"Imagine trying to foul a tree moving like a cat" - Channing Frye on what was it like to guard Shaquille O'Neal
NBA players naturally want to get some playing time and show everybody what they can do. However, for the young Channing Frye, it was anything like that when he would check into the game to defend none other than Shaquille O'Neal.
In the Road Trippin' podcast, the retired sharpshooting big describes the experience of guarding The Big Diesel. And Frye had to point out that he "caught" 2005 Shaq, not the MVP mode Shaq that tore everybody in front of him.
"As a human being, he's not supposed to move like that," said the Arizona alum. "I was playing in New York. I know he probably went out the night before, so I'm like, 'I'm not gonna say s***.' Third quarter comes and he's doing OK, they're down 6. He looks at me and said, 'OK, good game, little Frye. We gotta win this now.' He f**** me up the whole fourth quarter."
"Imagine trying to foul a tree moving like a cat and just dunk, after hook shot after dunk. It's just impossible to move a human that big… and he's mean," added Frye.
And Channing wasn't a tiny dude himself. Basketball Reference listed the 13-year veteran at seven feet and 255 pounds, and he still couldn't do anything against O'Neal.
"I'll break your wrist"
It's hard to pinpoint which game Channing Frye was referring to. The 2016 NBA champ must have messed up the dates because O'Neal was sidelined early in the 2005-06 season. Therefore, the 2000 NBA MVP did not suit up in their lone 2005 meeting. As hyperbolic as Frye's description was, though, that's precisely the terror that Big Aristotle put into the hearts of the opponents.
"If you would do just like a flyby, just trying to like, 'Hey, I'm coming to help.' He would be like, 'Watch it, little fella. If you put your hand in there, I'll break your wrist," Road Trippin host Richard Jefferson said.
As soon as the four-time champ said that, RJ imagined what that would be like. "If this is his body and you tried to block a ball, and there's a rim right there, a metal bar, he'll break your wrist," added Jefferson.
If Shaq broke entire backboards, there's only so much a human body can take. When it came to Big Diesel, the only strategy was survival, and even that wasn't guaranteed.
What it's like to guard Shaq
Guarding the LSU product was like fighting with a Bigfoot, considering how he impacted the league and made every team scared. As Jefferson mentioned, the 15-time All-Star dictated how rosters were constructed back then, as teams would need two to three bigs for fouls. This would now limit perimeter depth, which also played to the hands of O'Neal's teams, which had Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade. Needless to say, a prime Shaq made his units a juggernaut in every way.
Furthermore, facing O'Neal took the most out of a human body. Rasheed Wallace remembered icing his elbows, ankles, and knees when he tried to bang with O'Neal down low. Dallas Maverick great Dirk Nowitzki recalled a prime Shaquille mowing him and Shawn Bradley down en route to 46 points on December 5, 2001. Diesel added 15 rebounds for good measure.
Undoubtedly, Big Fella was a freight train that no individual could handle. He could physically hurt grown men just by his strength and presence. For those who had the misfortune of guarding Shaq, it wasn't about stopping him but making it out in one piece.
