Wilt did that in an era where Bill Russell was his only competition at center, other than that it was mostly a bunch of unathletic, short white dudes who played center. Hakeem played in the ultimate era of big men from the 80's and through the 90's, he faced many elite centers along the way. Sorry, but the level of competition Hakeem faced was simply better than most of what Wilt faced. Plus, Wilt was a career choker in the playoffs. Hakeem>Wilt
yes I agree dream is the best center of all time but using that awful music in that video does not do him justice, just dont understand whoever makes this video have a little class and add some quality music for a olajuwon video. olajuwon topics all day forget le$$
The median height of centers in Wilt's best season was like 1-2 inches shorter than the median height in Hakeem's best season. Wilt also had to play a larger percentage of his games against HoF centers though. Expansion meant that Hakeem was playing tons of games against the likes of Manute Bol, Greg Kite, Michael Cage, J.R. Reid, Charles Jones, and Mike Gminski. It's easy to remember that he was playing against Ewing, Robinson, Malone, Parish, and Sikma, but you only play those guys so many times in a season.
Wilt only played Russell so many times a season as well. Expansion didn't enable Hakeem to face inferior competition, as you suggest. While Russell could slow Wilt down when they played, who ever slowed Hakeem down? Perhaps the perception that Wilt faced a greater "percentage" of good competition is merely that Wilt wasn't as dominant. Since "a larger percentage against HoF centers" is a very specific and objective measure, though not especially an informative one, let's see your numbers, not just blind claims. Wilt played in a much smaller league with far less talent and a standard by which "elite" and "HoF' were judged differently than they are today. The best argument against comparing Wilt and Hakeem directly is that they played in different eras. The 3 point line fundamentally changed the game. Prior to that, an outside shot was not strategic. By any reasonable measure, Hakeem is the greatest center to have played in the modern (3pt) era. Whether Wilt was better is not really interesting, and among the acknowledged greatest centers only Wilt can be reasonably compared to Hakeem. Kareem and Russell didn't play both ends. Shaq and Wilt couldn't shot a foul shot. Moses wasn't as dominant defensively... Interestingly, for all the yapping that MJ is the GOAT, one could as easily argue that Wilt was better than MJ with similar athleticism and scoring dominance but in a 7+ foot frame. Plus, as you said, Wilt faced "a greater percentage" of HoF competition... Sure, the argument makes little sense, but just as much as it does against Hakeem.
Sure, Wilt played 80 games in the 1961-62 season (his best statistical season). Of those 80 games, 10 were against Bill Russell, 10 were against Walt Bellamy, 3 were against Clyde Lovellette, 8 were against Wayne Embry (an additional 2 were against Tom Heinsohn, who while in the Hall of Fame, wasn't really a center). So Wilt started 31/80 games against a hall of fame center (0.3875). Hakeem played 82 games in the 1989-90 season (his best statistical season). Of those 82 games, 4 were against David Robinson, 2 were against Robert Parish, 2 were against Moses Malone, and 2 were against Patrick Ewing. So Hakeem started 10/82 games against a hall of fame center (0.1220).
ok tinman by popular demand the dream one the award. But you gonna post this next year to flush out all the haters i guess. I never hated on the dream, tell you the truth my basketball coach in HOUSTON, want me to meet him and decided not to. now go around sugar land passing the word you fooll
