Supposedly Shaq has lost a lot of weight and is pretty good condition (for him at least). So unless the refs start calling him when he bulls over people in the low block, he should have a huge year on team that will feed the low post every time down the court.
I'm not sure that gets the Heat past the Pistons, but they will be a matchup nightmare with the rest of East. Look at some of his stats against Eastern conference opponents last season:
Cleveland - 1 game 37 points on 66.7% shooting
Toronto - 2 games 29.5 ppg on 68.8%
Washington - one game 29 points on 76.5%
Milwaukke - 2 games 27 points on 74.3%
Boston - 2 games 25 ppg on 68%
New Jersey - 2 games 25.5 ppg on 55.9%
Indiana - 1 game 23 points on 61.5% shooting in only 23 minutes
Philadelphia - 2 games 23 ppg on 59.4%
Atlanta - 1 game 23 points 55.5%
Orlando - 2 games 23.5 ppg 60.7%
The only team that held Shaq to much less than 20 points were the Bulls,
15.5 ppg in two games and 48.3% shooting. Shaq scored 20.5 ppg against the Knicks, but shot only 36.7% against Mutombo. During the season, he scored 20.5 ppg against the Pistons on 45.5%.
One of the more successful teams at dealing with Shaq was NO, 2 games, 18 ppg on 57.7%, but they are moving the West.
Some teams in the West had a little more luck holding Shaq's points down, although not necessarily his shooting percentage:
Utah - 3 games 15.3 ppg 44.4%
SA - 4 games 18.5 ppg 48.2%
Sacramento - 3 games 17 ppg 67.7%
Seattle - 4 games - 17 ppg 60%
Clippers - 2 games - 19.5 ppg 66.7%
Phoenix - 3 games - 20.5 ppg 58.5% (White really did help)
Obviously holding Shaq was not necessarily enough to stop the Lakers since giving Kobe open looks was fatal. But I think Eddie Jones and Dwyane Wade will keep defenses honest while focusing on feeding Shaq in the low post.
