yannis, the two best guys on
Speaker 2: arguably the greatest team ever, Moses and Doctor j who
Speaker 2: teamed up in the eighty three six ers, and of
Speaker 2: course Steph Curry. Those rankings were a little difficult because
Speaker 2: three of those six guys still active players. Hell, when
Speaker 2: we recorded the Steph Curry segment his season was still
Speaker 2: going on. Yannis, could he what would have happened had
Speaker 2: he won the title this year? Durant? How much was
Speaker 2: his ranking affected by them losing in round one this year?
Speaker 2: Spoiler alert? His ranking wasn't actually negatively affected, but it
Speaker 2: could have obviously been positively affected had they gone on
Speaker 2: to make the finals or win the title. These two
Speaker 2: guys we get to today as we are now into
Speaker 2: the top nine, have been long retired. However, one of them,
Speaker 2: I'm sure all of you have a litany of fire
Speaker 2: memories of and the other I think you're going to
Speaker 2: hear his name, be like I always hear about what
Speaker 2: a great player he is, and I'm sure you watched
Speaker 2: him win his titles. But I don't think anybody. I
Speaker 2: shouldn't say anybody. I think most of you will be
Speaker 2: shocked by the jaw dropping numbers these two guys nine
Speaker 2: to eight. Spoiler alert. They're both sinners. And if you
Speaker 2: know it's the fifty Grays players the last fifty years,
Speaker 2: you probably know who they are. Now their playoff dominance
Speaker 2: has almost been undersold, even if you know they were dominant.
Speaker 2: So let's get right into the list. We are down
Speaker 2: to only two people per episode. Eventually we'll get to
Speaker 2: one person per episode. But number nine on the list
Speaker 2: is Shaquille O'Neill. Number nine, Shaquille O'Neill. Shaquille O'Neill will
Speaker 2: go over the resume quickly and then we'll get to
Speaker 2: the playoff stuff and then we'll have a long discussion.
Speaker 2: Eight time first Team All NBA, two time second Team
Speaker 2: All NBA, four time Third Team All NBA. That is
Speaker 2: fourteen all NBA teams, tied for the fifth most ever.
Speaker 2: He only won one MVP, which is insanity, but eight
Speaker 2: times he finished in the top five. He's a two
Speaker 2: time scoring champion. He's three time All Defense. He is
Speaker 2: eighth all time in blocks. He has eighth all time
Speaker 2: in points. Over his ten year prime, he averaged twenty
Speaker 2: eight points, twelve rebounds, three assists, three blocks in year
Speaker 2: two at age twenty one years old, fresh out LSU.
Speaker 2: He was twenty nine and thirteen that good in year two.
Speaker 2: He also was the guy who allowed me kind of
Speaker 2: set the precedent for me including Luca in my fifty
Speaker 2: of the last fifty because he was included on the
Speaker 2: NBA's fifty year anniversary team, even though he'd only been
Speaker 2: in the league five years. Before I get into the
Speaker 2: playoffs stuff. I want to say something about shaq I
Speaker 2: think you could argue, In fact, I would argue under
Speaker 2: these parameters, he would be considered the greatest player ever.
Speaker 2: If the question is you can have any player in
Speaker 2: NBA history for one game at his apex peak of
Speaker 2: his powers, who are you choosing? My answer is Shaquille O'Neal,
Speaker 2: Because as great as Jordan was, as great as Kareem was,
Speaker 2: as great as Lebron was, even at their apex peak,
Speaker 2: they might have an off night. It's unlikely, but they
Speaker 2: might have an off night. As I will prove to
Speaker 2: you during Shaquille O'Neill's true apex peak, he never had
Speaker 2: an off night when he cared. Ever, he had a
Speaker 2: three year run of not only zero bad finals games,
Speaker 2: but fifteen for fifteen on outstanding kick your teeth in
Speaker 2: finals games. But that's not that's not the only reason
Speaker 2: he's ninth on the list. But it's one hell of
Speaker 2: a start, okay. So let's get to the playoffs. He's
Speaker 2: a four time champion. He has three finals MVPs. He
Speaker 2: has six finals appearances, and he was the unquestioned best
Speaker 2: player on five of those six finalists. I would argue
Speaker 2: he was the best player on the sixth finalist, the
Speaker 2: six Heat during the regular season, but in the playoff run,
Speaker 2: obviously d Wade was the best player. And in fact,
Speaker 2: here's a shocking stat antwin Walker was the second leading
Speaker 2: scorer during the finals on those Miami Heat teams. Shaq
Speaker 2: was third leading scorer. But we'll get We'll spend more
Speaker 2: time on that once we get to that year of
Speaker 2: his career. So let's just go and this is gonna
Speaker 2: be how we do it. I need to take a
Speaker 2: sip of this coffee because there are going to be
Speaker 2: a lot of numbers here. I understand for podcast listeners,
Speaker 2: even for the YouTube viewers, it can be a lot
Speaker 2: to process. But I know sometimes you listen to podcasts
Speaker 2: on one and a half speed. You might want to
Speaker 2: even slow this down because we're giving you a lot
Speaker 2: of numbers, but they are all jaw dropping. Nineteen ninety four,
Speaker 2: his first playoff game ever, twenty four points, nineteen rebounds,
Speaker 2: three assists, two steals, five blocks. That is his first
Speaker 2: playoff game of his career. The very next year, the series,
Speaker 2: we pretend didn't happen. Hey, raise your hand if you
Speaker 2: were the best player on a team that beat Michael
Speaker 2: Jordan in a playoff series during Jordan's prime. You know
Speaker 2: who gets to raise his hand, Shaquille O'Neill. And that's it.
