What do you guys think was Hakeem's best goto move in the post. To me, there's three that stick out: the baseline fadeaway, his baseline spin, and his jump hook in the lane. Which was his best?
I think it is the fake dream shake then extending the ball out as if to do the spin move but then pullin the ball back to fake the jump hook then going up and under for the easy lay up. Sincerely David Robinson '95
Dream's hook shot was unstoppable. Almost after ever offensive rebound, you got a hook for good measure. Dream's hook shot was his most reliable shot.
i cant decide between the shake and hook, the shake he could always get off, but the hook was quick and accurate...
The Dream Shake, because he pretty much made that move and turned it into a signature. It's almost like asking Kareem. sky Hook or regular hook.
Baseline fadeaway was his goto move. This is the move that he would go to most when the games were on line. The opponents knew he was going to go to this but there really wasn't much they could do about it one on one. He got such a vast separation and covered so much distance with the fade that it was up to him to miss it. His second most used goto move was the jump hook inside the lane. Before the knee surgeries, it was a split between the jump hook and spin baseline move. both of which were counter moves to what the defense did. However, after the surgery, he could not put pressure on that knee for that quick spin. Combined with his loss of confidence in his knee, he rarely went to baseline spin move. Of course part of this was also because of all the moves, his spin ones required most of the quickness, which he had begun to lose post 95. Jazz figured this out later in his career and used this to their advantage.
Jordan learned his fade from Olajuwon...I heard him make a comment in the earlier 90s about it and sometime afterwards incorporated it into his game. Most of the NY media thinks it was his move but no one does the fade better than Olajuwon. I've seen Jordan's and Kobe's get blocked. Olajuwon's was unblockable in his prime. He got so much lift and fade on it as well as his release point and unique shooting style made it hard to guard. You can know it is coming and there nothing you can do...
His baseline fadeaway was probably his most unstoppable move. Seriously, there were times he'd be 18 feet out launching that thing falling out of bounds and hit it. He really didn't have any one "go-to" move, though. He had like 3 or 4 he'd go to as needed which is why he was so hard to guard in the low block for centers. Take away the dunk, take away the spin, take away the jump hook, he'd still have another one or two to come at you with.
Well spoken, it was a mix of everything. He was so multi-talented and he had such great work ethic that there was not one move he couldn't use to score the basket with. Hakeem Olajuwon had one of the greatest work ethics of all-time. In my opinion probably the best him, or Michael Jordan.
Shaq once said he seemed to have about 5 moves and 4 counter moves that he could throw out at any time. That's what made him so devastating -- at any time, he could do 1 of 20 things. Luc Longley (I think it was him) said Dream was also just so creative; Longley would get a 5 minute video of every other center but 15 of Hakeem. And then Olajuwon would throw out a move Longley had never seen before. Just devastating.
My wife is a new Rockets fan. Only started watching the NBA 3 years ago. She is pretty well versed on the current players, their strengths/weaknesses and so on. I showed her a video of Hakeem in the 95 playoffs against SA. First time she has seen Hakeem play. She couldn't believe what she saw. It further entrenched her as a fan of my beloved Rockets.
This is the correct answer... because the hook has to be respected, it sets up the feint to the lane which allows the spin back to the baseline. If you start shading to baseline to try and stop that, the middle is open for the hook. There is no one as all are one.
Hakeem's hook was so money. Hakeem's fadeway was his signature move. Hakeem's baseline spin to the basket was the best to embarrass his defender. But if the defense gave the shot to him, I loved seeing him make that hook shot look so effortless and easy.
