ITT butthutt Knick fans about 94 finals... Duncan is quite possibly the greatest PF of all time. But throwing out everything and just from my own two eyes if I'm starting a team give me Akeem every day of the week. You Rocket "fans" riding Duncans strap clearly didn't live in Houston during the mid 90's.
yeah, and you rockets fans who act like hakeem was the goat center certainly didn't watch his yearly 1st round exit routine, his diva attitude and lackluster results. again, like I've said, all you 20-something kids see is hakeem schooling david, and that's all. Mid-nineties. You weren't even alive when hakeem was playing simply for numbers, and lackluster results. There is a reason hakeem didn't make the all-nba first team as a center every year. It's because hakeem didn't do diddly squat in the playoffs forhalf a decade.
The great Hakeem Olajuwon in 5 basketball seasons won 3 playoff games total, he was 3-12 and in the 5th year of a 5 year stretch, he missed the playoffs, then faked an injury and you all say, oh charlie thomas was a cheapskate. He was an idiot. Get real.
Showing your idiocy yet again. You didnt prove anything. Sampson's career ended with an injury. Half the team got busted for substance abuse. Rockets management replaced those players with trash. And yet it was Hakeem's fault that Rockets could not replicate the 86 team's success. Thats just terrible reasoning. Wrong again. I have had this debate on other non-Rockets and non-Spurs boards and folks have favored Hakeem.
Fitch took the phone call from legendary North Carolina coach Dean Smith before the 1984 draft, asking how the Rockets could possibly pass up Michael Jordan with the No. 1 pick. “I told him that the people of Houston would burn our houses down if we didn’t take Dream,” Fitch said. “And we also needed a big man who was ready to play right away. “You can look back now and ask, 'What if?’ But I look at Dream and what he became, how hard he played, how far he went and I don’t think it was the wrong choice. “I coached (Larry) Bird in Boston and Dream in Houston and I’ll tell you this: Give me Dream and Bird and any other three guys who ever picked up a paycheck in the NBA and I’ll play anybody. Anywhere. Anytime.” Stick that in your craw, twhat.
Anyone who thinks Duncan > Dream is not a Rockets fan. They need to go quantum leap... into Mitch Kupchack's face in 86 <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/UWekj2wcXes" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Mr. fundamentals wasn't on Hakeems level and Lebron isn't better than Jordan. Why do people get so attach to whats buzzing so easily. Timmy is great but Tim Duncan isn't enough to cloud my mind and over shadow one of the most dominant players who did it way back when. Hes quite savvy but who do you know with the raw skills Hakeem had from the grace of his baskets, rhythm, combined with speed and athleticism which also led to blocks, steals, and dunks? Ever amazed when you see t-rob fly out of no wheres land for a tremendous block, rip guards with his quick hands, or explodes to the goal to miss those point blank lay-ups/dunks which leaves us scratching our head. Well Olajuwon did this on a night to night basis minus the missing pb lay-ups part and lead the league in it. Imagine T-rob at 7 feet, with more girth and a much more amazing wing span than he has now. Theirs no comparison in game to T-rob because Olajuwon had much more gifts on offense and defense but those raw intangibles you see from flash to flash in t-rob Olajuwon dominated every night in along with his smooth unguardable post game. Dude was literally a FREAK and no one could guard him in the league. Timmy would get worn down if not down right just physically beat down/spanked by a much bigger stronger Olajuwon. Those shimmy's and hooks hes doing against Randolph wouldn't fly against Olajuwon. He played D like Brian Cushing did his first year on the Texans. It was steroid like
Duncan vs. Hakeem Both were/are absolutely amazing players, and I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to watch both of them throughout their primes. In terms of greatness, I feel they are both top ten all time players. However, I would put Hakeem ahead of Duncan for one simple reason -- Hakeem could do everything that Duncan could do, plus a little bit more due to his quickness. Hakeem was just a more complete player than Timmy.
Novaday players has much much MUCH better conditions to be better as a players, they are much more athletic and have MUCH more playing skills and IQ than retro players. I can't understand people who tells that MJ better than LeBron/Durant/Bryant or whatever Olajuwon better than Duncan. People who call it right that is just herd of cows. Put MJ, Olajuwon and others in nowaday NBA and most of them will be Bobcats starters at best. There been many great players, but comparing to this age - they are like average players, considering athletism, skills and bbIQ. They dominated when basketball was lame, and there was no great coaches (indead, compare to nowadays), defense was crap as hole (mostly). It's obvious answer to me here.