Speaker 2: Nineteen ninety five against the Bulls averages twenty four points,
Speaker 2: thirteen rebounds, four assists, two blocks. Us to get to
Speaker 2: the finals. In the next round, in the conference finals,
Speaker 2: averages twenty seven to ten, including two different games with
Speaker 2: at least thirty five points and ten rebounds. In the
Speaker 2: finals against the greatest defensive player of the last fifty years,
Speaker 2: a Kim Olajuan. He's in his third year. He's in
Speaker 2: the finals against a keeam. Twenty eight points per game,
Speaker 2: thirteen rebounds per game, six assists per game on sixty
Speaker 2: percent shooting. But they got swept. Nick Anderson misses the
Speaker 2: four free throws and the shock getting swept was going
Speaker 2: to be a theme. But when I tell you twenty eight,
Speaker 2: thirteen and six on sixty percent shooting in the finals,
Speaker 2: now keep this in mind. That will be the worst
Speaker 2: finals performance we see from Shack over the next decade.
Speaker 2: Nineteen ninety six, the very next year, starts the playoffs,
Speaker 2: or starts round two off with a forty one, thirteen
Speaker 2: and six to the Eastern Conference Finals against those seventy
Speaker 2: two win balls, but the Bulls then sweeping. So now
Speaker 2: he got swept by a team and got swept by Michael.
Speaker 2: How did Shack do when he got swept? Just a
Speaker 2: humble twenty seven points, eleven rebounds, four assists, two steals,
Speaker 2: two blocks. That was his average while getting swept. One
Speaker 2: of the reasons he left, like, Okay, I give you
Speaker 2: twenty seven eleven, four to two and two. When I
Speaker 2: get my ass swept out of the playoffs, may I
Speaker 2: need to leave? Goes to LA first playoff game with
Speaker 2: the Lakers forty six and eleven, and then they play
Speaker 2: Utah in round two, loses to Utah. Averages for the
Speaker 2: playoffs twenty seven, eleven and three nineteen ninety eight. In
Speaker 2: his first Western Conference Finals averages for the playoff run
Speaker 2: in nineteen ninety eight, not for his series, not for
Speaker 2: the entire playoff run. In nineteen ninety eight, Shaquille O'Neal
Speaker 2: averages thirty one points, eleven rebounds, three assists, three blocks
Speaker 2: on sixty one percent shooting In his first Western Conference Finals,
Speaker 2: he has a thirty nine and fifteen followed by a
Speaker 2: thirty eight and seven. Lost both those games because he
Speaker 2: got swept again. So this is young Kobe. Kobe as
Speaker 2: the airballs. He's not ready shack again on Carl Malone
Speaker 2: and the defending Western Conference champion Jazz hangs a thirty
Speaker 2: nine and fifteen, fall by thirty eight and seven, loses
Speaker 2: them both, and now it's like, oh boy, like shack
Speaker 2: Sher gets swept a lot the next year, nineteen ninety
Speaker 2: nine for the playoffs, averages twenty seven and twelve. But
Speaker 2: guess what happens to him in round two? Guy named
Speaker 2: Tim Duncan is in the league. Now he sweeps him.
Speaker 2: So now Shaq's swept again, and people are like, oh boy,
Speaker 2: as great as Shaq is and as great as the
Speaker 2: numbers are, isn't it weird? He keeps getting swept? So
Speaker 2: how does Shaquille O'Neal respond? He responds with what I
Speaker 2: believe to be the most dominant three year stretch of
Speaker 2: any player in league hist more dominant than anything Kareem,
Speaker 2: Michael Lebron, Magic, anyone ever did. So this is this
Speaker 2: go where you know pull up a chair, boys and girls,
Speaker 2: we're gonna need a minute talk about these three years
Speaker 2: because these are the again. This is well, I'll just
Speaker 2: the numbers will prove it to you. Two thousand for
Speaker 2: the playoffs averages thirty one points, fifteen rebounds, three assists,
Speaker 2: two blocks, one of the most dominant start to finish
Speaker 2: playoff runs ever. But it's not even his best. His
Speaker 2: best will come next year. He started the playoffs off
Speaker 2: with a forty six points, seventeen rebound, five block game
Speaker 2: the first three games of round two thirty seven and
Speaker 2: fourteen thirty eight and twenty thirty seven and seventeen. He
Speaker 2: starts off round three with forty one points, eleven rebounds,
Speaker 2: seven assists, five blocks. And then that's that was the
Speaker 2: series against Portland. They're up three to one was game five,
Speaker 2: those Game six, they're down fifteen, and the fourth in
Speaker 2: game seven, and then the iconic Kobe to shaq dunk
Speaker 2: to get them in the finals. And then in the finals,
Speaker 2: and each game of these finals deserves massive recognition. Okay,
Speaker 2: in the finals, Game one, forty three points, nineteen rebounds,
Speaker 2: Game two forty points, twenty four rebounds. That was the
Speaker 2: game hack of Shack was kind of invented. He shot
Speaker 2: thirty nine free throws that game. He missed twenty one
Speaker 2: of them, so he missed twenty one three throws still
Speaker 2: out of forty and twenty four. Game three, excuse me,
Speaker 2: thirty three and thirteen, Game four, thirty six and twenty one,
Speaker 2: Game five, thirty five and eleven, Game six, forty one
Speaker 2: and twelve. That's six games to win his first ring.
