as time goes on and i have now 20+ years of NBA film under my belt, i cant help but notice that the C and PF position are the most critical positions to man in the NBA. size is everything... size and skill are immaculate. in today's game what position would HAKEEM have played?
People forget that Olajuwon was a athletic freak when he left U of H Phi Slamma Jama. I read an article that he had a 40 inch vertical leap out of college.
Well, that WAS what happened with our Twin Towers. In answer to the thread though, Hakeem would still play center. Today's center would be eaten alive from him. Hakeem does have the range and face to basket game to excel at PF as well though.
As Olajuwon said the night he was drafted and asked where he would play since the Rockets already had Sampson "I think I like to play in the paint". Dream turned Sampson into a PF. Being a center would have been part of his basketball identity no matter what era he played in.
clearly he can play both but in todays league where quality centers are hard to get he'd be a center by default. if he happened to be on a team that had a quality center who cant defend 4s then he'd be the pf.
It would be like this today: <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/olVaIZjfTx0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Except the rap music would be much worse
He would play either pf or center. If we had dwight too, he'd play pf. If we had terence jones or dmo, he'd play center. Hakeem would still dominate the paint and do everything.
if you put Dream in today's game, you have to assume he has the same advanced nutrition,training and medical care now than in 1984 This guy would be double the beast LeBron is.
doesn't even matter you dump the ball to him in the paint he will score unless he gets double or triple teamed I can't imagine anyone in the league today guarding him 1v1 in the paint
Hakeem could have played any position. He was a beast. Heck, he was an even bigger beast when observing Ramadan when he couldn't even eat or drink during day during the season!! Just think about how crazy that is.
In his autobio, he talks about being a center, a big man. That is what he played and that is what he would play. Threads and posts trying to put him at PF pop up with regularity here and all they do is show how little some people know about Dream. Probably pisses me off more than it should, but dang it people, the man was born to be a center. Just because he doesn't move like Muresan, Bol, and Eaton does not mean he was a PF. If he was playing with Dwight, Dwight would be the PF or the backup Center. Dream played against Moses at Fonde. He played Center for PSJ. He played Center for the Rockets. He played Center for The USA Olympic team. He was inducted into the HOF as a Center. He describes himself as a Center. He is a Center.
Go back and watch highlights of the Finals against Boston and then revise your wording. Young Dream embarrassed a HOF frontline and often took all three of them on.
Really doubt it, the progress isn't as big as you make it out to be. Hakeem, Jordan, Bird, Magic etc were as good as it gets and present nutrition and workouts wouldn't make them any better. The only real progress is how guys can play more years now and recover faster from injuries.
