That was one thing I always respected about Shaq, that he consistently praised Hakeem. It was interesting to watch that relationship develop. Most thought Shaq's size would be too much for the Rockets in the '95 Finals, but Hakeem really took it to him in that series. He was just playing on another level during that run. On the other hand, Shaq had no respect for David Robinson.
Didn't Robinson refuse to meet Shaq when Shaq was a high schooler in San Antonio or something? I remember Shaq always carried a grudge because of that.
In Hakeem's book, he talks about being introduced to Shaq when he was coming into the league. He treated Hakeem with the respect you'd expect, and Hakeem showed him a few moves. Hakeem talked quite a bit about his personal philosophies on competition in the book, and he said he was happy to show his moves and pivots to others. Hakeem thought being secretive about your techniques or mean-mugging the other team was fake and stupid. He had a lot of respect for all of the great centers of that era, and he liked the challenge (A lot-- he beat 'em all).
Not a lot of people had much respect for DRob. lol Hell, Tim pratically took the team over in his rookie season.
That's what Shaq used to say, but David Robinson didn't start playing for the Spurs until Shaq was already at LSU.
Interesting. Maybe it was after Robinson was drafted by the Spurs but prior to actually playing for them?
Always liked Shaq, dude seemed like he was having a good time playing the game he loved. I still remember the proposed 1 on 1 Shaq and Dream were close to having but never did. He probably stayed 2 years to long but seems like most of the greats do.
Again, is it a fact that not a lot had respect for Robinson? what are the details and examples on that?
Yeah, it was schedule and everything. Here is a youtube of the commerical for it. I dunno why they canceled it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbhbuoEZIM0
Looking back, The Little Mermaid is misunderstood. The guy had bigger priorties than basketball. he was a naval engineer from the academy for chrissakes. he probably never expected to be a great nba player and he was. just wasn't clutch d rob visited some fifth graders early in his career and offered them scholarships if they finished school and would attend college. when the time came he upped his promise from $2K to $8K, he's donated $11MM of his own money to a school he founded.
Don't really understand the DRob hate. I never heard or read about teammates not respecting him. DRob is clearly one of the greatest centers of all time, Dream was just better.... much better.
