Thanks for the information, now I feel much better after leaning that Dream was playing until at 39. But another sad part is that Yao may be unable to play at 29. A surgery saves his career? hopeful.
hakeem best all time!!! imagine if we got clyde instead of mccray in that draft wwould of definatly won more than 2. say at least 4 championships.
Hakeem was unbelievable! He was quick, could dribble from the outside and take somebody 1 on 1 to the rack, he had a nice shot, he could play really good defense, he could block and steal, had a unstoppable Dream Shake, he was over all and incredible player and to me the best center ever. It would be funny to watch guards going for the easy fast break only to be blocked by the Dream
The Hoops Doctors (whoever they are) recently posted their Top 10 NBA Defensive Players Of All-time. They have Hakeem #1 (I have him at #2 behind Russell) and give this as the reason: <blockquote>Hakeem Olajuwon finished his career as the NBA’s All-time leader in blocked shots with 3,830. That is almost 700 more blocked shots than the second place in total blocks, Dikembe Mutombo. That in itself would make Hakeem ‘The Dream’ worthy of our first spot as the best defensive basketball player of all-time. But there is something even more compelling about Olajuwon’s defensive abilities. He is 8th on the NBA’s All-time steals list, with 2,162 steals! That is very rare for a big man, in fact as evidence of this there is not even one other Center that has cracked the top 25 of the all-time steals list. Hakeem is also 11th on the All-time rebounds list. Between all the blocks, steals, and rebounds that Hakeem Olajuwon has logged think about how many ‘new’ possessions he has secured for his team without the opposition scoring! No wonder the Rockets won those NBA Championships.</blockquote> Hakeem is also the only player in NBA history on the <b>top 25</b> all time in both blocks and steals. But my favorite thing about Hakeem was his incredible stamina and drive. I remember once in the '90s when the Rockets were playing the Spurs on national TV on a Sunday afternoon. Since it was Ramadan and Hakeem was a devout Muslim, he was abstaining from food and drink from sunrise to sunset. Everyone else was drinking water or gatorade during timeouts except Hakeem. Even though he must have been exhausted and dehydrated, he dominated the action and led his team to victory. It was perhaps the most amazing performance I ever saw.
Baker, class of 80. I knew Dave Ramer back when he had a face and have hated Karl "Elbows" Malone ever since.
Ahh, I will be graduating 30 years from when you did . Had to do a google search on Dave Ramer . You still go to the game? Not much to see after Morris left...
But my favorite thing about Hakeem was his incredible stamina and drive. I remember once in the '90s when the Rockets were playing the Spurs on national TV on a Sunday afternoon. Since it was Ramadan and Hakeem was a devout Muslim, he was abstaining from food and drink from sunrise to sunset. Everyone else was drinking water or gatorade during timeouts except Hakeem. Even though he must have been exhausted and dehydrated, he dominated the action and led his team to victory. It was perhaps the most amazing performance I ever saw.[/QUOTE] This is what separated Hakeem from just about everybody else. The man had a seemingly inexhaustible reservoir of energy and effort. By the time the championships were won, he really did seem to be more super than human. Those of us who were lucky enough to witness it first-hand won't see anything like that in our lifetimes.... ...I'll send my mom a thank you card for having me when she did....
...that was the only game I ever got to see Hakeem play in - Game 2 of the WCF in San Antonio. He put up 41 and 16 that night and just crushed Robinson. It was an awesome game for a teenage boy being the lone Rocket fan in a see of Spurs jerseys in my section. I get goosebumps just thinking about it.
Hakeem Olajuwon, Houston Rockets Greatest testimony to his career: You never hear the Rockets ridiculed for taking him two spots ahead of Michael Jordan. when looking at Dream's legecy, this is a pretty deep thinking.
