[grantland]Robert Horry Says Hakeem Was the Best Center in History

Duh!!

 

i think Horry prob meant Hakeem is the best center in his (hrry's) history.
Stats alone say Wilt was superior, Bill Russel was also up there
However neither play against Hakeem and vice versa so we might never know about head to head comparison.

But those are my top 3 centers, Jabbar be damned

 

Robert is the man he can do whatever the hell he wants

 

amen, brother. ask anyone who played against him.

 

Correct.

 

I understand Tinman.
Wilt was a better shot blocker, it just wasn't a stat in his days. Its been said sometimes he had ver 20 blocks a game. I know a lot of his stats are exagerrated today because there are no video evidence.
Hakeem was also a pf masquerading as C, it is a testament to his versatility that he could go up against bigger guys like Robinson, Shaq, Ewing etc and make them look like fools.
While Wilt admittedly playing against lesser competition (scouting was horrible in those days + the color line) put up ridiculous numbers.

I dont know, would be fun to see them play against each other on a video game, but Wilt was no David Robinson

 

hakeem played in the greatest era of nba centers, wilt played against a bunch of 6'7 - 6'9 white dudes.

 

im no fan of jabbar, he is bitter.
its a toss up though, but you can't really fault wilt for playing against lesser competition, it was not his fault

 

yea and the sky is blue and water is wet. what else is new?

 

How does Jabbar being bitter impact his skill level as an NBA player? Jordan was jackass, too, doesn't make him any worse of a player.

And you absolutely can "fault" Wilt for who he played against. Competition should be noted. I personally believe both Wilt and Russel would have had their stats meaningfully marginalized against better competition. Not that they still wouldn't be at or near all-time greats, but it absolutely has to be taken into consideration.

I rank Jabbar #1. He was statistically dominant. His game spanned multiple eras. he had incredible longevitiy. A 39 year old Kareem was better than 90%+ of the big men in today's NBA. And like Hakeem, he was dominant defensively, too. he's got the awards (rookie of the year, 2 finals mvp's, 6 regular season mvp's), he won 6 championships, etc.

Basically, at everyone's peak, I would argue Kareem would perform on par or better than every other center in consideration. And he did it longer and won the championships.

If you want to rank Hakeem second after that, no argument here.

 

i said i was not a fan of jabbar because he is a bitter person, i didnt say he wasnt a great player. Every time he is interviewed, he is either talking down Hakeem or Wilt, that shows serius self esteem issues.

Jabbar can not carry the jockstrap of the person carrying olajuwn's jockstrap on defense. On offense, the dream shake offsets the sky hook, plus like Shaq said Olajuwon had multiple counter moves for every move he had.

I would honestly rank wilt below shaq.
He won most of those championships playing with showtime Lakers and a very unselfish Magic, plus his Bucks championship was with the Big O.
Did he ever win in the NBA by himself, while yu can make the arguement that Olajuwon pretty much carried both championship teams on his shoulders- especially the first one

 

+ most skilled
+ most agile
+ best footwork
+ best low post moves
+ unbeatable

 

And Shaq is far from first.

 

I disagree. Did you watch Jabbar play? He was a dominant defensive player. He would be the all-time block leader if they recorded blocks early in his career (though admittedly in more games). But Kareem still could protect the paint, block shots, was a monster on the glass, etc. If you were ranking purely on defense would I put Hakeem ahead? Sure, I think he's the greatest defensive center ever, bar none, which makes him one of if not the greatest defensive player ever. Pound for pound, not doubt. But that doesn't mean Kareem was a slouch or that far behind.

Number of moves is somewhat irrelevant, though. Kareem may be the most efficient prolific scorer in history. He's 25th in all-time career true shooting %, but of course the all time points leader, and had a great PPG average. If all Kareem ever did was shoot sky hooks and he had absolutely no other offense, but he did it as effectively as he did, well the ball still goes in the hoop.

Look, I'd rather watch Hakeem play, but I can't rank him ahead of Kareem

As for his bitterness, I'd agree that Kareem is generally a bitter personality. But it doesn't help that on top of it he's kind of a forgotten all-time great. I mean people clearly remember him and rank him highly. But if you were to ask about all-time Laker great, he'd likely rank below Kobe, Magic and West at a minimum. And i believe he was somewhat blackballed from a coaching perspective when he tried to get into coaching. but yes, he shouldn't be as bitter as he seems at times.

 

He played with Shaq so that is a bold statement. I loved this video clip I posted it on all my Laker friends' facebook walls.

 

I miss that era of dominant centers.

Hakeem
Shaq
Robinson
Ewing

Plus the international battles in the 80's with a young Sabonis who was the highest IQ center I've ever seen.

 

If blocks were recorded from the very beginning, Wilt will be the blocks leader, so that angle does not fly

Maybe playing next to two great passing pgs in Big O and Magic Johnson helped. I mean look at Malone, does his scoring numbers indicate he is a better player than Duncan, no, he just had an unselfish pg who always looked for him first on offense.

This i fully agree with. The Lakers screwed up big time by making D'Antoni the coach. They picked a coach for Nash who was going to be there for only 2 years instead of Dwight who is their future. They could have killed 2 birds with one, rewarding one of their own who felt slighted and getting a bigman coach for Dwight.