Howard is more powerful, but Dream was quicker, lighter on his feet. Howard can jump higher, but Dream could jump then recover more quickly. Physically, the better comparison to Dream would be KG. But Dream had a much better post game. Dwight is closer to Shaq. You could argue that Dream and KG could play any front court position, whereas Howard and Shaq are pure centers.
I don't know but Howard seems sort of a stiff out there compared to Hakeem. He just can't maneuver the way Hakeem did. He's fast, can run the floor but hes not quick. He elevates really high but its more like a space shuttle going upwards whereas Hakeem was like a grass hopper.
That's about right. The UH athletic department thought the PR would be better with Akeem listed as 7'. Since he played like he was that height or better, no one really questioned it.
that sounds impressive, but considering he is 8th on the all-time steals list over all those guards and supposed "defensive specialist," i find that even more impressive. the guy was just a freak.
Dream broke the mold. We were lucky to have him, and it will always bug me that he never had a chance to face Jordan in the finals.
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Maybe with shoes on. My 6'2" friend met him at his mosque and said he went up to his chin, so Dream's slightly shorter than 6'10" without shoes.
As others have mentioned, dream had those quick hops. Notice in the video, he barely had to bend his legs to jump. It allowed him to get to the ball faster than anyone I've ever seen.
I found this torrent the otehr day. Hakeem in the 88 Playoff's. Not the best quality, but gives a good example of Hakeem in his early years. http://bt.davka.info/torrents/torontos/09.06.02-1988 Playoffs G2 Mavericks-Rockets.torrent
people comparing DH and Dream should registered themselves into mental hospital immediately. I mean it! Defensively, Dream was way ahead of DH is right now. DH might get as good as DEKE but never at Dream level. He'll never get near Dream shot blocking record. Offensively, do I even need to say much? Dream got ranges, moves and soft touches. BEside just dunking on people he can take you outside. Just by looking at the way DH shoot the ball and his freethrow technique you know he will never ever ever ever going to develop a jumper like Dream. At best he can be something similar to Kevin WIllis. All them big assss muscles on his arm will not allow him to be able to have soft touches.
I couldn't get the sound to work, but that montage of great plays brought back wonderful memories. Watching Hakeem consistently beat double and triple teams was amazing. Front him, play behind, double, or triple team him, he still beats you. Wow. Dream was really unstopable when he put his mind to score.
wtf? you are comparing howard favorably to a hall of famer? not even close. olajuwon is one of the top 50 to ever play. little premature for howard don't ya think? especially for a guy who only scores on rebounds, can't creaste and his biggest weapon is the rebound/dunk. not arguing that he is pretty damn good...but not great like olajuwon. maybe never....i don't see it ever happening with his game and tendancies. nothing dh shows even hints to the fact that he will ever develop into an olajuwon type.
What is it with people on this forum wanting to make everyone smaller? I know a lot of NBA players' heights are exaggerated and I know they are taken with their shoes on but some of these posts are ridiculous. "My uncle's friend's cousin is 6'1" and he stood next to Hakeem and said he was about 6'5." "My dad's high school pal said Akeem was 6'9" but when he added the "H" to his name he grew by 1/2 inch." Dream was at least 6'10" and probably closer to 6'11". I know everyone wants to remember how skilled he was but you don't have to pretend he was shorter in order to respect how skilled he was. Also, regarding the comparisons to Dwight Howard. Yes, I think Dwight Howard had a higher vertical leap and possibly better upper body strength but I'd be willing to bet Dream had a stronger base and that's what really matters for a post player. Dwight is surprisingly inept at overpowering players near his size when it comes to get position in the post. I think he spends too much time doing curls and shoulder presses trying to build "beach muscles" instead of strengthening his base.
Luck, no, it was heavenly blessing for Houston to land Hakeem Olajuwon both in the college level and professional.
I used to have a basketball card with Hakeem driving against Mark Eaton. Hakeem looked shorter than 7ft in that pic. It was kinda comical because it was tough to tell the scale of picture because there were no other players in it. It basically looked like Dream was a SG driving against a 7ft C.
Where there ever any records of the Dream's other measurements, like wingspan or standing reach? I want to know because I always knew he was ungodly skilled, but I didn't know how he stacked up against his rivals in terms of pure physical gifts.
