on NBA.com they have a poll on who the best ever #1 pick from outside of the US and Tim Duncan has Hakeem beat 47% to 44%!!! These people obviously dont know who THE DREAM was! www.nba.com
I would say offensively they are about equal with different strengths but defensively, Dream's only competition is Russell.
Dream was the total package,IMO,the greatest center of them all.(Wilt,Russell,much less Tim Duncan,but that debate can rage on) So many factors converged,fell into place,and in turn,created Dream.Soccer and handball were two that helped give birth to his wondrous footwork, hands,and timing.GuyV was another.Coach Lewis's style of ball and his handling of Dream helped him adjust to the game bigtime.He was able to play free and loose w/PSJ...The transition to the game came natural.He wasn't limited like he would have been at other schools. Make no mistake though,Fonde and Moses Malone played a huge role in Dream's development too.Moses was both the task master and friend.C'mon,he was wearing Moses's old suits at first.. The Rockets grab Dream.....The honing of those still raw skills continues....and is accelerated by certain coaches who work well w/the big fellas... learns the NBA game,GROWS UP,and voila. From jumping out and realizing it was too cold at the first stop,asking about the quickest departure too a warm weather city,and finally landing at UH in a cab driven by a fellow Nigerian, his is a tale of legend......and I didn't mention he could do it all. Block shots like noone else,knock down 20 footers,run the court like a deer,bust out moves that resulted in DRob's jock being nailed to the wall of his trophy room,control the boards,and pass a bit too.Dream's blend of athleticism,quickness,creativity,dedication,and FONDEmentals make him unique in the pantheon of 5's. Too many people in that poll must have just seen Dream very late in his career.
Hakeem is now at 47% and Duncan at 44%. With over 50,000 votes in, I doubt we shifted that all by ourselves. So it just took awhile to even out.
Duncan is awesome, but he is no where close to Hakeem on the defensive side. I'd like to see Duncan run down someone like Jason Kidd and block him from behind like Hakeem did with KJ.
Dream was also a better go to guy in the clutch than Duncan,and like you said ROckets 03 he was much better defensively than Duncan.
Hakeem gave you four quarters of excellence, Duncan gives you three. Duncan is very good, but not even on the same stratosphere as Hakeem in his prime. Must be a bunch of kids voting who've only seen the post-prime Dream.
