What do you need the low post moves for, is the better question? To win a game? Hakeem. His post moves were the epitome of grace and brutality. Everything built on everything that came before it. Start with a jump hook, spin out to a fadeaway, up-and-under to the finger-roll. Overplay one and the you end up flailing away at nothing while Hakeem puts you in the highlight reels FOREVER. Unstoppable one-on-one. David Robinson was one of the most athletic centers to play the game, and he looked like Bambi on Ice trying to guard Hakeem. But much of what he did was based upon his incredible quickness and coordination. I don't think there are many players in the league that could replicate that. Most of the players that are physically similar to Hakeem - 6'9", long arms, quick - play on the wing facing the basket. When I think of players that could learn from Hakeem - I think of some of the swingmen in the league - Lebron, Durant - Derrick Williams would be a good candidate. To Learn from? Probably McHale. He wasn't a standout athletically, but he was very fundamentally sound, with a wider selection of moves - and I think his approach would be more relatable to the average NBA big man. Of course, McHale is currently employed as a head coach, and was previously in a front office - so he can't just pal around with random big men throughout the league. That would be tampering. So Hakeem wins by default, because no one will get fined millions of dollars if Hakeem practices with an NBA player.
Hakeem is like the Bruce Lee of martial arts. He combined many post moves and simplified them and used them for maximum effectiveness. You really dont need 20 post moves if you have 3-4 that really work.
Hakeem created better shots than Kevin, but Kevin had much better touch, if Hakeem had Kevin's shooting touch, he would have averaged 5-6 points more per game.
Scola is like a poor man's McHale. Kevin had amazing moves on the low block, his up and under is still an amazing thing to see. Hakeem is a unique player, I think his moves are based a lot on timing and his unique athleticism, which is why very few can emulate him. McHale is probably a better teacher, so it will be interesting to see how he does with our young guys and Scola too....because Kevin was all brains.....let's hope he translates that to our guys. I doubt TWill picks anything up, but the rest of the team....lol. DD
I would say Dream hands down, but it would also depend on the situation. if I had to sum them both up with one word each, i would say Dream was graceful and McHale was crafty. Anywhere from the wing/baseline, all the way to about 1 foot from the basket, Dream hands down. McHale had some moves one foot away from the basket. I would compare him to a taller version of Scola. Not very explosive, but very crafty and sneaky at getting his shot off.
I didnt see mchale playing in full games, and havent seen enough highlights to really make a fair decision, so not going to vote. but yeah Hakeem only had 2-3 moves, but with a twist or a change in those moves, and he could havel ike 20, like adding one more fake, adding more footwork, etc. thats why hakeem was so good, you would expect a move, but it turns out he did one more fake, or one less fake, and he scored, and in the next possession, he changes his move again.
Simmons himself says it best - McHale - number 1 quantity but great quality Hakeem - godly quality with limited quantity
This is a rockets fan site of course Hakeem is going to win. I bet a lot of us are also probably less that 25 so we didn't really watch mchale in his prime. I mean I can't honestly say mchale is better than hakeem since I didn't see him like I saw hakeem.
No disrespect to McHale but Hakeem was the focal point of opposing teams' defences on a nightly basis. Insert Hakeem along with Parish and Bird as his frontline and I'm sure Hakeem's field goal percentage and offensive numbers/efficiency will be significantly higher. The quality of the team mates makes a big difference. Hakeem's post moves are a work of art, one of kind, no one else can emulate them on a consistent basis. McHale's moves seems to be more work-man like and very effective.
Ill go with hakeem. He bamboozled all the best defensive centers in his era with his quickness n footwork.
it's ahard one tbh, Hakeem had the most graceful post game to ever exist, Mchale had the most fundamentally sound post game to ever exist. What makes it so tough is its a lot of what ifs, its like "what if mchale had Hakeem's athleticism, then he would have been some super human", but at the same time you need to account for the fact that someone with said athleticism won't be all fundamentals as it takes away a key advantage. Have a strength and use it, they were both as good as each other at that.
Imagine a taller Scola that could use both hands and play great defense and then add a backwards shot that you would do when playing horse. That was McHale.
Kevin McHale game was based on great fundamental basketball and I think he had the 2nd best set of post moves ever for a big man in the NBA. However, Dream was on a completely different level because he could use all of the post moves Kevin used and create several more that no one has ever successfully been able to imitate. That's why all of today's star players go to Dream when they want to learn how to play in the low post. None of them are lining up to have Shaq teach them that's for sure! Dream simply was the most versatile and athletic center to ever play the game and had all of the low post moves ever created at his disposal.
I feel like Hakeem in his prime could pretty much do whatever McHale could do in the post if wanted to or need to...or at least get pretty close. However, I'm less likely to believe the opposite is true. Yeah, I'm sure McHale demonstrated more "fundamentally sound" post moves, simply because he had to. I think Hakeem could be every bit as fundamentally sound, but whats the use for fundamentals when you can just beat your opponent using brute force athleticism and quickness. That being said, McHale would probably be the better teacher for the entirety of NBA players, since a lot of Dream's post moves require you to be a freak.
Convince me that McHale's post moves would result in 60% FG or two championships without Bird on the team and I will give the nod to McHale.
I think in terms of purely moves, McHale But in terms of effectiveness because of speed and athleticism, Hakeem
You said it. McHale was part of a front line that featured Larry Bird and Robert Parish. Hakeem had what? Thorpe and Ellie. I seriously doubt that Simmons, being a Celtics fan, has watched Hakeem anywhere as much as he has McHale, just as most of us here never watched nearly as much McHale as Hakeem. I think the most one can claim is that it's not really fair to compare the two because Hakeem was light years more physically gifted than McHale. Hakeem probably didn't need all the craftiness of McHale because of his quickness and explosiveness. Could he have mastered all of McHale's moves if he wanted to? Most likely he could.
The more I read, the more it seems McHale has the better assortment of moves. A "backwards shot" sounds absurd. But McHale actually did shoot shots with his back to the basket without turning. I like that comparison. So my choice is, McHale has the best post moves for a power forward Hakeem has the best post moves for a center
i think the argument for mchale is that he had more moves. not really. i think they both knew and mastered all the moves. i think hakeem was so good at his first 5 options of moves that he rarely needed to use any others. mchale had to try them all on his defender until one worked, then he scored. so he got to display more moves and score in a variety of ways. lets say mchale scored using 20 moves to hakeem's 5. if you told hakeem to use all 20 moves in a game, it wouldn't be any more difficult just unnecessary. however, if you told mchale to only use his top 5 moves, the game would become more difficult for him. advantage: hakeem the dream.
