Insider Special: Scouting Report

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NBA Scouting Report: Who's the most intimidating player?

By Terry Brown

Friday, January 31 Updated 10:50 AM EST

What you don't know about Charles Oakley could hurt you.

"[censored] no," said one NBA scout. "If Karl Malone was there or Alonzo Mourning still playing, Ron Artest would never get away with that nonsense he pulled with Pat Riley. Let's put it this way. If anybody cheap shots Jerry Stackhouse, Charles Oakley is coming in the game to cut that B.S. out.

"And every team needs that."

Without pulling police records while using as few cuss words as possible, we asked NBA scouts from around the league to name the most intimidating player in the game today.

Oakley

"Body to body, Shaquille O'Neal is ferocious," said another NBA scout. "There just isn't anyone quite his size and weight and ability. You think long and hard about how to play him before you ever even play him. And once the game starts you just try to cut your loses."

But we were thinking more in terms of bumps and bruises . . .

"Shaq's physical presence is frightening," said another scout. "Nobody really wants anything to do with him. Look at his strength and that scrawl he gets on his face. I bet you he's the MVP of the All-Star Game because all this stuff that's going around. I bet you if they get into the playoffs as the eighth seed, Sacramento will try to drop to second to miss them in the first round and the Lakers still win it all."

But what about that eye for an eye mentality . . .

"By sheer bulk, it's Shaq," said yet another NBA scout. "He was better before but he's still the big bully."

Sure, Gary Payton can lay some psychological damage on an opponent, KG can embarrass almost anyone of his choosing, and who wants to get caught between Tracy McGrady and the rim.

But who shot Charles Oakley?

"You don't really see that type of enforcer anymore," said one of the scouts. "Maybe the players just aren't as tough. I mean, you still need a physical strength just to play in this league, but I'm all for more talent. This is good for the game."

Have we already forgotten that the year after Oakley was traded from New York to Toronto, Patrick Ewing's stats plummeted for the first time in his career.

Ewing

1997-98: 32.6 mpg, 20.8 ppg, 10.2 rpg, 50% shooting.

1998-99: 34.2 mpg, 17.3 ppg, 9.9 rpg, 43% shooting.

He scored less with a career-low shooting percentage and grabbed fewer rebounds while playing more minutes per game.

And the year after Antonio Davis got Oakley as a body guard forward, he not only had his best season ever up to that point, but the largest statistical jumps in his career despite being an undersized, out-of-position center.

Davis

1998-99: 9.4 ppg, 7 rpg

1999-00: 11.5 ppg, 8.8 rpg

2000-01: 13.7 ppg, 10.1 rpg

He was named to the Eastern Conference All-Star team in that last year and hasn't been back since. In fact, this year, with Oakley in Washington, Davis is shooting a career-low 36 percent from the field and has already missed 17 games after missing only 13 in the last seven years.

"Enforcers don't really go into the formula when you're breaking down a team statistically," said another NBA scout. "I call them superlative role players. They don't do many other things well but that one thing that they do, they do it very well and it's usually something that you don't think about.

"They understand their role and because of that become important cogs for successful teams. They set their picks, use their elbows and don't try to do too much."

Case in point: Artest didn't lead the team in scoring or rebounding on Jan. 27 in that game between the Indiana Pacers and Miami Heat. But as the tightly contested game hit critical mass, he was called for that now-infamous technical foul at the 6:07 mark of the fourth quarter.

The Heat had led almost the entire game up to that point, taking two-point leads into the second, third and fourth quarters. The score was 83-81 in favor of the Heat when the referee whistled the technical.

But then Eddie Jones missed the free throw and the Pacers outscored them 21-12 down the stretch for the win as Artest was given a four-game suspension for his antics.

"They rub off on other players," said one of the scouts. "When the other players see these guys doing their part, they want to try harder themselves."

But it doesn't change the fact that Artest still averages 15.8 points per game and is on pace to drill more three-pointers than at any other time of his career.

Or, that while he "commits more borderline dirty fouls on a consistent basis than anyone else" as one scout put it, he is only 6-foot-7, 246 pounds, a small forward, if you will, who might have remained a Frederick Weiss trivia question if not for his increased offensive output.

Remember, even in his prime with the New York Knicks, Oakley averaged only 10.3 points per game over ten seasons.

But just look at Shaq, without a Horace Grant on his flank or even an aged A.C. Green. Samaki Walker is long overdue for self-defense lessons and Slava Medvedenko is going to be the last one to give them to him.

And Riley. Poor, Pat Riley.

"Did you see his face?" asked one scout. "You could almost see him looking for his troops that would never come and wondering how he went from those days with the Knicks to this."

Which only makes you wonder if we have already buried all those big, ugly, smelly types in the NBA?

"I hope so," said an NBA scout.