I agree with everyone on here...his temper early on was a weakness. His temper decreased when he started focusing time praying and relaxing. Foul trouble was his other weakness as he would reach in after he missed a shot on either gaurds or the person who got the rebound. These aren't glaring weaknesses, but talking about weakness in a center like Hakeem is tough. He could do it all in his days, except maybe shoot threes...I bet his percentage was higher than Reefer's.
Hakeem did have to shake the "ballhog/selfish" label and even the poor passer tag that wasn't completely fair. After drugs and injuries gutted the Rockets and we went about surrounding him with the Buck "booster rockets in my rear end" Johnsons and Derrick "I can score on anybody...NOT" Chievouses of the world, the Rockets had a better chance of scoring with a double and triple teamed Hakeem than his wide open teammates. Again, talking about Dream's weaknesses is like picking out the ugliest feature on the world's hottest supermodel/actress, etc...
He was so good he didn't need to go "all out" during regular games. I think he coasted a bit from time to time, but that still amounted to about 25 points and 10 or so rebounds and a few blocks for good measure. In the playoffs, he kicked into another gear, and in the championship series he took it to even another level. At his peak, words can't really describe his performances.
I can only comment on Dream's weaknesses from 1993 forward, and I will not comment about Dream after the 1997-1998 season because age and injuries slowed Dream down, not skill or natural talent. With that said, we are talking about five seasons, namely the 93-94, 94-95, 95-96, 96-97, and 97-98 season. With the exception of the 93-94 season, Dream had help in the form of another star-caliber player: 94-95: Clyde Drexler 95-96: Clyde Drexler 96-97: Clyde Drexler, and Charles Barkley (Eddie Jones was good, too) 97-98: Clyde Drexler, and Charles Barkley In these years, Dream was able to hide weaknesses, save for his "I am the man and will always be the man attitude," which I dare to say that none of you can deny to have shown its ugly head from time-to-time in these years. With that said, Dream was the real MVP in 95-95, surrounded by content players in 95-96, damn-near in the finals in 96-97 and decent in 97-98. If he had one weakness in those years it was his less-than-stellar rebounding in from 96-98, but we had Barkley around so how is that fair to say? So all I can talk about is 93-94, which was Hakeem's prime. If there was one weakness in that season it was that he didn't take HGH, steroids, EPO or engage in blood-doping. Let's not forget about his selfish decision not to eat during Ramadan which affected his energy level at times. I can't say anything bad about Dream. Okay, one thing: I was pissed as hell when Dream went up for a dunk on Earvin "Tragic" Johnson during the Seattle series in the 96 playoffs, only to spin 180 degrees and get his shot blocket from behind. I thought that was stupid when Dream could have drawn a foul.
also, forgot to add that hakeem's size relative to the other centers was more of an advantage. had he been a little bigger, he would have lost some speed. and it's not like bigger centers could stop shaq from scoring in the post either.
His devotion to religion. I cannot beleive he would go on fast and still play ball it was unbelievable. I remember seeing him on the sidelines with an oxygen tank strapped to his face. He was truly unbeadable...and because I like to say it, fockass.
Wilt had range out to 17 feet. If you're gonna list that for him, you're gonna have to list it for any center who's not a 3-point shooter. But back to the question at hand... I tend to think that Hakeem's greatest strength was the fact that he didn't have weaknesses. I mean really... what couldn't he do that you might reasonably expect a center to be able to do?
Passing? Granted he became a very good passer, but I can't think of anything else really. Maybe ballhandling, but that is not expected of a center.
