http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/8609688/The-best-two-way-players-in-NBA-history There's also a little poll thing over there....atm Hakeem is at a pithy 8%! C'mon Clutchfans....bring the big man up!
The dream would make the centers in todays nba look like scrubs. he would rip yao so hard it would be massacare. there not in the same stratsphere. i'm not even gonna bringup howard. when you talk asbout a center who averaged two steals a game and three blocks a game over his career you're talking about a magnaficent defensive player. then there was scoring prowess which left us all in amaze. or in a very sweet dream state if you will.
That's a complete joke that Jordan or Kobe would rate as greater 2-way players. The only way to explain it is there is far too much focus on 1-on-1 matchups in basketball. If you're looking at total impact on the defensive end, Jordan and Kobe aren't even close to Hakeem.
That's because a large percentage of them don't know "WHO IS DREAM" They don't know that Dream is on the list for all leaders in STEALS and BLOCKS (#1) plus this list is stupid cause it should be done by position and should be voted on by people who have watched all of these players. I'm glad they put Michael Ray Richardson on there.
I think someone should make a thread to get clutchfans to vote in that poll. We all know how dominant the power of clutchfans was in the Battier vs. Maxiell Floor Burner poll. Never underestimate the power of clutchfans.
Olajuwon and it's not even close. Jordan was an overrated defender. Pippen always got the A-level assignment.
Lawl, Kobe Bryant is so ridiculously overrated defensively. I can't believe how well he's doing in that poll... I blame all the comparisons to Jordan. Don't get me wrong, Kobe is an incredible player, but he is not even one of the top 10 defenders at the SG spot in the league RIGHT NOW, let alone the second best two way player of all time.
I almost choked after reading the first sentence - as much as I loathe the Jordan deism, he was the 2nd best perimeter defender I've ever seen - but your second sentence made me feel ashamed. Bar none, Dream shut down entire games defensively in ways I've never seen before or since.
i agree with tinman here, this is a new generation of basketball and its fans(im suprised they didnt throw LBJ in there) and im sure most of the ppl who voted on this poll not only voted for the big names (i.e. Kobe and MJ) but also never had the privilege of watching the other superstars on the list play like the great offensive threat and defensive stopper Hakeem "The Dream" Olajuwon.
Any list of best two-way players starts with Dream. As I've said before in this forum, if you're an opposing coach and it's the last 30 seconds of the game and you need a stop, it doesn't matter which of the 50 greatest players you have guarding Olajuwon, you will send the double team immediately because he will score on anyone. Conversely, if Dream is guarding any of those guys under the same circumstances, you can gamble and not double team because you stand a good chance of Dream being clutch and blocking the shot, tipping the ball, making the steal, deflecting the entry pass, getting a charge, forcing a bad shot, grabbing a defensive rebound, forcing a bad pass, etc. You look at that list of guards and small forwards and you can think of others that were better defensive players... MadMax, Alvin Robertson, Battier, Bowen. You cannot think of a better defensive center than Hakeem Olajuwon... yes, I said it... and that includes Russell.
I personally think dream is a little bit overrated. I know dream has gained ton of reputation here in houston but I have to point out that jordan is less overrated than dream. frankly, dream is a great center but not all-round. dream's midrange and long range shots are far from good, or even mediocrit. I have nothing againest the great center, oppositely, I consider him an ideal model for yao. If yao had dreams paces and moves, then yao would be able to eat up D.H easily and absolutely. What's more, another point is there for yao to learn from dream. As we all know, dream used not to be an american and had to play for his national bastball team summer in and summer out. the endless national duties brought dream a series of injuries that finally put his pro career to an end. But for the injuries, dream should have play more years for the city of houston. In order to get rid of more potential injuries, dream chose to "betroy" his african home country and joined the US. As a result, dream represented US playing in barcelona's olympics, more important is that dream had been able to say bye to his former national teams amature medical staffs and teammates. As a matter of fact, yao values gold medal of olympics very very much but it's always a daydream for him to win that with his CNT. The only way for yao to win a olympic gold medal is joined TeamUS, getting a US nationality, at least a double nationality of china and US. Anyway, getting the oppotunity to wear Teamus's jersey and win a gold medal for himself instead of his goverment's leaders who are addicted in chasing power and wealth.
