If you look at the GIF, there are at least three things in one move. 1. The first move is to go baseline 2. He feels Shaq's body and knows Shaq is anticipating baseline 3. So, he goes into the fade away That's a shot only guards and small forwards would even dream of attempting.
What's amazing is that Shaq played it perfectly, he knew the move, knew what Hakeem was doing, didn't give an inch, and even had his hand up before Olajuwon raised his arms because Shaq knew what was going to happen. And yet Hakeem still made the shot. He just knew that he could make it and so did it. That wasn't a fake, it wasn't anything but a way for Hakeem to get to the baseline and take an incredibly tough shot (for a normal person) he is use to making.
They exiled an aging HOF to turn the team over to Kelvin Cato, Moochie Norris, Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley. They gave Cato six years and $42 million. They gave Norris six years and $22 million. $64million guaranteed to those scrubs, but offered Hakeem three years and $12 million. Yes he was on a steady decline, but Cato and Norris? So much for loyalty.
His body went to canada, his spirit never left. It's still here, in this thread, in the yota center, and at 11445 Center West Drive.
I don't really know or care why you consider it garbage. It was common knowledge that behind the scenes, Hakeem wasn't happy about the Rockets' contract offers and after rejecting them, both parties agreed to the trade to the Raptors. Initially, the Rockets offered him 3 years and $10 million. Then increased it to 3 years and $13 million. Both offers were almost half Cato's salary and even at 38, he was still better than Cato. Does anyone really think Hakeem would be okay making significantly less money than his backup? Do they think he wouldn't be insulted that there is a debate about capping his salary to pay a scrub PG? He signed with the Raptors for 3 years and $18 million. The difference between the Raptors and Rockets offers? Approximately Moochie's yearly salary. At this point, it doesn't matter, but you should at least know the reasons he went to the Raptors. From a business perspective, it's debatable whether he was worth $6 million a year, but to low ball him to pay Moochie "freaking" Norris has always bugged me. Unfortunately, it looks like aging legends (Earl Campbell, Nolan Ryan and Hakeem) who wear #34 in Houston always end their careers in other cities.