Dominated when basketball was lame? Are you preferencing the MJ era? According to you, you'd probably suggest Micheal Jackson's era was lame as well. Defense was crap? Try telling Rodman, Ewing, Barkley, Anthony Mason, Pippen should I keep going Penny, Malone, Mutombo, Alonzo Mourning, Gary Payton, John Stockton, Reggie Miller, Sprewell, Tim Hardaway, Grant hill/prime, or David Robinson that load of bull. Hand checks were allowed and it definitely was a much more physical era without the ample amount of touch calls you see harden/lebron and most stars getting night in and night out. http://thehoopdoctors.com/online2/2009/06/top-10-nba-defensive-players-of-all-time/Have you really been watching the NBA?
Duncan is clearly better than Olajuwon. The best way to compare past players is with RAPM (regularized, adjusted plus-minus). Duncan consistently had a RAPM far higher than Olajuwon; in fact, Duncan owns the second highest single season RAPM of all time (LBJ is #1)
Ohh, really? I thought you guys overrating past, and it's pretty obvious. And again, I didn't said defense was crap overall, but it was.
Hakeem did not fake that injury. You don't know what you're saying. The guys running the Rockets made that claim because it was there method at the time. These are the same guys that put Sampson out there when he was still injured to help get rid of him. Olajuwon maintains he was never faking that injury. Let's just set the record straight. If you look at what that was all about you see that it was far from Olajuwon being only concerned about stats as you claim and was the opposite. Hakeem was infuriated with management because they wouldn't get players good enough to win a championship. He claimed that management was more interested in the bottom line than in winning a championship. He was all about winning. If he was about stats, he would have been fine being the only guy on the court who could score no matter what and set all kinds of records taking every shot. That isn't what Hakeem wanted, and he called out management on it. They accused him of faking an injury which was an insult the prideful Olajuwon.
Hakeem played center not because of any demand. It was the right move for the team because he didn't have the basketball history (he only started playing at age 15) and the same skill set. He had a very rough talent. Sampson had more diversified skills at that point and was correct in playing PF. It did hurt Sampson's numbers but it was the right move, and made for that reason, not a demand from Hakeem. Hakeem never faked an injury, routinely came back early from injuries and was extremely tough and fearless in his play. The only one that you're close on is that he used to whine about calls early on largely because of cultural differences and limited time playing basketball at all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=mArHU1ewSog Daniel Son and The Master. Do you Really think Duncan would be able to guard Dwight Howard with Olajuwon's motor and skills? In his Orlando years Dwight practically dominated the league without a 3rd of Olajuwon's skills and lackadaisical efforts. I don't see Olajuwon taking any plays off and would have completely SMASHED the league of weak centers in the NBA today. If I may ask, who could guard him? Roy Hibbert, maybe Gasol, right? lol... yea right!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=mArHU1ewSog Daniel Son and The Master. Do you Really think Duncan would be able to guard Dwight Howard with Olajuwon's motor and skills? In his Orlando years Dwight practically dominated the league without a 3rd of Olajuwon's skills and lackadaisical efforts. I don't see Olajuwon taking any plays off and would have completely SMASHED the league of weak centers in the NBA today. If I may ask, who could guard him? Roy Hibbert, maybe Gasol, right? lol... yea right! fixed
Duncan at 37 is the best player on team which will most likely go to NBA finals. Hakeem missed playoffs in his prime. Game over.
Hakeem did fake an injury, he sat out five games for what he said was a left hamstring injury. After club medical officials evaluated Olajuwon, Rockets management concluded Olajuwon was physically able to play and suspended him. I don't see Duncan faking an injury or demanding a trade. One of the reasons why he is greater than Hakeem. Don't know why is that so tough to admit. Bulls fans are hating on Pippen, because he didn't want to in the game when Phil Jackson drew a play for Kukoć instead of him in '94 playoffs.
Draft Scenario who you taking? Shaq, Hakeem, or Duncan no Pop, no system in place, no David Roberston, no Parker, no Ginobli Lets talk straight up EXPANSION team. I would think most GM'S lists would look like this. 1.Hakeem 2.Shaq 3.Duncan
