I was watching the Magic vs. TimberWolves in the second half...probably the only one...big blowout.... Anyway Bill Walton had a comment that finally gives Hakeem the credit he deserves. KG was asked in an interview what he thought the moment he was drafted...he was excited he would be in the same organization as Kevin McHale--the man with 131 moves...After the segment Walton added that McHale is the 2nd best low post scorer he faced in his playing days...This is news to me...I've been watching NBA ball throughout Walton's announcing days and he has always maintained the best low post player he has seen is McHale. In fact he said that many NBA players (Kandi, Garnett etc) checkout old video of McHale to see his moves. If McHale is second best, who does he think is the best I was thinking...He finally said something like this "No one has taken low post play to higher levels than Hakeem Olajuwon" I know this isn't news to us...we've watched nearly every one of Hakeem's games...I'm babbling like a little girl, but just wanted to share what I heard...
I heard it too and a smile came to my face. I'm glad to hear him get recognise. . I just wanted them to show a few clips of Hakeem but I guess it was a Kevin Mchale segment but it was good anyway.
I don't know how many people saw Hakeem in his prime. But I am continually dissapointed by the moves of current "big men." Garnett, Webber, Gasol, and others are nowhere close to what Hakeem was. I remember Hakeem owning Webber back in the day. Webber realized quickly that he couldn't play center.
Yeah, I agree. The young guys nowadays rely too much on their athleticism and not enough on guile. There's no doubt that Hakeem had the best repertoire of post moves of any big men ever. His fakes made defenders looked foolish. And it all looked so effortless. You barely see any moves like that today. It's a dunks and alley-oops. Woop-de-doo.
Hakeems best move was when he would catch the entry pass and just fade away towards the baseline without missing a beat. That shot was automatic.
There was nothing as sweet and Hakeem flashing the ball out with his arm, watching some fool playing center for the other team lung at it, Hakeem, skakes right, drops to his left, and let''s go of the sweest little floater to the bottom of the net, turning and heading down court without an ounce of , " hey lookit meeeee." etc. Dream Shake indeed.
Ahhhhhhhhh, sweeeeeeeeeeeet indeed! Post play moves went away with the advent of the bulldozer move by the most potent offensive fouler to ever play in the NBA.
He also had the automatic jump hook. It was bread and butter move that he said he got from Bill Walton. It's a lost art, and hardly anybody can do it really consistently in the game today. Webber and Garnett can't that's for sure. Duncan is pretty good and Yao looks like he could develop it.
