Actually, while his delivery is a little on the absolute side, his opinion isn't much different than that stated by Michael Jordan, David Robinson, Shaq, Robert Horry, and I'm sure many others who played with and against the Dream. While none of them had the luxury of competing against Wilt or Russell, I'm sure they are quite aware of who those guys are, yet they all picked Hakeem as the #1 center.
i know i will get ripped because of my screen name, but i'm a very objective observer of the game of basketball. hakeem was a MUCH better player than kareem. don't let the fact that kareem played for two decades and accumulated unbelievable stats distort the weaknesses of his game. he had possibly the best shot ever created in nba history in his hook shot but other than a very proficient low block offensive game, he doesn't come close to hakeem in other aspects. dream was superior defensively, athletically, and was such a better all-around threat on both ends of the floor it's not even funny. hakeem was the most versatile, skilled, athletic, and dominant post player in nba history. he was unstoppable offensively because he could take you out to 15 feet and either drive by you or shoot it over you if you were bigger or stronger, or just befuddle you in the post with an array of moves and the best footwork the game has ever seen in the post. defensively dream was dynamite. he could block virtually any shot and his quick feet and hands lead to a lot of steals. despite not being the strongest guy in the world he was able to keep other centers at bay with his footwork and leaping ability. also a reason that hakeem is the best big man ever is because of his impact on the game in two different aspects. 1. he was the first real superstar from overseas, and opened up the channels for forgein players to come to the nba. and after his success, overseas scouting increased to new unforseen heights. 2. his game itself started a completely new generation of big men. big men were no longer confided to playing with their backs to basket on the block. he started the movement that is so prevelant in the league today. now if a big man CAN'T go to the perimeter and hit the mid range jumper, take defenders off the dribble, and guard other big man outside, they rarely see the floor. that's hakeem's influence on the GAME. now i'm not saying that hakeem is the greatest PLAYER ever, but i do believe he is the greatest BIG MAN ever. personally, jordan and bird are better than hakeem in my mind, and there are probably other players that are better than dream as well but he's still a top 10 player all time, regardless of position.
Actually not here to make any point (there is no debate...Akeem all the way!!) but to tell all of you to look at ESPN best roster ever voting poll. That Rockets team is scary good. But so are some of the others... http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page...lineup/index&campaign=rss&source=NBAHeadlines
thank you verymuch Red_Glare.. but i dont think it's worth discussing anything with Mr. StupidMoniker....
hold on now, the rockets had good teams, drexler was a super star that last i remember and horry, sam i am, kenny, maxwell, they were all very good, and manu is not a super star from what others keep saying the homo cant do anything except flop and drive with his left
Drexler of 95 = production of Tony Parker this season In 95 drexler was allstar quality at most, he was not super star caliber at this point in his career and that Rockets team beat 4 50+ teams on the way to the finals, and Swept the much favored powerhouse, the Magic (which beat Jordans bulls) The Spurs this year have a much easier route to the finals, and a much stronger bench, but i doubt they win the title, if they even come out of the conference.
Kenny just mentioned coming back being down 3-1. He mentioned you need a beast who can score.. he of course mentioned Dream.. and he mentioned VERNON!!!
I agree with u a 100%... the Rockets had GOOD ROLE PLAYERS, I loved them all, but they didn't have superstars like Magic &Kareem, Bird & Mchale, MJ & Pippen & Rodman (I know Pippen sucked for us, but he was good with them.. and the green headed dude was not a great player, but he was still considered great).. and about Manu, the dude aint **** man,... Manu is not even an average player.. I hate the dude.. and you r right, he can only flop and drive to his left..
its cool to be all about your team and stuff but people you cant be hating on Manu. I dont even have to explain why, or at least i shouldnt. imagine if he played for Houston ....
