Cavs in 7. Lebron the GOAT.
LeBron is not the GOAT. In fact, he is not even a top 3 player of all time. Jordan, Russell, and Kareem are all better than him.
Shaq is even better then him , if you look at peak or even prime.
No, Shaq is not better than him. Lebron is a top 5 player of all time, while Shaq is not even a top 10 player of all time.
LMAO , Peak Shaq was the most dominant player in NBA history(with the exception of Jordan) . Just look at his NBA finals stats from 2000-2002, they are insane . Shaq I believed for 10 straight seasons averaged 27 points and 12 rebounds a game and in the playoff elevated his game.
Here are his stats: http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/o/onealsh01.html
If Shaq is not a top 10 player, I wanna ask you how is Kobe better then him(Shaq has 3 finals mvp's , Kobe has 2).
Shaq from 1995-2004(his prime) : has only two black marks (Im talking abut playing bad not wins or losses) , the 1997 series vs the Jazz and 1999 vs the Spurs
Lebron from 2009-present : he has 3 black marks, the 2010 series vs boston(where he choked badly in the last two games, even game 6 when he had 9 turnovers) , the 2011 NBA finals, and even the 2014 Finals(Where he seemed to put up stats in garbage time, and played horrific defense ).
As Bill Simmons explains in The Book of Basketball, Kobe is better than Shaq due to his effort level. Kobe is one of the most competitive players in NBA history, while Shaq, writes Simmons in The Book of Basketball, "turned out to be the least competitive superstar of his era." And even if Shaq was one of the most dominant players in NBA history, Simmons also writes in The Book of Basketball that Shaq was "dominant, but not the best." Also, LeBron is definitely better than Shaq. LeBron has 4 MVPs, is possibly the greatest all-around player of all time, and made 7 straight finals. Additionally, he consistently made lousy teams with a bad supporting cast into contenders. Shaq, on the other hand, couldn't win a championship without Kobe and has only one MVP.
Anyway, here is my all time top 10 list:
1. Jordan
2. Russell
3. Kareem
4. LeBron
5. Duncan
6. Kobe
7. Magic
8. Bird
9. Wilt
10. Hakeem
The player that I have on my list that replaces Shaq on your list is Hakeem Olajuwon. Hakeem is better than Shaq because while they are both great offensive players, Hakeem is one of the greatest defensive players of all time. Shaq, though he is a pretty good defensive player, is definitely not on the level of Hakeem. Hakeem also destroyed Shaq in the 1995 Finals, and his championship teams had a much worse supporting cast than Shaq's championship teams. Shaq got to play with Kobe on all three of his championship teams. Hakeem, though, was stuck with Otis Thorpe as the second best player on the 1994 Rockets and 32-year-old Clyde Drexler as the second best player on the 1995 Rockets. These two players are definitely not on the level of Kobe.
Thats a big myth, heres the stats for that series(where Hakeem was facing a young Shaq):
Hakeem: 32.8 PPG ,11.5 RPG, 5.5 APG ,2.0 SPG, 2.0 BPG ,48.3 FG%
Shaq: 28 PPG , 12.5 RPG ,6.3APG, 0.3 SPG, 2.5 BPG, 59.5 FG %
Yah Hakeem barely outplayed a third year Shaq.
Shaq in his peak utterly dominated one of the greatest defenders ever in Mutombo(2001 finals) .
I would argue Shaq went as far as possible , as you could take his team from 1995-2005.
From 1995-1999 he didnt have a good enough team around him to win(he lost to a great rockets team, the GOAT team , a Jazz team that nearly beat Jordan's Bulls twice, and a Spurs team that went 15-2 in the playoffs).
From 2000-2002 they won a title , and in 2000 he didnt even have that great of a team(Kobe averaged I believe only 22 PPG that year, and 15 PPG in the finals).
In 2003 the entire Laker team besides Shaq and Kobe were absolutely terrible and yet they still nearly took down the Spurs that year(If Horry 3 went down)
In 2004 Kobe shot the lakers out of the pistons series shooting 22 PPG on 38% shooting while Shaq averaged 26.6 PPG on 62% shooting and yet Kobe took more shots.
In 2005 Shaq took that pistons team to 7 games despite wade getting injured in that same series.
If you want me to list Kobe from 2003-2013 I would sure be happy too