Speaker 2: His worst game was thirty three and thirteen, Like I said,
Speaker 2: not his best playoff run, not his best finals. Then
Speaker 2: next year you could argue, there's the greatest team of
Speaker 2: all time, the O one Lakers. They lost one playoff
Speaker 2: game the entire time. Kobe was ascending and Shack was
Speaker 2: well unstoppable for the playoff run thirty points, fifteen rebounds,
Speaker 2: fifty five percent shooting. Sweeps Portland in round one, starts
Speaker 2: off a sweep of Sacramento with forty four and twenty one,
Speaker 2: followed by forty three to twenty, back to back forty
Speaker 2: and twenties to say, Sacramento, nice, try next year you'll
Speaker 2: have a real chance. Not this year, they sweet. Now
Speaker 2: he gets revenge. He sweeps the Spurs in round three,
Speaker 2: and then their one loss of the finals, the one
Speaker 2: loss of the playoffs, Game one, the famous Allen Iverson
Speaker 2: stepover game. Shaquille O'Neal in that game forty four points,
Speaker 2: twenty rebounds, five assists, forty four to twenty and five.
Speaker 2: Game two, this is the forgotten near quadruple double. We
Speaker 2: talk about Tim Duncan almost having a quadruple double quite
Speaker 2: a bit. Game two he has twenty eight points, twenty rebounds,
Speaker 2: nine assists, eight blocks, twenty eight to twenty nine and
Speaker 2: eight to even up the series. Averaged for the series
Speaker 2: thirty three, sixteen and five on fifty seven percent forty
Speaker 2: five minutes per game. And here's the other thing. Everyone says, oh, well,
Speaker 2: that Sixers team didn't have enough talent, that Sixers team
Speaker 2: didn't have offensive talent. But you know who they did
Speaker 2: have playing center, the defensive player of the year to
Speaker 2: Kembe Matambo. So Shaquille O'Neal in the finals to win
Speaker 2: his second ring against the defensive player of the year
Speaker 2: averages thirty three to sixteen and five on forty on
Speaker 2: fifty seven percent. The next year. Okay, now they're facing
Speaker 2: real adversity, Kobe and Check starting to fray. They've won
Speaker 2: back to back titles. You know, the only three peat
Speaker 2: is Jordan. He's the only guy to do it, did
Speaker 2: it twice with the only three peat posts you know
Speaker 2: in the modern era. Down three to two to Sacramento.
Speaker 2: In the historic and questionably a fifitiated Game six, he
Speaker 2: hung a forty one and seventeen on them, including thirteen
Speaker 2: of seventeen at the free throw line. Game seven he
Speaker 2: hangs a thirty five and thirteen on them in a
Speaker 2: win in overtime, including eleven of fifteen from the free
Speaker 2: throw line. So when Shack says, I made him, when
Speaker 2: I counted. During their three championship years with the Lakers,
Speaker 2: they faced they only truly faced adversity in one series, well,
Speaker 2: two series, the Portland Series the first year and then
Speaker 2: this series. But facing elimination game six and seven, he
Speaker 2: is a combined from the free throw line twenty four
Speaker 2: of thirty two that's seventy five percent okay in the finals,
Speaker 2: averages thirty six points, thirteen rebounds, four assists, three blocks.
Speaker 2: The games were as follows, thirty six and sixteen, forty
Speaker 2: twelve and eight, thirty five and eleven, thirty four and ten.
Speaker 2: So those three years from two thousand to two thousand
Speaker 2: and two, Shaquille O'Neal in the finals fifteen Finals games
Speaker 2: twelve and three, overall record, averaging thirty six points, fifteen rebounds,
Speaker 2: four assists, three blocks on sixty percent shooting. Nobody can
Speaker 2: argue anyone's ever been more dominant in the biggest moment
Speaker 2: than Shock during those three years, and then we can
Speaker 2: be quick the rest of the way. In two thousand
Speaker 2: and three, as the three time defending champ, throws up
Speaker 2: a twenty nine to fifteen to four and three against
Speaker 2: Kevin Garnett in round one or no averages pardon me
Speaker 2: averages twenty nine to fifteen to four and three against
Speaker 2: Kevin Garnett in round one, including when they were down
Speaker 2: two to one in that series, throws up a thirty
Speaker 2: four point, twenty three rebound, six assist game in the
Speaker 2: they end up lose, using to the Spurs are going
Speaker 2: to win the title. He averages twenty five to fourteen
Speaker 2: and four. The next year, they're back in the finals.
Speaker 2: Everyone on that team struggled except for Shaq, who once
Speaker 2: again had to deal with the defensive player of the
Speaker 2: year this one and Ben Wallace. Howd he do twenty
Speaker 2: seven points, eleven rebounds per game on sixty three percent shooting.
Speaker 2: He had a thirty four and eleven and a thirty
Speaker 2: six and twenty. They lost both of those. Two thousand
Speaker 2: and five, he goes to Miami. They instantly get to
Speaker 2: the conference finals, but they lose to Detroit in seven.
