Physical specimen of a player who really was guard in a power forward's body. He had pretty good scoring ability, outstanding at rebounding, exceptional court vision, really good outside shooter, not quite the post player Duncan or Malone (and McHale) was, though on defense he is one of the few bigs I've ever seen lock-up shooting guards or point guards for an entire game, yet he could guard or even lock up most bigs as well. I remember a game against Houston around 06-07 where he locked up both Yao and T-Mac in single coverage against both players.
I have a few for you all. How good was Latrell Sprewell ? How good was Glenn Robinson ? How good was Terrell Brandon ? How good was Marbury in the Twolves days?
PatBev with a little more offensive game. Great defender, guaranteed steal in every game. Small for a pg, but just played hard the whole game. Finished well at the hoop, and had a good midrange jumper, not great at the 3.
Hakeem won two rings by playing in the ultimate inside-out system. He was basically operating as a PG out of the post. The assertion that he could not pass is hilarious.
how good was Bill Cartwright? Could his career have been different if he wasn't in the triangle/with Jordan/Pippen/Grant for so long?
Better than any center in the NBA right now. He was one of the 3-4 best rebounders I have ever seen and is the best offensive rebounder I have ever seen. He was EXTREMELY physical and was a good to very good defender and was a complete bull inside. Possibly the most under rated big time center in NBA history. At his peak he averaged 31/15/1.5 and played 42 minutes a game.... he was an absolute beast.
One of the better college players who was the reason the NBA instituted the rookie pay scale. Robinson held out, reportedly looking for a 10 year 100 million dollar contract and finally settled on a 10 year 68 million dollar contract which in 94 was unheard of. As for his game he was a small forward but there was nothing small about him or his game. He was a massive almost LeBron like player in stature. He had an all around offensive game and was a 20 point a game scorer from the beginning of his career. While he put up good numbers, his teams in Milwaukee in the 90's where not so good so you never really heard much. But by 2000, the Bucks added Ray Allen and Sam Cassell and nearly made the NBA Finals in 2001 with one of the most forgotten about trio's in NBA history. All three players put up strong numbers for the Bucks who came within a game of the NBA Finals losing to the Sixers in 7 in 01. Remember thinking the Bucks had the better chance of beating the Lakers because they could keep up offensively with multiple scoring options.
Originally Pearl Jam was named Mookie Blaylock because the band were such huge fans of his. Once Mookie signed with Nike, the band got pressure from their record label to change their name. So they changed their name to Pearl Jam but named their first album 10 because that was Mookie's jersey number.
Hakeem wasn't a great passer early in his career. It was only around 1991 that he started to really improve that facet of his game. He's still no Sabonis or Marc Gasol or Chris Webber but he became really good.
