Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Incorporated (QCOM) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: DiB who wrote (124196)	9/26/2002 10:17:40 AM
From: qorilla_watcher	Respond to of 152472

OT Mucho says Shaq is unskilled? Have had him on ignore for a long time and this idiotic comment demonstrates his deep resentment towards US culture. Even when Shaq was "unskilled" in 1994 the Europeans had no clue as to how to stop him in the paint in international competition. He was instant offense when he came into a game.

To: DiB who wrote (124196)	9/26/2002 3:06:59 PM
From: Wyätt Gwyön	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

re: Shaq, but he has made big improvements during last three-four years. I would not call him "unskilled" now... i would hope he has improved some since basketball is all he has done all these years. if you want to call him "skilled", fine. but this reminds me of the carnival side show of the dancing dog. people pay to see the dancing dog not because he is a great dancer, but because he can stand on his hind legs for 30 seconds. Shaq is not skilled any more than a dog is a good dancer. but viewers don't care, because we don't expect Shaq to be as good as Kobe Bryant any more than we expect Fido to dance like Barishnikov. Shaq's clear lack of skill is apparent when he steps to the free throw line. after all these years and millions spent coaching him, his free throw shooting is worse than that of most twelve year olds. e.g., his free throw percentage in the 2001-2002 season was an abysmal 55%. despite a league-leading 717 free throw attempts, he only made 398. in contrast, a skilled player (who is also big like Shaq, so his size is not an excuse) such as Tim Duncan sank 560 free throws in 701 attempts. and Dirk Nowitski sank 440 free throws (42 more than Shaq) in just 516 attempts, which is 201 fewer attempts than Shaq had. so when you take a simple test of skill like the free throw, it is clear that Shaq is skill-less in any meaningful sense of the word. despite this, he is clearly the most physically dominating player today. i will readily admit this as it is clear from watching him play and all the stats. but just because a player dominates doesn't mean he is skilfull. e.g., an unskilled 190-lb 18-year-old could beat up most 100-lb 12-year-olds who are skilled as junior boxers. this does not make the 18-year-old a better boxer than the younger kids. people realize this and when they set up tournaments in whatever sport (other than Sumo wrestling, i might add--which has no weight divisions for juniors or adults), age divisions and/or weight divisions are frequently used as a proxy for separating physical domination and skill (obviously this only works to some extent, but it is better than nothing). age divisions clearly wouldn't work in the NBA, and neither would size divisions (which are clearly used to separate physical domination from skill in pro boxing, e.g.). but this does not mean people should ignore the fact that under the NBA's current rules, a clearly unskilled player (Shaq) is able to physically dominate those who are much more skilled than him, to the ridiculous extent that he (Shaq) is considered by many to be the "best" player in the game. (and as far back as 1996, when even his supporters would admit he was even less skilled than today, he was voted one of the 50 greatest NBA players ever) this is like letting Mike Tyson fight welterweights and calling Tyson the greatest welterweight ever. despite its numerous other problems, at least boxing separates skill from physicality. so what should basketball do? they can't have age divisions, and they can't have weight (or height divisions). well, first of all, they should admit that they have a problem. (i don't think i'm the only one who thinks it's ridiculous that Shaq dominates the sport. basketball was much more popular in the mid-90s when the highly skilled Jordan dominated.) so what can they do (in the unlikely event that they admit they have a problem)? the should clearly raise the rim height. my vote would be for 20 feet (which would radically change the game, and probably eliminate Shaq entirely). but at the least they should raise it to 12 feet (which i believe they consider from time to time). so, i should emphasize, what i am talking about is revising the rules of the game so that skill (which has fallen in importance to physical size) be given a greater weighting in the outcome of basketball games. moving the rim up even 2 feet will clearly have this effect, since it will be harder for everybody to score. similarly, in tennis, i think it is ridiculous when people win matches (or tournaments) just because of their serve. clearly Sampras has built an entire career out of this. the rest of his game is nowhere near as good as the top all-courters (though it is probably in the top 50 to 100--just not the "stuff of legends"). in tennis, they should probably shorten the service box so that it becomes impossible to hit 130 mph serves into the box. this has been considered off and on. there was more discussion a few years ago, when servers were dominating, but now the soccer players are waxing and the servers are waning. (this is kind of like the time when Jordan was considered the greatest instead of Shaq.) however, there could easily come a time again when the servers (the "Shaqs") dominate again. in such a time, people will again call for shorter service boxes. in the meantime, at least the servers can never dominate on clay.