Speaker 2: And in two thousand and six, he really he had
Speaker 2: a couple great playoff moments with the Heat. That year,
Speaker 2: he had a thirty point, twenty rebound, five assist game
Speaker 2: to beat Chicago in round one and to get to
Speaker 2: the finals. To get that Heat team to the finals,
Speaker 2: this was his last really great playoff game, twenty eight points,
Speaker 2: sixteen rebounds, five blocks on twelve to fourteen shooting to
Speaker 2: clinch a finals appearance. And then in the finals, he
Speaker 2: wasn't great. D Wade was And that's kind of the
Speaker 2: end of it. So how does the all time playoff
Speaker 2: resume look? Twelve career forty point playoff games that's eighth
Speaker 2: all time, fifty five career thirty point playoff games, that's
Speaker 2: eighth all time. Forty nine career thirty and ten playoff
Speaker 2: games that's fourth all time. Twelve career forty and ten
Speaker 2: playoff games that's third all time twenty five career playoff
Speaker 2: games with a game score that's Basketball Reference is catch
Speaker 2: all metric of at least thirty the only people with
Speaker 2: more Lebron and Mike Lebron and Michael. He's fifth all
Speaker 2: time in playoff points. He's fourth all time in playoff rebounds.
Speaker 2: He's fourth all time in playoff box. He's fifth all
Speaker 2: time in finals points per game at twenty eight point three.
Speaker 2: His career playoff average over two hundred and sixteen games,
Speaker 2: which is two and a half full seasons of playoff basketball,
Speaker 2: is twenty four points, twelve rebounds, three assists, two blocks.
Speaker 2: That's Shaquille O'Neil. That's how you become one of the
Speaker 2: nine greatest players ever. We have a Shaquille O'Neal caller.
Speaker 2: Let's get to him. Question about Shack one for twenty
Speaker 2: two in his career from behind the arc. If Shaq
Speaker 2: played now, do you think he would bomb threes? He
Speaker 2: would not bomb threes. And Wilds, who is my beloved
Speaker 2: colleague and coworker, found a way to almost put a
Speaker 2: damper on what was just a brilliant fifteen minutes of
Speaker 2: Shaquille O'Neal love with us. He would need to bomb threes,
Speaker 2: just like Kevin Durantz asking him how he would guard
Speaker 2: the pick and roll, and Shaq correctly said, here's the thing,
Speaker 2: you would not be able to guard me. There is
Speaker 2: no era in which Shaq would not be utterly dominant.
Speaker 2: He did it against anyone and everyone. The defensive player
Speaker 2: of the year doesn't matter. At his peak. No one
Speaker 2: could hold him under thirty five and fifteen a game
Speaker 2: ninth best player last fifty years. Shaquille O'Neill, the eighth
Speaker 2: best player of the last fifty years is a guy
Speaker 2: who beat Shaquille O'Neil in one of those finals. You
Speaker 2: know who he is. We discussed him next.
Speaker 3: This episode is brought to you by Unstoppable. Discover the
Speaker 3: inspiring true story about Anthony Roblasts, who defined every expectation
Speaker 3: to become a national wrestling champion, and Unstoppable, a new
Speaker 3: original movie from Amazon MGM Studios and director William Goldenberg,
Speaker 3: evoking the excitement and camaraderie of classic sports dramas and
Speaker 3: thrilling wrestling matches. Unstoppable features an all star ensemble cast
Speaker 3: including Jerrell Jerome, Jennifer Lopez, Don Cheatle Michael Tania and
Speaker 3: Bobby Canavalli. Watch Unstoppable now exclusively on Amazon Prime Video.
Speaker 2: All right, welcome back in What's Right with Nick Right.
Speaker 2: Fifty Grands Players of the Last fifty years. Very fun, little
Speaker 2: surprise for you after we do player number eight at
Speaker 2: the end of this episode, which is, well, I don't
Speaker 2: want to spoil it. You'll be able. It's worth. It's
Speaker 2: worth even if you're not interested in player number eight,
Speaker 2: which you should be, it's almost worth skipping ahead to
Speaker 2: hear that. But don't do that. Listen to player number eight,
Speaker 2: which is we just did Shack at number nine, And
Speaker 2: while you're going through Shack at nine, your tendency is Jesus,
Speaker 2: should he be higher? Like I gave all those argument
Speaker 2: should he be higher? And a lot of people have
Speaker 2: him ahead of the person I have at number eight.
Speaker 2: I do not, and I will explain why. Number eight
Speaker 2: on the fifty Grays Players the Last fifty years, Number
Speaker 2: eight a Keem Elijah On. So let's go through the
Speaker 2: resume here quickly. Six time first team All NBA, three
Speaker 2: times second Team All NBA, three time third Team All NBA.
Speaker 2: At a time when All NBA first Team center was
Speaker 2: a hell of a hard thing to get. You had
Speaker 2: David Robinson, you had Patrick Ewing, you had at the
Speaker 2: beginning of his career, you had late stage Kareem at
Speaker 2: the end of his career, you had early stage Shack.
Speaker 2: So those first team All NBA center spots were almost impossible.
Speaker 2: He won the MVP once. He was Top five in
Speaker 2: the MVP six times. He was Top seven ten times.
