What Changed Mad Dog’s Heart? How Tim Duncan Flipped Shaquille O’Neal Status Quo From 17 Years Ago

NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal was not very pleased with Chris “Mad Dog” Russo. The radio personality did not include the 4x NBA champion in his top 5 centers of All-Time. Russo’s list included Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, Hakeem Olajuwon, Moses Malone, and Tim Duncan. O’Neal was not happy about the take. However, Mad Dog was once a huge fan of the Los Angeles Lakers legend.

In fact, Russo ranked Shaq as one of the top 10 best players ever in the NBA in his book. Interestingly, Duncan did not make the cut then. Named The Mad Dog Hall of Fame, the book released in 2007 was a compilation of the radio personality’s top-10 rankings in sports. Notably, The Big Diesel made the 10th spot while still playing in the league.

Chris “Mad Dog” Russo did not rate Tim Duncan highly in 2007

Even though Shaquille O’Neal was not at his best during his time with the Miami Heat, Chris Russo felt that he had done enough to be on the list. While talking about O’Neal, the author also discussed three other active players who could have made the list. It was Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and Tim Duncan.

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Touching on the San Antonio Spurs legend, Russo noted, “Tim Duncan. He’s not flashy, and he doesn’t transcend the game the way most of these other guys do. And he’s not really electric, the way a lot of other players are, the one player on the floor you can’t take your eyes off of. But he won back-to-back MVP awards and he’s got three championships and there’s no reason to think he couldn’t get a couple more.”

Russo was eerily accurate about Tim’s chances of winning a couple more titles. The Hall of Famer added one in 2007 and another in 2014. However, his style mostly remained the same.

He was still not flashy and not as electric as O’Neal ever was. However, Mad Dog’s opinion about him has certainly flipped now as he rated him above Shaq. Duncan’s five rings over O’Neal’s four might have done the trick.

Shaquille O’Neal was not impressed with the list

When Shaquille O’Neal was asked about it during the latest episode of The Big Podcast with Shaq, he did not mince his words. The former center was certainly unhappy with the list.

The 2000 NBA MVP blasted that he would “smack sh** outta that dude”. He then noted that only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain would be in front of him on the center’s list. Abdul-Jabbar for his longevity and Chamberlain since he has more points than Shaq.

The Hall of Famer placed himself at the third spot and then proclaimed that he was the most dominant center ever. Do you agree with Shaquille O’Neal’s ranking? Let us know in the comments.

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