ESPN referred to Hakeem as a second tier center behind Russel, SHaq, Wilt, and Kareem. Not one of the greats. I personally think that at his prime, Olajuwon would beat any of those on equivalently talented and coached teams. Why? Olajuwon just had better basketball skills. A better shooter, the best footwork, As good as a shot blocker, a smarter defender, quicker, and the most graceful. He blocked Kareems Sky Hook. Has more steals then any of them, and more steals then almost all NBA players ever. Why does Hakeem get no respect? Probably his accent. The only things he lacked were height and a great teammater...except when he had Clyde for a few years. And how good was Hakeem with Clyde...just think of 1995.
I would not treat that rating as second tier, when we are rating with Russel, Wilt, and Kareem. I would say HONOR. KH
NewYorker you hit it right on the nail, by saying that one reason Hakeem don't get alot of respect maybe by his accent is very true. Even in his Prime when journalist had done articles on Hakeem his religion as a Muslim had always seemed to come up (some times) which had nothing to do with his basketball skills. Any way pound for pound and skill for skill Hakeem is the greatset center ever.
Hakeem had just started learning/playing ball at UH so he had a "slow" start to begin his NBA career, i.e. he was still "learning". If he had been playing since he was a kid like U.S. players who knows how much better he would have been early on.
I know I'll probably be ripped on this one but the greatest center of all time was Wilt. He led the league at one time or another in his career in Scoring, Rebounding most probably in Blocked Shots ( they didn't keep stats on that in his day) and ASSISTS An amazing athlete who doesn't get the credit he deserves. Can you imagine the contract by today's standards he could get by having the basketball savvy to lead the league in all those categories. Hakeem was the best in his prime but Kareem used to school him when he first came into the league also. I wouldn't consider the list he's with as 2nd class. You could make a credible argument saying he was 5th all-time. Just as I'm sure you could for his being 1st. Athletically he's #1 with only Wilt (you should have seen him in his prime) in the same category. IMO anyway.
I think there's no argument Olajuwon comes in the top five of all-time centers. Ranking within those guys is tough, although I agree that Chamberlain is probably the best-of-the-best.
Wilt #1 no question. Jabbar #2, made it look too easy for a long long time. Olajuwon #3, and I think one criteria that should be used is this: How much improvement did the player show over the course of his career? As good as those other guys were, they were naturally gifted basketball players from a very young age. Hakeem, however, learned his sport on the job. I believe that, considering the improvements Olajuwon made *after* he became an NBA player, one could make an argument that the accomplishment he made, of becoming one of the best 3 or 4 NBA centers ever to play, was a greater accomplishment than that made by ANY of the other players at that position. Just my $.02 ciao
new yorker, is that an espn quote as hakeem being second tier/not one of the greats? if so that's a friggin joke and really pisses me off. i know they ranked him 5th but that's still elite. anyways i agree with you, hakeem never gets love and it will never change. oh well. he combined incredible offensive and defensive quickness to imo be the best all-around center ever.
In '94, if Knicks had The Dream and the Rockets P-Ew, whoda won? In '95, if Spurs had The Dream and the Rockets The Admiral, whoda won? In his era, Hakeem was The Dream of all NBA centers. Way Back Machine days it was Russell and Wilt. Then Kareem. Now it is Shaq. And perhaps the best of'm all? (PS of course in '94 -- if the Rox had had Hakeem and Harper and the Knicks Patrick and Kenny, sweeeeeppp!!!!)
I personally think the best all time: (centers) 1. Shaqfu (simply a beast around da rim!!) 2. The Dream (all around skills and grace!!) 3. Wilt the stilt 4. Kareem ( I like him in the movie "the game of Death" wit Bruce Lee 5. Bill (i don't sign autographs) Russell! I think Shaq would squash him & Dream would "Dream shake him!! 6. Yao Ming!??? Who knows, maybe in da future! (don't count him out!!
I think the Big 3 (Wilt, Russell and Jabbar) are ahead of him. Then its a tossup between Hakeem , Moses Malone and in the past 3 years, Shaq has moved into this second tier.
On the contrary, JSB, I think you are very wrong about Kareem. Hakeem schooled everyone he faced in his era and beat every single one of them. Here it is: Kareem Abdul Jabbar- 1986 (Western Conference Finals) Patrick Ewing- 1994 (NBA Finals) David Robinson- 1995 (Western Conference Finals) Shaquille O'neil- 1995 (NBA Finals) Moses Malone- 1983 (Fonde Center) He did not face Wilt or Russell, so I guess we will never know. The way I look at it.. Hakeem is the evolution of Basketball compared to them, so he in fact is the greatest skilled Center of all time... IMO!!
Here's one way to look at it: Replace Dream with one of the others in their prime in 1994. With Wilt Rockets stand a good chance of winning, though his free throws may have made the negative difference in one of the close games. With Jabbar I don't think we win. Even in his prime, I think the thuggery of the Knicks wears him down before the 7th game. With Russell the Rockets lose. With Shaq... See Wilt. Now replace others with Dream Celtics win as many if not more with Dream subbing for Russell. I just don't think that Russell is the equal or better than Dream when both were in their primes. I put Russell more on par with Ewing in terms of talent but because he played in the era he did and with the teams he did, it's hard to make that opinion stick. Philly and the early 70's Lakers win as many if not more with Dream instead of Wilt. Bucks win with Robertson and Dream. Showtime wins one or two more with prime Olajuwon instead of aging Jabbar. Current Lakers certainly win with prime Olajuwon instead of Shaq. Consensus: Olajuwon is a top three center and more skilled than any other center to play the game.
Wilt, Russell and Jabbar played in different eras then Hakeem. I think the only one that could be placed above is Wilt. But wilt had a fatal flaw with his free throw percentage and I think Hakeem could have exploited that. Hakeem had no trouble with Shaq in his prime. In fact, Shaq's numbers were better in Orlando then they are in L.A. Shaq has been somewhat injury riddled. I think Shaq is comparable to Wilt. Jabbar had the sky hook, but I think playing with Magic Johnson benefited him so much. The best point guard Hakeem played with while he still had his game was Sam Cassell...and what a passer he turned out to be. People forget that Hakeem was constantly doubled and trippled Team. He truly was unbeatable. No one could guard him. He schooled Shaq, how can Shaq ever live that down. Shaq didn't grow up admiring Wilt, it was Hakeem. If I could have 32 year old Wilt or a 32 year old Hakeem, I'd just the Hakeem model. Hakeem has to play against much tougher d-denses, and showed that he could dominate centers that were taller then him. (He had no trouble scoring on Shaq or Robinson). ESPN is such a joke sometimes. They have dissed Hakeem. They have dissed Clyde. When Clyde retired, they didn't even give him a front page spread like they did for every other great.