Speaker 2: He's a two time Defensive Player of the Year. More
Speaker 2: on that, he's nine time All defense. He has he is,
Speaker 2: in my opinion, and I think it's inarguable the best
Speaker 2: defensive player on this list. The only person who you
Speaker 2: could argue is a better defender all time is Bill Russell.
Speaker 2: And that's it's so different of a game back then.
Speaker 2: But in the last fifty years he's the greatest defensive player,
Speaker 2: and I think because of that he's become an underrated
Speaker 2: offensive player. We'll explain why. But he's twelfth all time
Speaker 2: in points. He's ninth all time in steals. No other
Speaker 2: center is in the top sixty. So all time steals,
Speaker 2: he's ninth. No other center is in the top sixty.
Speaker 4: That is an interesting stat.
Speaker 2: It's unbelievable. He has the most blocks. Ever, by six hundred,
Speaker 2: he has I think thirty eight hundred blocks. Second most
Speaker 2: is thirty two hundred. So think about that. The guy
Speaker 2: who's in second place on the all time blocks list
Speaker 2: would need to have four more seasons of two blocks
Speaker 2: a game to catch a Kam impossible. So he's the
Speaker 2: greatest defensive player second on the all time blocks list.
Speaker 2: Oh gosh, I should know that off the top of
Speaker 2: my head, but I don't. So let's find out together.
Speaker 2: We will find out together in real time. I did
Speaker 2: Kim Bagmtumbo. Yeah to Kim bag Mtumbo, who, by the way,
Speaker 2: defensive player of the year who Shack annihilated in the
Speaker 2: one finals. We're talking about M Tumble's at thirty two hundred.
Speaker 2: A team's at thirty eight hundred. So now let's get
Speaker 2: into a team's playoff resume. Because everyone remembers the two rings.
Speaker 2: I don't think they quite remember who he went through
Speaker 2: for those two rings, but they certainly don't remember the
Speaker 2: fact that I think most people don't know a Keem
Speaker 2: went to the finals before nineteen ninety four. So we'll
Speaker 2: get into it. Nineteen eighty five. He is a rookie.
Speaker 2: They are in game five of round one against Utah.
Speaker 2: Keep in minds when round one's best of five, so
Speaker 2: it's you know, do or die game as a rookie.
Speaker 2: In his first elimination game, thirty two points, fourteen rebounds,
Speaker 2: six blocks, but they lose. He's a rookie. At that
Speaker 2: point in time, nobody was questioning the team over Michael
Speaker 2: Jordan drafting nobody. Keeame was the no doubt guy. Nineteen
Speaker 2: eighty six year two, second year. Obviously in the second
Speaker 2: year he's in the finals. He started the playoffs off
Speaker 2: with twenty nine points, fifteen rebounds, four blocks. He started
Speaker 2: round two off with thirty eight points, sixteen rebounds, four assists,
Speaker 2: six steals, five blocks. Almost had a five by five
Speaker 2: game in the playoff in his second year to go
Speaker 2: along with thirty eight points one assist, shy of one
Speaker 2: of the only five by five games. That's where that's
Speaker 2: so much more important than a triple double. That's where
Speaker 2: you have at least five of every category, and he
Speaker 2: would have done it with thirty eight points averaged for
Speaker 2: that round two series averaged twenty nine points, thirteen rebounds,
Speaker 2: three assists, two steals, four blocks. Can you imagine a
Speaker 2: dude averaging four blocks for a series today, okay, to
Speaker 2: go up two to one on the defending champion Lakers,
Speaker 2: who had Kareem and Magic and worthy to go up
Speaker 2: two to one on them. He put up forty to
Speaker 2: twelve averaged for the series thirty one eleven with four blocks,
Speaker 2: and outplayed Kareem Abdul Jabbar. He's in his second year.
Speaker 2: In his first finals game ever against the eighty six Celtics,
Speaker 2: the team that I don't argue, but some people argue
Speaker 2: is the single greatest team ever. He had thirty three points,
Speaker 2: twelve rebound facing elimination down three to one. In Game
Speaker 2: five against what somebody would argue is the greatest team
Speaker 2: ever thirty two points, fourteen rebounds and eight blocks to
Speaker 2: keep his season alive average twenty four to twelve and
Speaker 2: with three blocks for the series again against So he
Speaker 2: beats the defending champion Lakers in Kareem and Magic and
Speaker 2: then loses in six to the eighty six Celtics nineteen
Speaker 2: eighty seven in round one almost well, I'll just tell
Speaker 2: you what he averages for round one. This is and
Speaker 2: some of this acheme stuff. It's just so consistently just
Speaker 2: outstanding across the board that I just have to give
Speaker 2: you series averages instead of individual games because he didn't
Speaker 2: have a ton of the shack explosion forty five point games.
Speaker 2: It was just for a series. Like in round one,
Speaker 2: he averages twenty nine twenty seven points, nine rebounds, four assists,
Speaker 2: three steals, five blocks. Dude average three steals and five
Speaker 2: blocks eight stocks per game. In a playoff series Round
Speaker 2: two against Seattle, in a game they lose in double overtime,
Speaker 2: he had forty nine points, twenty five rebounds, and six
Speaker 2: blocks and they lost. Nineteen eighty eight. Round one lost it.
