re: Is Shaq or Duncan a top-5 all time NBA player?

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If Shaq wouldn't have been a lazy bastard and would have worked on keeping himself in shape in the offseason he would be top 5 or better.

Instead, towards the end of his career he seemed to always use the first month or two of the regular season to get into game shape. This left him with a lot of nagging injuries that could have probably been prevented had he stayed in better shape. Also caused his decline to trend far more sharply than it should have/could have been.

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that's actually another thing in favor of shaq when comparing him to different era's. it's not like shaq was a product of modern exercise or supplementing, he didn't have a dwight howard/lebron james body. he wasn't a gym rat, he just had brute strength. the reason you can't compare football players from different era's is due to advancements in weight training and nutrition, but shaq didn't benefit from this like other athletes.