He was the closest to a Quintuple-Double In 1987, Hakeem Olajuwon had 38 points, 17 rebounds, 12 blocks, 7 steals, and 6 assists for the Houston Rockets the closest to a Quintuple-double Quadruple-double Hakeem Olajuwon, March 29, 1990, Houston vs. Milwaukee; 18 points, 16 rebounds, 10 assists, 11 blocks Quadruple-double near misses (the same month): Hakeem Olajuwon, March 3, 1990, Houston Rockets vs. Golden State Warriors; 29 points, 18 rebounds, 9 assists, 11 blocks. The initial boxscore read 10 assists, but the figure was corrected by the league. Quintuple Double
What I can say unequivocally about Hakeem is that I've never seen a guy with his speed and grace at his size. He ran the court as fast as many guards. He played the entire court as a young guy end to end. I'm not entirely sure he was a better player by the time he was scoring 27 points a game in the pros. A better offensive player perhaps, but his defense as a younger guy was just unreal. I was in grad school at Rice when he was at UH so I recall watching just about all his "March Madness" games. His first year in the tournament he was awkward and stiff.. he looked like he'd never make it (yea, like I knew). The second year in the playoffs, he was visibly improving EVERY SINGLE GAME. He suddenly could score; he had this little turnaround jumper that appeared in his repetoire. He looked unstoppable, and the NC State finals were an amazing disappointment. Credit Vimmy V for an excellent coaching job (and I think Guy Lewis said his team had left too much on the floor against Louisville). By the pros, it wasn't uncommon for him to run a guard down from behind, block the guard's layup, rebound the block and toss it to a running guard for the game winning score. He did it enough that you never gave up at the end of a Rocket's game; Olajuwan was a miracle waiting to happen. Kareem? I saw him too, and he was a superb player. But comparing the two is a bit like comparing steak tartare to a deep smoked rack of ribs. They are both excellent, but they aren't the same. Kareem's game was his consistency. Olajuwan's game was his all round athletics. David.
Nice post! You look at those '87 numbers, consider how long he'd been in the league, and how much BB experience he had (you pointed out very well how he played at UH. I was an adult back then as well, and had close ties to the University), and what he could do was just mind-blowing. The Dream was doing major damage during the Rockets '86 playoff run. He was far from just a scorer in the paint. The man was a bad, bad dude often enough. He didn't put up with anything, got in lots of fights, and got numerous disqualifications. Cutting down on those was one of the growth areas he finally mastered. It's really unfair to Yao to compare the two. The differences are as great as those between Hakeem and Jabbar. Just hugely different players. Oh, and Coach Guy V. should be in the Hall, dammit. It's just ludicrous that he's not, and makes a mockery of what it stands for, IMO. 592 wins, 5 Final Fours, and a hair from winning a chanmpionship... what does it take??
This is something that many people forget when debating about Hakeem. There is only a very few amount of players that could get a quadruple double, and in today's NBA there is nobody capable of it and I mean nobody. In the 90's when BBAll was taken to athletic heights, Hakeem was able to be one of the best all around players to play in the NBA. I think his passing was highly underrated and not to mention the steals. Ben Wallace is considered the greatest defender at Center in the NBA for the past couple of years. Hakeem was better than him defensively and you can argue that he was one of the top 3 offensive players for a couple years straight. He was close to the top of every statistical category year in and year out. I think you have to put him in the same class as Oscar Robertson, Magic, Bird and Scottie Pippen in terms of ALL AROUND PLAYERS. Yes, Pippen is one of the best all around players to play . Dream may not be the greatest ever but he was a more complete player than all the great centers except Chamberlain.
There's not just "one" best player from Texas... I'd say Hakeem was the most dominant--the player who consistently enforced his presence on both ends of the floor... But Duncan is the best "winner"...3 championships (and more to come, in all likelihood) ... But I believe the Rockets won their rings in the tougher era---Patrick Ewing, MJ, a tough Seattle club, Barkley and the Suns, the height of the Utah Jazz era, Orlando... much more balance in the early 90s...
I watched a rerun of game five Houston at Utah in 1995 starring Hakeem and Clyde. I have to agree with Hakeem06 that Hakeem Olajuwon is the best big man the Rockets have ever had, or the state of Texas has seen. Too bad that Yao Ming is just a good player. He's just not as quick as Hakeem and doesn't have that intimidation factor that the young Olajuwon had. Didn't Hakeem get ejected in that playoff game against the lakers when he threw a punch against Mitch Kupchak? Or wasn't he also involved in rough-up with Michael Cage of Seattle? This is a no-contest. Hakeem Olajuwon simply was the best big man Houston ever had.
Excellent post- I like how you summed up Hakeem's development from UH to the NBA. Jabbar would have been a lot more athletic in his younger days because he put up big numbers at Milwaukee. I wonder how he compared to Hakeem then.