Speaker 2: This is this is one of the most impossible. This
Speaker 2: is you could win some money in a bar if
Speaker 2: you found the right way to phrase this is a
Speaker 2: trivia question. In round one in nineteen eighty eight, the
Speaker 2: Rockets lost to the Mavericks three games to one. Despite
Speaker 2: the fact that A kim olajuwon for the series in
Speaker 2: the four games and they only won one averaged thirty
Speaker 2: eight points and seventeen rebounds. He had a forty to
Speaker 2: fifteen and a loss with the in game four to
Speaker 2: get eliminated. The only game they won, he had forty
Speaker 2: one points twenty five rebounds. So nineteen eighty eight to
Speaker 2: nineteen ninety two. He never got out of round one.
Speaker 2: In those playoff years, he averaged twenty six points, fourteen
Speaker 2: rebounds to assist, two steels, four blocks, never got out
Speaker 2: of round one. We talk about a guy that this
Speaker 2: was a team once Sampson was done, essentially a Keem
Speaker 2: Rockets was Lebron Cavs the first time around, got to
Speaker 2: the finals super early, was unbelievable, always produced, and the
Speaker 2: team stunk. They couldn't put the right pieces around it.
Speaker 2: And now Lebron wasn't losing in round one, which is
Speaker 2: why Lebron's higher on this list, But twenty six, fourteen, two,
Speaker 2: two and four over a four year average in the
Speaker 2: playoffs without ever winning a series. So now we get
Speaker 2: to the meat of a team, which is these next
Speaker 2: three years. Nineteen ninety three finally gets out of the
Speaker 2: first round. How does he get out of the first round.
Speaker 2: He has a thirty one point, twenty one rebounds, seven
Speaker 2: block game for that series. To finally win his first
Speaker 2: series in five years, he averages twenty nine points, fifteen rebounds,
Speaker 2: five assists, two steals, and six blocks per game. They
Speaker 2: lose to Seattle in overtime, in game seven by three points.
Speaker 2: When a Keeam puts up in that game seven twenty
Speaker 2: three points, seventeen rebounds, nine assists, So if he was
Speaker 2: not out of this world, they couldn't win. Luckily for them.
Speaker 2: Over the next two years, he is in fact out
Speaker 2: of this world. And listen to the numbers, and then
Speaker 2: at the end listen to who he beats as he
Speaker 2: goes on to win his two rings and two finals
Speaker 2: MVPs nineteen ninety four, he wins the league MVP. He
Speaker 2: wins Defensive Player of the Year. Michael Jordan has retired,
Speaker 2: so the whole league knows. So for Berkley, for Youing,
Speaker 2: for David Robinson, who hadn't won it that point, for Stockton,
Speaker 2: for Malone, for Kemp, for Peyton, for a team, for
Speaker 2: all these guys, Hey, this should be our chance. So
Speaker 2: what does it team do? Round one against Portland. I
Speaker 2: can't even give you the individual games. I'll give you
Speaker 2: one of them, but averages for round one thirty four points,
Speaker 2: eleven rebounds, five assists, two steals, four blocks. He had
Speaker 2: a game in that series, another this close to five
Speaker 2: by five game, this one with forty six points. He
Speaker 2: had a forty six eight, four, four, and six against
Speaker 2: the defending Western Conference champions Phoenix Suns and Charles Barkley.
Speaker 2: He averages for the series twenty nine points, fourteen rebounds,
Speaker 2: five assists, four blocks, including in Game seven against Charles
Speaker 2: Barkley and the defending Western Conference champion Sons, Game seven
Speaker 2: thirty seven points, seventeen rebounds, five assists. Utah just knew
Speaker 2: they were drawing dead. Utah. He throws up a forty
Speaker 2: one thirteen and six in Game two and demoralizes them,
Speaker 2: and then in the finals he holds Patrick Ewing, an
Speaker 2: all time great center, to nineteen points per game. His
Speaker 2: team is up to with two seconds left in Game six,
Speaker 2: John Starks, who is the nick's second best player and
Speaker 2: great three point shooter for the ERA, has seemingly an
Speaker 2: open three to win the title, and a team Go
Speaker 2: Go gadgets it and blocks it and they end up
Speaker 2: winning the title in Game seven. He averages for the
Speaker 2: finals twenty seven points, nine rebounds, four assists, four blocks,
Speaker 2: First Ring, First Finals MVP. Then next year this team
Speaker 2: is the sixth seed. They are not that good of
Speaker 2: a team. They trade for Clyde Drexler midway through the year.
Speaker 2: They're kind of scuttling next year to start his Finals defense,
Speaker 2: puts up forty five points, eight rebounds, six assists, two steals,
Speaker 2: three blocks, but they're down two to one again. This
Speaker 2: is a best of five, so their face elimination. In
Speaker 2: game four, he puts up forty. Game five Dewardi game
Speaker 2: puts up a thirty three and ten to advance. He's
Speaker 2: now two, so he's won two Doward die games in
Speaker 2: that in his Finals. Defense then averages in that series
Speaker 2: against Utah against stocktona alone thirty five, nine and four.
Speaker 2: The next round, they're down three one to Berkley and Phoenix.
