Having watched most of Hakeem's game he was in fact THAT good. Similar threads could ask: Yao vs. Chamberlain Yao vs. Kareem Yao vs. Russell Yao just isn't close to the level of these legends yet.
Are you watching the same games as me? I have yet to see a player to be THAT good to foul Yao out in 10 mins. The only player who were remotely close to THAT dominant in terms of drawing fouls was Shaq six years ago. Such exaggerations just make your posts far less believable.
In 1994-95, arguably his best season, Rik Smits put up 3 points, 5 boards, 5 fouls in 18 minutes, and 12 points, 3 boards, 6 fouls, 6 TO's in 26 minutes vs. Houston. Not an impressive stat line, though I agree that Yao would do better. But you're right in that Hakeem was not that good, but all of his strengths are areas in which Yao is weak - styles make fights, as they say in boxing, and Hakeem's style, based on quickness, and above all his low center of gravity - is basically the textbook style to defeat Yao. Remember what Najera used to do against him? Imagine Najera doing it, but beng 6-10 3/4, Nigerian, and an HOF talent. Yeah. IMO, as I said before, Yao would have an easier time with Kareem and Wilt - both probably greater players than Hakeem, simply because they relied on their size a lot more than Hakeem did. PS, as far as Eaton goes -as DOD says, he solved that mystery within a few years, not to mention that Eaton as a shot blocker was superior to Yao due to having longer arms, IMO.
You're not giving Hakeem enough credit. One of the reasons Hakeem went to a more finesse game is to counter the Mark Eatons of the world. He took his game out to 18 feet simply because there is no way in hell Mark Eaton (or in this case Yao Ming) is going to be able to guard Hakeem at the top of the key. Hakeem had to play against some pretty big dudes in his day that were physically as strong or stronger than Yao. Let's not forget that he actually had true physical centers to contend against back then : James Donaldson, Artis Gilmore, Mark Eaton, etc. were incredibly strong players. Of course this is what made Hakeem so unstoppable - if you were fast, he'd pound you inside and wear you down. If you were big and strong, he'd run circles around you until by the 4th quarter you were physically drained or had given up hope of guarding him one-on-one. Yao is great offensively, and you can certainly make a case for him being Hakeem's equal on the offensive end. But Yao isn't even 40-50% of the defensive player Hakeem was in his prime. Gimme da Dream until Yao proves otherwise.
I agree, defensively, Hakeem is much better than Yao, no doubt about it. But offensively, if Hakeem defends Yao one-on-one and Yao's team double-team Hakeem, let's face it, Hakeem's offensive numbers will be below Yao's offensive numbers, but that's not fair. However, the games will be played that way, and most likely, both Hakeem and Yao will face double-teams. It is just difficult to one-on-one defend efficient offensive players. I know people will say Hakeem will block Yao's shots, but Hakeem will not block 100% of Yao's shots. There is a difference between blocking 2 shots and blocking 100% shots. AK47 blocked some of Yao's shots, but Yao still scored a lot.
Please. The Shanghai Shake is just a knock-off of the real deal. I wish I had videos of Hakeem shooting the Dream Shake because by the peak of his abilities, that was about as automatic and unbelievable a shot as a player could take. He had perfected the shot to the point where he was fading away from the defender - not backwards, but backwards and sideways towards the baseline and was actually launching the 18 foot shot nearly behind the backboard. It sounds silly, but trust me, it's true. It was a sick sick shot. BTW, I'm loving Yao's fadeaway now. It's getting to the point where the only way you're going to stop it is if you have a defender behind him or you strip him of the ball as he goes up.
Well-said. Hakeem also had other little things that Yao could only learn from years of playoff battles.
Shanghai-shake is no contest to Dream Shake. Fade away and hook shots are Yao's money. He can use them to dominate the same way as Kareem.
So what? Now I'm supposed to bring up the fact that Chris Kaman put up numbers (20/10) on a young Yao? That would be ignorant of me! PS - I'd take the 40 yr. old Kareem over Chris Kaman today. Pulling one or two games out to make some type of defense for Yao or Hakeem is silly.
In 1996, A guy named Gheorghe Muresan, who is as tall as Yao(maybe an inch taller) played two games against Houston. In game one, Muresan got 21/11 on 8 of 11 shooting, Hakeem got 34/11 on 13 of 27 shooting. In game two, Muresan got 17/13 on 7 of 9 shooting, Hakeem got 22/6 on 10 of 23 shooting. Hakeem outplayed him, but far from destroyed him. Even though that's Muresan's best year, he was still worse than Yao right now in every facet of the game by a large margin, even speed wise. Hakeem was still in his prime that year. He didn't destroy Muresan, how do you justify by saying Hakeem would destroy Yao with Ease?
It does not matter how you defend Yao. Dream is regarded by the Rockets fans as the god. Unless Yao wins Houston 3 rings, he won't be considered in the same league as Hakeem by local fans, period. I watched Hakeem play since the early 90s. No doubt that he was the best center at his heyday. However, I do believe that pitching the current Yao against the Dream in 94 will be close to a wash. Offensively they will play to a draw, while Hakeem holds the upper hand on defensive end.
Comparing Yao, who is still learning and improving and is not close to his peak with someone of Hakeem's caliber is premature IMO. No way Yao is close to being as good as Hakeem. I believe this question will be more relevant 5-6 years down the line, but tis way too premature to compare Yao to Hakeem right now. Of course when all is said and done, I do believe Yao's achievements will hold their own in any discussion.
For that part I do not argue. If Yao doesn't get at least one ring, I won't consider him in the same league as Hakeem either, no matter how crazy his stats goes. All time greats have to be measured by rings. It's a team game.
Muresan probably got double-team help while Dream defended him one-on-one. Actually just looking at the numbers, the second game, they were pretty even but of course Dream would have more impact on the defensive side. Anyway, teams are going to double-team centers like Dream, Robinson, Shaq and Yao, if they don't do it, they will suffer just like how Robinson was humiliated by Dream.
There is no question Dream was far better than Muresan. But what I was trying to say is Muresan didn't get destroyed, so I don't believe Yao would.
By this logic, as I said : Chris Kaman put up 20/10 on Yao, therefore, I'm sure Hakeem could put up 40 and 25.
Good point, he might. But you got to take the average for your prediction. You can not make the prediction based on an outlier.
I'd give Yao 60-70% because of Yao's size. He does clogs the lane and changes tons of shots. Still, that's a quite large margin between those two on defensive end.
