Miami Heat: Is Shaq the most physically dominant player ever?

The Miami Heat have been privileged to have some of the greatest players the league has ever seen. One of them is the most physically dominant player ever.

The Miami Heat have been a charmed organization, let’s just be honest about that. Having only come into the league about 30 years or so ago, they have already managed to climb into the top six when it comes to titles won as a franchise.

With three NBA titles under their belt, they only sit behind the Los Angeles Lakers, the Boston Celtics, the Golden State Warriors, the San Antonio Spurs, and the Chicago Bulls in that category. That’s quite the honor for a team that’s been around since the beginning, nevertheless one who arrived at the party late.

When looking at other honors that the franchise has had though, the Miami Heat have had a real who’s who of players come through their locker room. One of the more charismatic guys was Shaquille O’Neal or simply, Shaq as most of the world knows him today.

While the question as of late was if Tim Duncan was better than Shaq, with the Miami Heat and Los Angeles Laker champion being the better of the two, in my opinion, there is a new question that is puzzling me. Is Shaq the most physically dominant player ever?

While at first the answer may seem like a resounding yes, there are two guys that come to mind that make me challenge my own notion. These two guys would be LeBron James and Wilt Chamberlain.

Wilt the Stilt Chamberlain stood 7’1 and weighed in at 275 pounds. One of the most physically daunting players that the league has ever seen, there is only one thing that stands in his way.

This would be the fact that Wilt mostly played against guys that were, at best, a half-foot smaller than he was. While competing at the highest level and being dominant in any era is worth praise, it’s hard to label him as the most physically dominant when he didn’t have to play against players of at least equal athletic or physical prowess.

Some would say the same for Shaq, who stood 7’1 and 325 pounds, but for very different reasons. While there were athletes just a big as he was or as tall, there was no one with his combination of size, agility, strength, and athletic ability. He was a literal steam roller once he got near the rim.

If you guarded Shaq and refused to foul him early, you simply became another victim. Here’s the thing though, while Shaq is the most purely dominant player from any one position (the post) that the NBA has ever seen, there is another guy who is almost as physically imposing from multiple areas of the court.

The Miami Heat have played home to the most physically dominating player of all time. Here’s a hint, it wasn’t Shaq.

Yep, you guessed it, if you thought that the answer was LeBron James, that is. LeBron, all 6’9 and 250 pounds of him, is simply the most physcially dominant player of all time.

While what Shaq was able to do on the block will never be duplicated and can’t be compared to anything else, as far as one person physically imposing their will on another person, what LeBron can do from any area of the floor from a physical standpoint is simply unmatched.

When he gets you in the post, whether you are a big man or a little man, he can put that shoulder into you and move you. If you are guarding him along the perimeter, he can turn it on to blow past you.

Lord forbid if you are in the painted area, as the great Hubie Brown would say, LeBron has the ability to go right through you. This would be in the most legal way though because he is quick enough to beat you to the spot on most occasions. Even further, please don’t be one of the cases where he decides that going over you is the best option.

Again, as Hubie Brown said in the above clip from ESPN, LeBron James can get up and commence to “throwing it down with some power”. That is why he is the most physically dominant player that the league has ever seen.

This isnt’ to say he is the best player the league has ever seen, although he’s a close second if not number one guy, this is to simply say that he is the most physically dominant. That does perhaps say that he is the most athletic that the league has ever seen.

When you take into account his unique combination of size, agility, leaping ability, speed, quickness, and strength, you have to go there in your mind.

Either way, he is the most physically dominant and we are glad to have gotten to see it up close and personal for a while.