Just for the record shaq was an elite player despite his shenanigans to many ex players on the record saying he was the most dominant they ever faced.
Hakeem should get the best C of the 90s though but thats mainly a timing question.
Well, there are arguably only a handful of players that possessed what we call the "fear factor". Shaq is one of those.
People were scared of facing Michael Jordan, Bill Russell, Shaquille O'Neal, Wilt Chamberlain, Larry Bird, Dominique Wilkins, Charles Barkley and Moses Malone are probably the 'Big 8'. As in literally scared shitless, on both ends. I think only Kobe gets anywhere close here from more recent guys, but he's not on that level, it just gets highlighted more because there weren't many others with this mentality during his prime.
There are players that also possessed a fear factor for other reasons, because they could hurt you. Such as Bill Laimbeer, Dennis Rodman, Ron Artest, Karl Malone, Charles Oakley, Rick Mahorn, Darryl Dawkins, Ben Wallace etc. Not the same thing. It's one thing to want to be careful not to get hit by an elbow or being thrown down when you try to reach the hoop and another to have to be at 110% at all times on both ends.
The first group of guys had what we call 'killer instict' and pure dominance. You didn't want to get in the way when they turned it on. And it's also why the best duels are between such guys. Go back and check matchups from the prime of MJ vs Bird, MJ vs Nique (MJ says he was his toughest rival), MJ vs Barkley, Bird vs Nique, Bird vs Barkley, Nique vs Barkley. Unfortunately not much can be found from the Russell vs Wilt matchups and Moses was in a league of his own, but he did get some time with the other guys. But that was always the best television for the NBA. And the Lakers vs Celtics rivalry obviously, which highlighted the Bird vs Magic duels, but you also had 5-6 other great players around them on top of that. Jordan, Barkley and Nique were effectively playing by themselves for a big chunk of their careers and had to be at 120% to even come close to overcoming a playoff matchup. Against the Celtics, the Pistons, the Cavs etc... Not an easy task.
People were afraid of Hakeem in a sporting way, he'd block you, he'd shake you, he'd torment you, but he wasn't a wild player. Patrick Ewing for example was probably a scarier matchup for centers, but Hakeem would dominate everyone, whereas Patrick had weak links to be exploited by other great bigs.