"My junior season, I couldn't dunk" - Shaq confesses to not being able to slam it down at 6'11"
shaquille-oneal
NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal is primarily remembered in basketball circles as quite possibly the fiercest dunker in history. The mix of size, power, and pure force helped Shaq take down numerous backboards and bring fear into opposing big men throughout the 1990s and 2000s.
Interestingly, ‘The Diesel’ was not a natural dunker growing up, as he revealed in the latest episode of ‘The Big Podcast.’ After guest JJ Redick claimed he started dunking in 8th grade, at 13 years old, O’Neal had to stop him and call him out for lying while using his teenage struggles as an example.
“I wasn’t dunking until 17, 6’11”. You weren’t dunking at 13. Stop it…My junior year, the whole season, I could never dunk. I tried to dunk one time, missed, was embarrassed, and was scared,” Shaq told JJ.
A change in mentality
Redick couldn’t believe he was hearing, as he suggested maybe O’Neal needed medical help if he couldn’t jam it down at that size. But after Shaquille told him the backstory behind his struggles with dunking and what changed his mindset, JJ was amazed.
The 4x-time champion told the retired sharpshooter the notorious story of his stepfather Phillip Harrison showing him how he has to play after missing an easy, finger roll layup versus much smaller opponents by trying to imitate Magic Johnson. ‘Sarge’ was having none of it, as he stopped the game to slap Shaq and tell him to start dunking the ball and play to his size, displaying some tough love.
O’Neal got so mad that he decided to take it out on the rim, and ever since then, he has been terrorizing baskets around the world. It might have been a tough moment to endure for the young Shaquille, but in the end, it was something he needed to go through to become successful. It was simply one of the many life and basketball lessons Shaq’s legendary stepfather taught him.
The Redick-O’Neal cononcdrum
Hearing JJ was throwing it down with two hands ever since he was 13 years old sounds astonishing, considering he was never known as a high flyer. But then again, NBA athletes are superior to regular folks, as the least explosive guys in the league are still incredibly skilled and able to pull off stuff on the court, which civilians can only dream of.
JJ eventually transitioned to being a pure shooter who wasn’t asked or put into roles where he would slash to the rim, which led to him having one single dunk in his NBA career. On the other hand, Shaquille, who never managed to jam it down until he was 17 years old, went on to become one of the most notorious dunkers ever, officially slamming it down 2,626 times throughout his career.
To put it into perspective, Shaq took down the backboard more times than JJ actually dunked it in his 15 seasons in the Association. But then again, O’Neal only made one three-pointer in his 19 years in the league, while Redick knocked down 1950 deep bombs during the course of his professional stint. At the end of the day, everyone has their role.