I bet you if Yao Ming was playing at the same time Hakeem was he would have played for the US too. Things are just different now. Basketball is more global than it used to be. Perhaps if Hakeem was playing now he would play for Nigeria. It goes both ways. There are players who live and train in the U.S. and then go play for a foreign country in the olympics. There are foreign players who are U.S. citizens that end up playing for the U.S. The olympics is as strict as it can get; you have to be a citizen and can't play for more than one country over your olympic career. However you can't force people who have migrated to a different country to play for their original country if their citizens of the new country. Hakeem had a choice and decided to give back to the country that made him a millionaire.
Ya Guy Lewis did, Akeem gave credit to the coaches for this, and I bet his parents were "compensated" for the expense, and he did land in NY and did not like it bc it was too cold, Guy Lewis' crew got him to UH and he liked the more "humid and hot similar to Nigeria"-guy Lewis saw him dribble a ball down the court, and dunked the ball, and Guy coined some quote like "he is a drea" -or such I forget and don't want to look it up, mind you sorry if I'm wrong, I am going off memory on his Biogrophy I read 13 or so plus years ago...but yes I believe some coaches did recommend it you're prob. Right on this...I just give Guy a little to much credit
I remember this book. Back in 94 or 95 it was difficult to get here in Germany. I waited 8 weeks or so for the book.The most credit should go to the man who encouraged him to even play basketball and to the game named soccer because the Dream Shake is basically a soccer move. Even in soccer he would be a phenom with his footwork.
Hakeem's a greedy guy. Remember he played for Toronto too, all because of the money. I agree with your view that he should have played for Nigeria. His U.S. citizenship could wait.
If Hakeem had played for Nigeria yesterday, even at this age, Nigeria wouldn't have lost by 83. :grin:
Grunch. Nope. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/bCB5RrTjQV8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
So you don't think Nigerians looked up to Hakeem already? If one of their countrymen becoming one of the greatest basketball players of all time didn't get their attention, him playing for a team that wasn't going to qualify for the Olympics wouldn't have changed that.
Even if had played for Nigeria they would messed it up. There are so many talented kids out there in Nigeria but as soon as one of these bloodsuckers(read:agents) come along those kids are lost. There is a lot of corruption in this country especially in sport. That makes it impossible to create a successful and long term concept.I think Hakeem would help and teach but that means getting involved with the authorities there and these I wouldn't like to call my partners.
i knew a few (about 8-9) nigerian people during the 90's, and overwhelmingly, for whatever reason, they did not respect dream at all. did not appreciate his accomplishments and basically sneered at the mention of his name. also insisted he was lying about his age and that this was common knowledge in nigeria. maybe it's because he's muslim or from a certain tribe, or maybe even because he comes from the wealthy upper class there - i dunno. but this might be part of why hakeem does not really identify with nigeria as far as we can tell. he even married an arab and lives in jordan most of the year...
As a Nigerian myself, most of my family and friends loved Hakeem, but I can imagine that he might have gotten into a rift with some group or basically the teachings of Islam he followed ran counter to the ones practiced in much of Northern Nigeria and that is why he became so estranged with the country. It could be a number of things, some people carry grudges and slights to whole different levels.
