Am I missing something here, Shaq, Dream, Moses > Tim Duncan

Hakeem was the GOAT center and it's not even close.

 

That's how you get reputation points on a rocket board.

 

My bad, Marc Gasol is the GOAT center of all time and Z-Bo is the GOAT PF of all time.

 

your main fallacy here is that you believe athleticism equates to better defensively. It doesn't.

Robinson and Hakeem were better shot blockers than duncan, but as far as positional defender duncan was better than both of them. that's why shaq was able to back down hakeem and duncan because he'd get position on them in the post. duncan had the ability to get to your spot and the strength to make you shot over him.

 

**robinson

 

Tim Duncan = 35+ minutes of Chuck Hayes on D. That's the greatest defensive player of all-time.

 

I have seen Tim Duncan been neutralized by Wallace and Pau Gasol which brought him down a couple of notches in my book. There is absolutely no way that any of the Wallaces or Pau gasol could have slowed down Shaq or Hakeem.

Duncan had better fundamentals than Shaq but he wasn't unstoppable like Shaq was. On defense they had about the same influence.

Duncan's post and face-up game was excellent but it wasn't unstoppable like Shaq and Hakeem's were.

Compared to Hakeem, Duncan does not have any advantage. Hakeem was more athletic, quicker, and had more post up moves. He was unstoppable on offense and the 94 Rockets offense required him to be or else they would have won the ring. That year, Hakeem could not rely or a Manu or Parker to create offense for his team. Replace Hakeem with Duncan on that team and Rockets dont win the ring that year. On defense Hakeem was undeniably better. Better block numbers, steal numbers, covered more ground, was excellent postition defender (eg. defended Karl Malone and Kemp in playoffs during closing minutes) and quicker to recover on his man and on the pick and roll.

And whoever said Duncan has better range is wrong and has not watched both of them play. Hakeem had an excellent jumper and was a better Ft shooter.

As i said, I cant think of any one area in which Duncan was better than Hakeem.

Duncan's advantage was that he has been surrounded by a great management, coaches, and players throughout his career.

 

Agreed.

 

Not too far behind

5. Hakeem Olajuwon, Houston, 1994

This series didn't strike a chord with casual fans, except when the O.J. Simpson car chase interrupted Game 5. But Olajuwon's performance was unquestionably historic.

The 1993-94 Knicks were one of the best defensive teams of all time; you could argue, in fact, that no team has ever defended better than those Riley-era Knicks. Furthermore, Olajuwon was going up against not only a great D, but also its linchpin in fellow 2008 Hall of Famer Patrick Ewing. Their matchup was one of the few times in recent history that two all-timers went head-to-head in a Finals and guarded each other nearly the entire time.

And Olajuwon absolutely crushed Ewing. The Dream hardly came off the floor, averaging 43.1 minutes per game for the series, and his freakish stat line included 26.9 points, 9.1 boards, 3.9 blocks and 3.6 assists.

Included in those numbers were a game-saving block of a John Starks jumper in Game 6, and an assist on the series-clinching 3-pointer by Vernon Maxwell in Game 7. Given the level of the competition and the defensive nature of the series, Olajuwon produced an amazing effort that transcended his 27.1 PER.

As for Ewing? He shot 36.9 percent with a 15.5 PER, and Olajuwon outscored him in all seven games. If not for such total domination in the battle of Hall of Fame centers, Houston wouldn't have come close to the title.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playo...nist=hollinger_john&page=FinalsPerformances-5​

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Hollinger did a decent job on the rankings.

At exactly number 50 is "Akeem's" '86 performance wear it says

Definitely more defensive range than Duncan.

 

TD is just as good as Shaq etc. because he's a real franchise player. Sure he's not as mind blowingly game breaking like Shaq, but he does all the right things a franchise player should do. He's always healthy, he never causes locker room problems, he's a real leader, he's a great defender, he has no ego problems and he sets the tone for the entire team.

Even if you rank him as a center TD should be near the top. Hell I'd take him over Shaq anyday. Shaq might be the most dominant ever but I don't want someone who'll cause endless locker room problems and leave my team to go the Lakers.

 

what, have you seen Duncan try to defend the PnR lately? He's barely adequate these days, and his mobility has been declining for years.

At the same age, Hakeem was still quick enough to to switch out on guards for full possessions, and he was even quicker back when he was Akeem. That quickness and athleticism translated to his rotations as well. His footwork, a holdover from his soccer days, was immaculate on both ends of the floor. Duncan never had that kind of quickness or agility, and positioning can only take you so far when you're being compared to quite possibly the greatest defensive player in the history of the game, who was just a vastly superior athlete.

You don't seem to know what you're talking about.

 

I find it funny when people say Duncan always had a great team. He has always had a bunch of scrubs on his teams that are just being glorified because they helped Duncan win rings. They were scrubs that knew how to play together, mostly due to Duncan's leadership and Pop's coaching. On any other team they would have been nobodies. And before anyone says Parker and Ginobili, they were never top 15 in any season.

 

I think Hakeem would beat out Duncan if he were to play the 4.

I'm biased against Duncan against many PF's anyway because watching him play puts me and my hyperactive nephew to sleep.

 

He won one championshiP playing alongside a HOFer. Manu and Tony arent all time greats but are all-star caliber year In and year out. Heck, Parker was good enough to be named Finals MVP over Duncan one year.

Duncan had plenty good teammates. Great teammates even.

Duncan gets my vote as the most consistent big man. But on the whole, at their best, against other greats - no, not Kenyon Martin - the others were better. Shaq, Hakeem and DRob, in their best seasons, we're more impressive, IMO.

 

Hmmmm....you must not remember young Tim Duncan. I do. I remember Pop breaking out the triple towers with Duncan at SF. I remember Duncan assigned to Mark Jackson, picking him up at half court and shutting him and Indiana down.

Duncan and Hakeem are comparable defenders that accomplished it in different ways but don't confuse athleticism with jumping. Duncan was one of the quickest laterally for a 7 footer in NBA history. Plus he was long and had great timing.

I think Shaq had a better peak than all of them but Duncan and Dream were dominant on both ends for over a decade and won rings. Toss up and any thing else is selecting between chocolate and vanilla ice cream.

 

A 33 yr old past his prime HOFer. Manu and Parker, compare them to Clyde, Kobe, etc. He did not have great teammates man, compared to
other champs.

 

Btw, athleticism is so overrated.