WNBA superstar Candace Parker dropped knowledge on Shaq last night during their show and had the Big Fella looking real out the loop on national television.
The Tuesday night crew on TNT, which also includes Dwyane Wade and Adam Lefkoe, got into a discussion about how to defend the pick-and-roll in today’s NBA that was centered around Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets.
Needless to say, Parker put her Basketball IQ on full display and Shaq was left looking perplexed.
First of all, I played basketball all my life and I have no idea what “pre-rotating” is. You either rotate or you don’t based on the coverage of pick-and-roll in your gameplan. I have no idea where Shaq got “pre-rotating” from.
The Diesel has been under fire lately for what many basketball fans feel is lackluster analysis when he’s on TV every Tuesday and Thursday. The absurdity reached its zenith after Shaq couldn’t name multiple role players on teams across the league in a new game that the Inside the NBA crew played last week called “Shaq’s First Name Game.” The object of the game is for Shaq to correctly state the first name of the player presented to him. He’s given a headshot and last name.
Twitter let Shaq have it once again after Parker annihilated him.
In Shaq’s defense, he’s one of those generational talents who could defy defensive strategy so he never really had to pay attention to any of this when he was playing.
There have been many debates about how to play defense in today’s NBA. Switching has become the most conventional solution because of everything that Parker explained. If you don’t switch, you would literally be at mercy to offensive players in the league today who only need a few feet of separation to be effective.
There is no perfect way to guard teams in today’s game because of the insane talent level. The league has literally become either make-or-miss. Defenses these days have more impact when they prioritize “who to guard” instead of prioritizing “how to guard.”
If teams move the ball, they are going to get open shots. To be honest, the best defensive strategy is just to try to force the worst shooting player on the court to take the most shots.
Parker gave Shaq a lesson on modern basketball. Hopefully, that man took notes.