Draymond Green spoke the truth when he said the Warriors would have "destroyed" Shaquille O'Neal in the pick-and-roll during an appearance on "All The Smoke." But the Big Diesel didn't want to hear it.
In fairness to Green, he did say O'Neal would have owned him down on the block. But O'Neal heard the slander and had to answer.
The four-time NBA champion hit back at Green on a recent episode of "The Big Podcast with Shaq," claiming Green's Warriors, who won 73 games in 2016 and went to five straight NBA Finals, wouldn't be able to contend in the era he played in.
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"I like Draymond. I like guys that voice their opinion," O'Neal said. "I try not to get personal with guys. I like him, I like the way he plays. You have to listen to his points. He made good, key points. He said in their era. He didn't say in my era ... In my era, [the Warriors] would have been the six or seven seed. You had us, you had San Antonio, you had the Utah Jazz, you had Portland, you had White Chocolate and C-Webb [in Sacramento].
"But again, it's his opinion. I try not to get personal with people's opinions. But however, Mr. Draymond, like you said, I would've torn your a-- up on that block."
O'Neal's comments are similar to ones he made to SiriusXM Radio when he claimed he wouldn't have had to worry about the Dubs when he was chasing his titles.
"They wouldn't even had been a factor."
With all due respect to O'Neal and the old bulls of NBA yesteryear ... stop it.
A Warriors team with Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala and Green would have trampled the likes of the Jazz, Blazers, Lakers and Rockets in the 90s.
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Let's take the Jazz of late 90s fame for example. While they boasted two of the top 50 players of all time in John Stockton and Kar Malone, they lacked the scoring power and athleticism to contend with the offensive genius the Warriors would bring to the table. Honestly, the thought of Jeff Hornacek or Bryon Russell guarding Durant and Klay, with Stockton -- as good of a defender as he was -- tasked with stopping Curry is pretty laughable.
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O'Neal is undoubtedly a top-10 player of all time and one of the most singularly dominant players in league history. But his view of the past clearly is jaded.
Even O'Neal and Kobe Bryant's three-peat Lakers would have struggled to contain the Warriors. The game is just a different beast than it was 20 years ago.
Both players got one thing right: Shaq would have steamrolled Green on the block.