True, but diet Dr. Pepper has fewer calories so it's better for your body. Much like how TD helps his teammates more than Hakeem did. Then again, Hakeem didn't have all that much to work with.
you can't turn chicken crap into chickensalad. hakeem had terrible teamates, that's the point you can't get past. the fact that he won with the 93-94 team is amazing.
David DuPree: Hi Melissa, I certainly don't think you have to win back-to-back titles to be considered great and any way you look at it, the Spurs are a great team. I mean winning four titles in nine seasons without a back-to-back is phenomenal. No team has ever accomplished that feat before. As for Duncan, you could consider him a center as easily as you could consider him a power forward, but he has always played alongside someone else classified as the center. Positions can be misleading. They call LeBron James a small forward, for example, simply because they want to. He initiates the offense and handles the ball all of time, so why not just call him a point guard. If we consider Duncan a center, I still say he ranks in the top five all-time along with Russell, Chamberlain, Walton and Kareem, with Hakeem, Ewing, Moses Malone, David Robinson and Shaq a half step behind them. I also agree with you about the Rockets. They have to upgrade at the point guard position if they are going to be a true title contender. As I have said all along any OBJECTIVE could rank TD over Dream..
that's not objective that's flat out r****ded. he's better then shaq and hakeem? wow. i guarantee you dupree's analysis of the situation is this: duncan just won his 4th ring, hakeem won 2 about 10 years ago. duncan is better. that's the extent of most sportswriters research.
I say you are still making excuses for Hakeem's deficiency in those years. We had Sleepy Floyd on that team and Purvis Short was also decent. Robert Reid was ok if my memory serves me. Big difference to me is in the years between the '86 finals and 1992, Houston only had 1 season where we had over 50 wins. Duncan, meanwhile, never had a season under 50 wins (if we annualize the strike shortened season), even after the oldies from the first Spurs Finals team retired. The fact that the Spurs never dipped below 50 wins even while rebuilding the whole team in the tough Western conference (and not with high draft picks either) is a testament to Duncan being better than Hakeem.
So having this meaningless issue thrashed to death over in the NBA Dish Section wasn't good enough - this twit has to bring this waste of time over here...
You forgot to mention that fact that JVG was the reason Hakeem's supporting casts were so terrible...
Whoever still comparing prehistoric to modern bball do not even deserve any attention as editorialist. Duncan is a great player but, OMG, comparing him to Olajuwon? In recent history I rank Olajuwon, Shaq, Robinson, Ewing and probably even Mutombo and Zo, first as center position.
It's funny, i posted a question to David Dupree a while ago regarding the whole Shaq-Hakeem topic and he 'certainly' placed Hakeem ahead of Shaq and included him as a top 5 all time center, then about a month later there was no mention of Hakeem at all as a top ten big man. Dupree is just like any other sports writer, selective memory and a tendency to put the current ahead of the historic, he's a notorious flip flopper who has absolutely no consistency to any of his ideas, rankings or opinions.
When has Duncan ever been on a team that you couldn't consider in the top half of the league talent wise? I would argue that the Spurs have never been out of the top 10 talent wise when Duncan was there, relative to the talent on other teams in those respective years. You aren't comparing apples to oranges. Your argument would have more merit if he only had success later in his career, [/B]BUT HE WENT TO THE FINALS IN HIS 2ND SEASON[/B]. Again, Hakeem had success when he had help. He didn't suddenly get worse from 87-92....
You come on to a Rockets board and say Duncun is better then Hakeem? You're a real A-hole dude. You probably never even saw Hakeem play. Jordan himself said that he'd pick Hakeem at center over any other center. Duncun is hot right now because he just won a ring. As time passes, people will look at his numbers, which didn't beat Hakeem in any category and his place in history will be that of one of the great power fowards. But let me tell you a little secret about great power forwards. If they were really so great and dominating, they'd play center....unless they played along side an even better center. At seven feet tall, Duncun plays the pf position...why doesn't he man up and play center?
Dude, this thread is stupid. Duncun isn't even in the same class as Hakeem. How can anyone consider Duncun better after what Hakeem did to the MVP in 95. Duncun never had that kind of dominance over an MVP at his position. He never dominated Karl Malone like Hakeem did to Robinson. I think Spurs fans were scarred by Hakeem and are just trying to get revenge.
