The NBA does not allow big players to get physical with smaller defenders typically. If you post up a smaller player like you would a big, the smaller defender falls over and they call an offensive foul.

I mean they put Caruso on Wemby in game 1 and Wemby dropped 40+

They pivoted to putting taller dudes on Wemby real quick after that.

Wemby dominated Caruso in game 1 and the Thunder went away from it for the most part after that

Refs don’t make that call. Small players can do anything to big players. And if you put the elbow you get called for a foul immediately.

Wemby just doesn’t have the same physicality to overpower dudes like Shaq did. His center of gravity is high so smaller people can knock him off his spot

i mean yea shaq was like 10x the post player wemby is. thats just not his strength at the moment because, he lacks strength. i dont doubt shaq would steamroll over Caruso, but OKC wouldn’t let caruso guard shaq one on one lmao. they are very different players other than being really tall, OKC would guard Shaq very differently than they did Wemby.

Elbow to the neck. Wemby got that move down pact. Lol

The most annoying thing about Shaq is that he just cannot seem to comprehend that everybody is not Shaq. Everybody does not and cannot play like he did in the 90s and early 2000s. Beyond that, most of his “analysis” is just buzzwords and tired adages/clichés like “plays at his own pace” and “be aggressive”. There’s rarely ever any substance to anything that he says, even when you remove the time constraints of TV segments so he could go in depth if he wanted.

Shaq would get so many charges called against him in this modern era

well shaq, wemby already tried the whole elbow/neck thing…

‘jokes’ aside, that’s getting called an offensive foul nowadays 

Shaq would get 5 offensive fouls in a half. Players always say “just do this” like the game isnt completely different. Shaq saw that in his last few years too, he just only remembers the dominant times.

Unfortunately the flop era is now…

Shaq would be treated like Draymond if this sub was around. The Kobe quote about him being mean and vindictive was really apt because Shaq was his own equalizer. It was kinda accepted he would get fouled hard a lot and the refs would let him retaliate as long as it could reasonably be considered a basketball move. Wemby doesn’t need to do the elbow thing again necessarily but he does need to be more physical when they put a guard on him. If he eats a few offensive fouls or a technical but it changes the way the series is officiated or he’s played then that’s gamesmanship

Are people forgetting he absolutely cooked Caruso the one game they tried that long term? The Thunder had to completely abandon that game plan

the mismatch math only works if the refs let it play out. nowadays a big tries to punish a smaller defender and the smaller guy just falls - instant offensive foul. Caruso’s whole game is built on being that pest, he’ll take the contact, sell it, and walk away with the whistle

I have so little interest in all time great players talking about what they’d do.

“Just be Shaq”

Oh ok

What do you mean the refs have gotta call the foul, Wemby was getting fouled 5+ times on every possession all playoffs.

Thunder has been playing dirty for far too long. Disguising hard defense when it’s straight up fouls on each possession.

The way they played Jokic could have been multiple flagrant. Physically hitting him in the post.

Caruso is a dirty player, trying to be draymond jr with his arc.

Yeah try posting up a guy a whole foot shorter than you in today’s NBA. You’ll get called for an offensive foul like 90% of the time.

Refs gave OKC too much leeway. They let OKC push, shove, hold.

The refs are bad. Like really really bad.

There I said it.

Shaq talks too much and forgets how lazy he was.

Wemby actually made that adjustment in G1. He got inside and the Spurs got him the ball, which led to some easy buckets. Whenever he got the ball on the perimeter, he played right into OKC’s hands. They have too many guys that love to reach and swipe at the ball.

The last time Wemby threw an elbow into an opposing player’s neck, Wemby got ejected and his team lost the game.

Did Shaq forget that Wembanyama absolutely dominated OKC in game 1 when Caruso was on him? He put up 41 points, 24 rebounds and 3 blocks.

People forget refs wouldn’t call clear offensive fouls by Shaq, he’d annihilate these smaller defenders if the refs allowed it.

During his time maybe, but now Wemby or Jokic lays a finger on that tree-hugging baldy and it’s a foul

So much criticism of Wemby’s game when Caruso on Wemby didn’t even work for OKC. They abandoned it pretty quickly after game 1 when the Spurs just kept throwing the ball up to Wemby and he kept dunking all over Caruso.

They’ll call a charge

I watched Caruso foul the fuck out of jokic and jokic have to very carefully and methodical work him down in the post to avoid him flopping all for 7 games last year. I am not trying to make an okc whistle post. The refs put post players at a disadvantage with how the game is currently officiated and post players have been a dying breed for years because of it.

Shaq has been saying this about every big man since he retired 🥱😴

Shaq fouls out of 66% of games in today’s nba…

Ah Shaq say so because in the 90s and early 00s putting up an elbow wasn’t almost an automatic flagrant as it is now.

