Hakeem was unstoppable.... granted he did get the benefit of some shuffles and an extra step on the spin sometimes.... but c'mon, if they went head to head for 10 teams, Artest MIGHT hold Dream to single digits for 1 game of the 10.
OK i think threads like this are just lame. Most of what you said (even though I didn't read everyone elses comments yet) is subjective to the point of not being worth discussion. Ron cant guard fast guys ( I think we learned that at Portland) Ron is great against big strong guys but I still would put him against most of the player chuck Hayes has to defend., and just about all of is steals is his quickness defending the pass lane. I would assume Artest is stronger, but were comparing a somewhat finesse played like Hakeem Finesse doesn't mean Tim Duncan here either but he was real fluid with his motions. Often times I see Artest running almost uncomfortable looking. His fast breaks are always worrisome to me because I feel at any moment hes just gonna lose the ball (Scola type fast break) So on a 1 on 1 match up I would for sure take Hakeem just for the finesse type player The Dream was in his prime. Chuck Hayes to me would be a better one on one defender against Hakeem. But as with this thread, everything I said is completely subjective therefore I almost regret seeing this and typing.
The person closest to having the ability to mark Hakeem is probably Robinson, and we all know what happened there. Shaq cannot match up Hakeem because he just can't catch up with Hakeem in terms of speed and post defense. As for Robinson, to be honest I had to agree with what he said in interviews. Robinson did actually do a very good job on Hakeem, but the dream always finds that extra move to lose Robinson. That "extra move" we never ever see nowadays in any NBA player. Basically, Hakeem can only be stopped by double teams and double teams only.
I don't recall Shaq having a particularly hard time matching up against Hakeem. It's not like he was getting dominated or something. In their matchups during Hakeem's prime years (92/93 through 95/96 season), Hakeem averaged 25.4/11 and Shaq averaged 21.9/13.9. That's a seasoned Hakeem versus a young Shaq. In those matchups, the Magic won 6 of 8 regular season games. Of course, in the all important Finals, Hakeem's Rockets swept the Magic. But, again, I wouldn't say Shaq was dominated. Hakeem had the better series, but both players played well. I remember players with great size and strength giving Hakeem the toughest matchups. Olajuwon was resourceful, and he could use his face up game and superior quickness to play well regardless. But if you need to neutralize Hakeem, you don't do it with a small forward. That's just silly.
Just to add to the pile on. I think a lot of posters who post things like this might not have seen much of Dream in his prime. To say that Hakeem torched a soft David Robinson belies the fact that he also torched a lot of players who had a reputation for toughness, or even thuggery. As a few posters have pointed out Hakeem handled players like Anthony Mason who while smaller where very tough and agressive defenders. While Artest may be one of the toughest and most aggressive defenders in the league now lets not forget that during Dream's prime there were many tough aggressive defenders many of which were probably tougher than Artest is now. Still Hakeem took on the Anthony Masons, John Salleys of the NBA and did very well. So if anyone has any doubts about whether Hakeem could handle Artest now just take a look at some of the NBA classic games to see how he handled the tough strong defenders then.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA FAIL
If not already banned, I sincerely hope that hikanoo49 has suffered some form of suspension for this abomination of all that is sacred in Rocket lore. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/hW4uXlRGAF0&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/hW4uXlRGAF0&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
Artest is a pretty amazing defender. But Hakeem... is the dream. You know that don't you? Perhaps, if Artest and Hakeem were to match up in several games through the course of several seasons, both in their prime, I suppose there were would a few instances where Artest would shut down Hakeem somewhat (as it was near impossible to completely shut down such a player). But Hakeem was capable of putting up big numbers on any defender, even the best defender in the league. We all know what he did to the likes of Robinson, Shaq, etc. Hakeem often faced some serious defensive pressure from the all time great defenders... and seldom was he shut down. So, maybe there would be nights where Artest could do a good job slowing Hakeem down. As far as "shutting" down-no, even the best defender could only slow down the dream. He was gonna hit you with that shake one way or the other.
You guys just don't get it. The OP wanted to know if you thought Artest could shut down Akeem in a hip hop freestyle battle. I think this is a good question. Akeem's rapping is not unbeatable.
Not in his wildest Dreams. Even though Artest is a pretty damn good defender, Dream would put him in the popcorn machine like all the others.
http://www.nba.com/rockets/news/Itrsquos_official_Ron_Artes-280197-34.html "When you get a chance to play for same organization that had Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde [Drexler], you've got to appreciate that," says Artest. "This is definitely the high point of my career. It's the biggest opportunity I've ever had playing basketball.