I watched Hakeem play his entire career. Reminds of what Bum Phillips said about Earl Cambell, " he may not be in a class by himself, but it doesn't take long to call the roll." Duncan is great in his own way, but the explosive athleticism of Hakeem is incomparable.
Duncans opponents are smaller power forwards due to him being a wimp and playing power forward. Hakeem played against great centres like Shaq, DRob, Ewing, Mourning, Mutombo, Smits, Daugherty, K Willis..etc etc...Duncan can rest in D a bit more. Duncan has less of an offensive repatoir to Olajuwons. Duncan plain boring to Olajuwon being so unpredictible and great to watch.. Its easy picking Duncan since he just won the championship and is fresh in everyones minds. I remember Dream playing Duncan when he entered the league and Olajuwon was on the downside and he still beat Duncan... To me theres no argument. Do you think Robert Horry if he was a center would be better than Olajuwon because he has 7 rings????
Hello no, Hakeem would school Duncan. The ESPN analysts and writers are idiots, they all hate the Rockets so they rank them low on anything they are doing. EX: Our two championships on there list were very low, and we are the only team in history to beat four clubs with over 50 wins in the reg season in the same playoffs.
Try validating your opinion with something other than...another opinion. Try refuting the stats... In 1993, Olajuwon averaged 26.1 points per game. In 1994, Olajuwon averaged 27.3 points per game. In 1995 he averaged 27.8 points per game. In 1996 Olajuwon averaged 26.9 points per game. Tim Duncan has averaged more than 23.3 points per game in his career only once (25.5) . In total, Olajuwon averaged over 23.3 points per game for eight seasons. In 1990, Hakeem Olajuwon averaged (in a season in which he played all 82 games) 14.00 rebounds a game. Tim Duncan has never even had a season in which he grabbed 13 rebounds a game. Olajuwon averaged 13 or more rebounds per game for four seasons in his career. In 1990, Olajuwon averaged 4.59 blocks per game. Yes, 4.59 blocks per game... Tim Duncan has never averaged more than 2.9 blocks a game in his entire career. Hakeem Olajuwon averaged more than 2.9 blocks nine seasons in his career, and not slightly over 2.9... 85-86 - 3.40 86-87 - 3.39 88-89 - 3.44 89-90 - 4.59 90-91 - 3.95 91-92 - 4.34 92-93 - 4.17 93-94 - 3.71 94-95 - 3.36 The most steals per game Tim Duncan has averaged is 0.9. In his entire career Hakeem Olajuwon never averaged so few steals per game. Olajuwon's worst steals per game average is better than Tim Duncan's best. 84-85 - 1.21 85-86 - 1.97 86-87 - 1.87 87-88 - 2.05 88-89 - 2.60 89-90 - 2.12 90-91 - 2.16 91-92 - 1.81 92-93 - 1.83 93-94 - 1.60 94-95 - 1.85 95-96 - 1.57 96-97 - 1.50 97-98 - 1.79 98-99 - 1.64 99-00 - 0.93 00-01 - 1.21 01-02 - 1.21 Hakeem Olajuwon's career field goal percentage is .512. Tim Duncan's career field goal percentage is .509 . Hakeem Olajuwon's career free throw percentage is .712. Tim Duncan's career free throw percentage is .680. Hakeem Olajuwon had a career playoff average of 25.9 points per game. Tim Duncan has a career playoff average of 23.9 points per game. Hakeem Olajuwon had a career playoff average of 3.26 blocks per game. Tim Duncan has a career playoff average of 2.8 blocks per game. Hakeem Olajuwon averaged 1.69 steals per game in the playoffs. Tim Duncan averages 0.7 steals per game in the playoffs. Hakeem Olajuwon had a career playoff field goal percentage of .528. Tim Duncan has a career playoff field goal percentage of .509. Hakeem Olajuwon had a career playoff FT percentage of .719. Tim Duncan has a career playoff FT percentage of .698. Hakeem Olajuwon averaged 2.92 turnovers per game in the playoffs. Tim Duncan averages 3.18 turnovers per game in the playoffs. Tim Duncan is a great player, Olajuwon was better. http://www.nba.com/playerfile/hakeem_olajuwon/ http://www.nba.com/playerfile/tim_duncan/career_stats.html
