Just seen on PTI, Kornheiser and Wilbom debated who was better in their career...Kornheiser said Hakeem was slightly better, and Wilbom (after like a minute debate) finally conceded that Hakeem was slightly better. I personally can't believe it...how can anybody say Hakeem was "just slightly better than Patrick Ewing". I mean Hakeem has 2 rings, MVP, 2 defensive player of the year awards, and is the all-time leader in blocked shots. Patrick Ewing, on the other hand, had no real post-up game, was a jump-shooter, no rings, huge nostrils, and got a couple of BJs at the Gold Club.
hakeem is the much more dominant center and reached an apex of skill and career in leading a team to two nba rings. however, i can concede the view by kornheiser and wilbom... if you review closely what they are saying, i think we can all agree that ewing could easily force kornheiser into his right nostril... and wilbom into his left. not to mention maybe gold club activities
I have been watching them play since the 86-87 season and Hakeem has killed Ewing, I remember the 1st game I saw them play it was jan 23 87 Hakeem just killed ewing and at the end of the game Hakeem slammed it so hard in Ewing's face it was not even funny. Hakeem also killed ewing in the 94 finals holding Ewing to a horrific 38 percent shooting. Ralph Sampson also killed Ewing in his healty days in college and as a pro.
Ewing also was surrounded by talent his entire career and could never get the job done... MArk JAckson, Bernard King, Rod Strickland, John Starks, Allan Houston, Larry Johnson, Latrell Sprewell, Charles Oakley... the list goes on. Hakeem was on MAYBE seven elite-level teams(86, 87, 93-2000) and got two rings out of it.
did you just say that Larry Johnson (in his post Grandmama days) was "talent"???? ha ha ha ha ha! ha ha ha ha ha!
Outside of Thorpe, Horry, Sampson, and Barkley, he was better than any frontcourt teammate Hakeem ever had.
Well, you have to remember those two guys do not cover Houston Sports. A lot of their opinions are formed by the media attention a player gets. Its not like either of them followed Hakeem enough to validly compare him to Ewing. Being from New York, I'm sure the media exposure Ewing got throughout his career is twice what Hakeem got. At least it sounds like they got it right. But a lot of these <i>National</i> sports reporters or reporters who comment on teams outside of the city they work in, make completely false statements. When they're talking about other teams I don't really notice, but when they comment on my teams I can tell they don't have a clue. The same could actually be said for some of us. Our opinions about players on other teams probably aren't as valid as coming from a fan who never misses one of their games
Akeem came into to the and started making an immediate impact. He did so many things in his early years that no 7 footer including Ewing could even conceive of doing. Akeem was in the top 10 in all major categories except assists in his first few years and was the only 7 footer to be in the top ten in steals. Akeem did all of that on raw unrefined talent. He was robbed of the rookie of the year award (Jordan only won it because he was more marketable...IMO) Ewing was always considered the most skilled of the two until the mid 90's and yet he was never able to make quite the impact that Dream made. As I recall Ewing had a lot of critics during his first year because he was suppose to be more skilled and more dominant than Dream but he wasn't. As far as athleticism there is no comparison. Dream is the most athletically gifted 7 footer to ever play the game...period. If Dream had come into the league with the same experience playing the game as Ewing then people would be talking about Dream as the greatest basketball player of all time and not MJ. Of course that is just my opinion. Dream redefined the way the center position is played, very few players at any position can make that claim. Big edge to Dream.
I have to agree with DCKid... both Kornheiser and Wilbon are columnists for the Washington Post... They had a much greater opportunity to see Ewing up close and personal than they did Olajuwon. Kornheiser got it right, he stated right away that Olajuwon was the better player. Wilbon seemed to waffle and looked down at his stat cheat sheet and said their numbers were similar. He blamed Ewing's loss to Hakeem in the 1994 Finals due to bad coaching by Pat Riley. That's a total cop out. He should have given Hakeem his rightful due, he outhustled and outplayed not only Patrick, but David Robinson and all other takers on!
crash5179, don't get me wrong, but this is simply an incorrect statement. Hakeem is probably my first or second favorite player of all time (it's a wash with Hakeem and Drexler to me), but he's definitely not "the most athletically gifted 7 footer to ever play the game." Chamberlain was. He wasn't always 300 pounds, you know. He entered the league at about 240, and at the time he had a... get this... 55 inch vertical (compared to Jordan's 49). That is a real number, not a guess. Wilt could also run a sub-10 second 100 meters. He won every event at the track meets he entered in high school. HE was the most athletically gifted 7 footer to ever play the game. As far as Hakeem vs. Ewing goes, there really isn't much of a contest. On defense, Hakeem was quicker, a better shot-blocker, and he got more steals. On offense he had a better post game, better ball handling, and better passing. The only edge I give Ewing is rebounding (MAYBE).
Hakeem was better, no doubt about it. But whoever said Ewing did not have a post-up game, must have been born 3-4 years ago. Ewing, although slow, had a very good post-up game, and was probably the 2nd best post-up center after Olajuwon. David Robinson is the center who had no post-up game.
dang kidrock...a little harsh. i was only joking...adding insult to injury i guess. My bad. There's no doubting that Ewing is a great center...but that Gold Club thing has to be one of the funniest involvements with a popular athlete of all time.
Hoopgod-I wasn't trying to be an a-hole. I was just saying that anyone who thinks Ewing couldn't post-up must not have watched him in his prime.
as for the vertical, yeah right. in the last dunk contest that counted (the one carter won) I don't remember tnt measuring anybody over 43 inches. considering carters performance was the best ever, if jordan had six inches on him, why wasn't he way more impressive, and if chamberlain had 12 inches on carter AND was 7 inches taller, then why weren't his dunks unbelievably amazing. so no way on the 55. as for the sub-10 second 100 meters. The winning time at the 1964 olympics (a few years after chamberlain broke in) was 10.00 by Bob Hayes. So chamerlain coulda had a bunch of gold medals but just didn't wanna show off? now from everything I hear he was extremely athletically gifted so I won't say he wasn't the most athletic 7 footer ever, but lets not exaggerate that much.
A player's vertical does not determine how impressively he dunks. This just means Wilt could have dunked on like a twelve-foot goal if wanted to... Keep in mind that Wilt was a HUGE guy so it would be a lot harder for him to do ballet in the air like 'Nique and MJ. McDyess and Kemp had 40+ inch verticals and all they really could do were monster tomahawks and whatnot.