Speaker 2: They're down three to one, despite the fact that in
Speaker 2: games three and four the team scored thirty six and
Speaker 2: thirty eight. They win three straight games, three more elimination games,
Speaker 2: win game five, six and seven. The team averages thirty,
Speaker 2: twelve and six in those three games. They're now five
Speaker 2: to zero elimination games. Then, and this is unbelievable. This
Speaker 2: you got to look up on YouTube. That year David
Speaker 2: Robinson won MVP, and they gave David Robinson the MVP
Speaker 2: and on the court like they used to do before
Speaker 2: the series against a King before one of the games
Speaker 2: and a keem who's an all time nice guy, just
Speaker 2: tortured him. Tortured him for the entire series, scored forty
Speaker 2: three times, averages thirty five, thirteen rebounds, five assists, four
Speaker 2: blocks against the MVP of the league, David Robinson. Go ahead,
Speaker 2: how many times you how many times you say you
Speaker 2: won Defensive Player of the year A team twice? He
Speaker 2: won two Defensive Players of the Year, could have won more,
Speaker 2: could have won a hell of a lot, No, but
Speaker 2: they spread it around a bit. In the finals, playing
Speaker 2: a young guy you may have heard of him, Shaquille
Speaker 2: O'Neal and the Orlando Magic. He scores at least thirty
Speaker 2: one points in every single game. Averages for the finals
Speaker 2: thirty three points, twelve rebounds, six assists, two steals, two
Speaker 2: blocks to sweep out Shack and win finals MVP. Okay,
Speaker 2: So here is the totality of it again? Remember what
Speaker 2: I said about how you Wing and Shack and David
Speaker 2: Robinson and Patrick Ewing and John Stockton and Carl Malone
Speaker 2: and Charles Barkley, all these guys. When Jordan's gone, They're like,
Speaker 2: here's our chance. Akim Olajuan beat every single one of
Speaker 2: those guys. To win those two rings. In those two
Speaker 2: championship runs, he averaged thirty four points, eleven rebounds, four assists,
Speaker 2: two steals, three blocks on fifty three percent shooting and
Speaker 2: beat oh Clyde Drexler two, beat Clyde Drexler and then
Speaker 2: Drexler joined him, beat Barkley twice, beat Stockton malone twice,
Speaker 2: beat Patrick Ewing, beat David Robinson, beat Shaquille O'Neal, King
Speaker 2: of the Mountain, Beat them all, no easy routes, no
Speaker 2: easy paths, beat everybody who is Most of those guys
Speaker 2: except for Drexler who joined him and Robinson who got
Speaker 2: one later with Tim Duncan and obviously Shaq. Most of
Speaker 2: those guys finished their career is ringless because a team
Speaker 2: won both of those in ninety six. The keep in
Speaker 2: mind a team. We started this story in nineteen eighty five,
Speaker 2: so now it's been a decade. And over that decade,
Speaker 2: from year two to his second ring, he was twenty nine, twelve, three,
Speaker 2: two and four on fifty three percent. A ten year
Speaker 2: run in the playoffs, winning finals MVP twice, winning two championships,
Speaker 2: getting the three finals from year two to his second title,
Speaker 2: averages in the playoffs. Twenty nine points, twelve rebounds, three assists,
Speaker 2: two steals, four blocks, And that's the story of a
Speaker 2: Keeam Elajauan. He's the greatest defensive player I've ever seen,
Speaker 2: and one could argue the greatest defensive player anyone's ever seen.
Speaker 2: He's the eighth greatest player of the last fifty years.
Speaker 2: Let's get to a quick a team.
Speaker 4: Caller, Nick, clearly, my time on first things first with
Speaker 4: you is beginning to have a positive effect because you're
Speaker 4: putting Akeem Olajuan ahead or higher than Shaquille O'Neill. Is
Speaker 4: an inspired decision and one that I wholly agree with.
Speaker 4: But please tell us why did you do it?
Speaker 2: Here's why I did it. Shaq's apex obviously was higher. However,
Speaker 2: a Keeme sustained excellence to go along with the fact
Speaker 2: that Shaq was a good and for a brief period
Speaker 2: of time great defender, Akeem was the greatest defender, and
Speaker 2: the fact that they played each other in the finals
Speaker 2: and Akeem swept them. For all those reasons, it is
Speaker 2: very close. It is one of the most hotly contested arguments.
Speaker 2: If you really care about this stuff, Shaq versus Achem,
Speaker 2: I lean Akeeme and I think I think the overwhelming
Speaker 2: defensive monstrous performances. Plus, like I said, the guy is
Speaker 2: considered the greatest defender ever yet over a decade of
Speaker 2: his prime in the playoffs averaged a touch under thirty
Speaker 2: points per game. What is he twelfth all time in
Speaker 2: points in the regular season. So it's not the guy
Speaker 2: couldn't score. He's the Aphiaers player for the last fifty years.
Speaker 2: We'll be right back with a very special end of
Speaker 2: the show. And by the way, I'm going to complain
Speaker 2: for a moment on some of the response to this
Speaker 2: before we get to number eight, because so much of
Speaker 2: the because we put out the a graphic of the list,
Speaker 2: and I've got folks who otherwise should know better saying,
Speaker 2: you know, when there's a list like this and they
Speaker 2: include guys that you know, guys like Tiny Archibald or
Speaker 2: Elvin Hayes or Bernard King when they didn't see him,
Speaker 2: they're doing it based purely on the numbers. Okay, So
Speaker 2: think here, first of all, if you could see the
Speaker 2: exhaustive research that has gone into this, and if you
Speaker 2: watch the videos, I think you get a little taste
Speaker 2: of it, you would know it's not purely by the numbers. Obviously,
Speaker 2: it's very numerically centric. That's first of all. Second of all,
Speaker 2: there's a thing YouTube exists, and the NBA archive exists,
Speaker 2: and the ability to watch and the almost any major
Speaker 2: playoff moment of the last fifty years is at our fingertips.