Anyway he is speaking of nothing, the only time Caruso guarded Wemby, the Alien went nuclear, from that time on it was IHart role to beat the shit out of the French man.

the ref gotta call a foul

Shaq, I think you’re in for a surprise.

And they instantly flash/double and you just called off the play. The coaches have this shit planned out, Shaq thinks its still 1995.

Well, the problem is, the refs will not call a foul on whoever is guarding Wemby.

Caruso can’t guard dominant bigs like Shaq or Wemby, we saw how ineffective it was in game 1 of the WCF. It worked on Jokic since Jokic is mentally weak and was getting frustrated by the physicality, baiting him into making rushed decisions and egregious flopping.

“Why don’t you just do what Shaq would do?”

-Shaq

[deleted]

Strategizing a strategy to defeat all strategies strategically

The issue with wemby is that he’s much taller and lankier than shaq, he gets leveraged easily by a much smaller defender and his center of balance gets thrown off the shorter and stockier they get.

Wemby doesn’t have the strength of prime Shaq though

That’s not the kind of player Wemby is, but he can just shoot over someone over a foot shorter than him. So he just has to be at a comfortable range. Shaq had the body to get to the rim so of course he feels like he knows what to do but what he is saying is a foul

Lol if only wemby had some post moves

Yes that’s what you would do if your center of gravity wasn’t in another level of the atmosphere, and you had significant lower body strength to pair with it

This is why Wemby will likely never be a post offense guy. He will always get pushed out of the paint by stronger guys with a lower center of gravity. Chet will have the same problem. I saw that stumpy Lofton guy just tear him apart in summer league because of this. I’m also a tall slim guy and the short chubby guys were always my kryptonite, for the same reason

Thinking back to the Shaq days, dude used to body big men to the ground and not get called for fouls. Then we moved to Marcus Smart covering dudes in the post and just falling over and somehow it’s an offensive foul. We need to get back to the days of, if a player backs your ass down and you fall over that’s your problem and if they trip on your ass it’s a defensive foul. The league needs to get rid of this flopping shit but especially from defense. Charge baiting has no place in post play.

Imagine if nba players listened to this advice.

ITT: even the fans got soft

That’s not the case for today’s NBA or for Wemby. Wemby isn’t Giannis or Shaq, that’s not his thing.

What you do with small players like Caruso is run them through the mad and make them go through picks, especially picks from bigger guys.

It’s way too much distance for him to cover, and it gives Wemby the option to step back.

For me the argument is more about doing that or having Wemby do DHO’s and let him cook that way.

This is what the old heads and the Shaq’s of the world don’t like to acknowledge. That even if you could defend harder and more physically in the 80’s-2000’s (debatable. Stars have always had soft whistles) there were also avenues for the offensive player to get his licks in.

Let Wemby throw anything resembling what Shaq is saying. That’s a flagrant now. Also Wemby dropped fucking 45 on Caruso it didn’t work. He dominated Caruso wherever he wanted to so why limit himself to the posts

I don’t watch/listen to this podcast (clearly) but since when did Cam start being on this thing?

“Ref gotta call a foul.” Cries in 2025 Denver Nuggets Caruso heralded as DPOY for his “defense” on Jokic.

Shaq’s right. You’ve got that size advantage, make them pay for it.

God ex nba players are fucking morons I feel bad for you guys

why do people not get wemby does not have strength like that like he cant play bully ball

You guys hate on this but I love what shaq is saying here. I wish they would’ve tried shaq with someone like Caruso

Shaq on Reta

Big Aristotle

Can’t put curoso on Shaq cause Shaq is too old.

6’3” w a little ass neck.

I’m 6’ with no neck.

Well what other moves did Shaq have?
Of course that’s what he’s going to do.

lol I don’t miss having KP and offensive fouls with the elbows on smaller players

I love you Shaq

Caruso might weigh more than Wemby. And didn’t Wemby have like 40

when Shaq moves, everything around him moves with him. Big difference.

Alternatively, don’t even leave the defensive vs. offensive foul game up to the refs and just take a bank shot like Duncan would. I swear the more I see Wemby working out, the more I think he’s doing all the wrong things. He shouldn’t limit his unique game to that of great post players but I also get the sense that he does things because he can and not because it’s the best offensive strategy. It’s great that he’s a deep threat but him dribbling from the three point line and spinning into bad shots or worse isn’t efficient. “Settling” for midrange or turn-around jumpers that no one could really contest would be.

I think Webby should play more like Kareem than Shaq.

Shaq is right

elbow in the neck is how he got suspended lol

In this nba at least half of shaqs moves would be met with the defensive player falling/flopping and an offensive foul call