Speaker 2: One of the reasons I cut it off of the
Speaker 2: last fifty years is because you don't really have access
Speaker 2: to watch the Celtics of the sixties, much less Bob
Speaker 2: Pettett and George Mikeen in the fifties. There is no
Speaker 2: way to watch that. But lastly, and I've never cursed
Speaker 2: in one of these fifty Greatest Player videos, but I
Speaker 2: think I'm gonna do it right here. By that logic,
Speaker 2: how the does anyone write about the Civil War or
Speaker 2: about Napoleon, or about anything that you are alive for?
Speaker 2: How can anyone learn about anything they didn't see? Like, well,
Speaker 2: what was the Civil War about?
Speaker 3: Uh?
Speaker 2: What do you I mean? You're gonna you're gonna teach
Speaker 2: me a class on it? Were you there to just
Speaker 2: watch Sherman? What about to come get the out of here? Guys,
Speaker 2: If you dedicate yourself to something and you want to
Speaker 2: do the research, and you want to become learned, and
Speaker 2: you want to read the first hand accounts of the
Speaker 2: people who were there. You can learn a lot about things.
Speaker 2: This is a shot at my dinosaur. Take. No, there's
Speaker 2: not a shot at your dinosaur. Take buddy, this is idiot,
Speaker 2: but it is in fact. You know what, I'm gonna
Speaker 2: do something before we get to the akeem thing. Uh
Speaker 2: and you know, actually, this is what we're gonna do here.
Speaker 2: This is I am doing this right now, right before
Speaker 2: we get to the eighth grades player who's a kiem
Speaker 2: Olaje one. However, this is going to just be clipped
Speaker 2: and be put on as the final segment of the show. Okay,
Speaker 2: so it's a little extra work for the producers, but
Speaker 2: they'll be able to do it. Demanse, do me a favor.
Speaker 2: Walk over there and grab those three blue books that
Speaker 2: all look like they're the exact same thing. Do you
Speaker 2: see them at the top, because I have a bookshelf
Speaker 2: behind me here that I want to show you guys something.
Speaker 2: And then also, Demanse, hand me those and then grab
Speaker 2: the brown textbook in the corner. But you can hand me,
Speaker 2: yeah that, yes, hand me both of those. Okay, So
Speaker 2: here's why I mention what I mentioned. Give me these
Speaker 2: three books. Okay, you can set that down. This is
Speaker 2: a Military History of the Western World Volume one. This
Speaker 2: is a Military History of the Western World Volume two.
Speaker 2: And this is a Military History of the Western World
Speaker 2: Volume three. So this is from the earliest times to
Speaker 2: the Battle of Leponto. This is from the defeat of
Speaker 2: the Spanish Armada to the Battle of Waterloo. And this
Speaker 2: is from the American Civil War to the end of
Speaker 2: World War Two. Well, I guess everything in these two
Speaker 2: books might as well be thrown in the goddamn garbage,
Speaker 2: because no, I mean, we're talking about thousands of years ago.
Speaker 2: Who could have read it? Who could have who could
Speaker 2: teach you anything about it? So let's just pick a
Speaker 2: page for a moment. I'm gonna read you a little
Speaker 2: bit something from it. No, you're sticking with me. The
Speaker 2: Rise and Expansion of Islam. This is about the Roman
Speaker 2: emperors from five sixty five a d s. I'm fifteen
Speaker 2: hundred years ago. So how do you think JFC Fuller
Speaker 2: figured this stuff out? He did the research same way.
Speaker 2: No I get angry about this stuff. How about this
Speaker 2: The World's History by Howard Spudek. This is a book
Speaker 2: I bought. You guys are gonna laugh at me. This
Speaker 2: is really revealing quite a bit about me. But because
Speaker 2: I'm super interested in history, I paid one hundred and
Speaker 2: forty five dollars for this book off of college's website,
Speaker 2: bought from their bookstore, and just like was doing when
Speaker 2: I was living in LA by myself. When you and
Speaker 2: the kids, you are one of the kids. But when
Speaker 2: you and your mom were in Houston your senior year
Speaker 2: and I was in LA by myself, I just started
Speaker 2: reading like the end, that's freaking that's an actual No,
Speaker 2: it's a text flash. Yeah, Judaism and Christianity. Yeah, it's
Speaker 2: a textbook because I'm interested in learning about stuff I
Speaker 2: wasn't around to see, and that applies to world history
Speaker 2: and this NBA list. Okay, all right, all right, thanks
Speaker 2: for checking out another special episode of What's Right with
Speaker 2: Nick Wright as the special editions of the fifty greatest
Speaker 2: players the last fifty years. The countdown continues next week
Speaker 2: we get to players seven and six, and player six
Speaker 2: by definition, is not ahead of player five, which will
Speaker 2: cause maybe the biggest fight of anything thus far on
Speaker 2: this list. You'll understand when it comes out next week.
Speaker 2: Appreciate you watching and listening.