Do you think Dream would have been a center if he had played basketball all his life?

6'10 3/4 is the number he uses in his autobiography, as I recall.

 

Did you remember to add the extra inch the NBA hands out to everybody?

 

You could have probably added a few points to Dream's scoring average if he'd played ball as a kid. He would have been at that 27/28 point scoring level much quicker and for much longer. He also would have had pretty much increased stats all across the board because as a more experienced player he wouldn't have gotten into the kind of foul trouble he did early in his career. I think he could have played 3, 4, or 5. A more explosive, powerful, athletic, and skilled version of what we see from KG today... freaky as that sounds.

 

I am pretty sure Hakeem would be playing PF in today's league. He would have been a much more explosive version of Tim Duncan.

It is ironic that when he was playing with Sampson, it was Sampson, who was about 5 inches taller, who moved to PF.

 

He already was an explosive version of Tim Duncan.......

Plus 4.5 blocks a game.....................

 

That's because Sampson wasn't a great back-to-the-basket "classic" center and Hakeem hadn't developed a ton of "out of the post" moves yet. Sampson also handled the ball on the perimeter better and faced up better than Hakeem early on. By the end of his career Hakeem was a better PF and C than Sampson. Hakeem was pretty much 95% power early in his career whereas Sampson was 95% finesse all his career.

 

If he played basketball instead of soccer growing up, I think he would be a worse player. Hakeem(6'11.75" with shoes) would be more like Garnett(6'11" with shoes) than Lebron James.

He might have favored taking jump shots like Garnett, instead of getting beat-up in the post. He still be defending centers and PFs most of time. He would be much more skilled than Dwight Howard, another athletic freak at 6'10".

 

I just wonder how good Lebron could be if he played football. Can you picture a 6'8" or so 250 pound wide receiver?

 

Lebron is 6'8" with shoes, according to his nba profile.
If are to take out the 1.25" for his shoes, Lebron is 6'7.75". This would make Hakeem 6'8.75".

 

Bad Math. I looked Lebron's pre-draft measurements. It's 6'7.25" without shoes and 6'8" with shoes. I still doubt Hakeem is only 6'8.25".

 

I don't understand the repeated desire by some people to try and make Dream a Power Forward. The man was and will always be a Center. None of this, "I'd put Malone at Center and Dream at the 4 on the Rockets all-time team." No. Olajuwon played center as well as anyone in the history of the game. His position is Center. He is a 5.

And all I know about his speed is that the foundation of the Rockets' transition game was the certainty that Dream would beat his man down the court every time.

 

OT:


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I agree

Rocket River

 

Beautiful

RocketRiver

 

How old are you?

You sound like you never saw Dream play. i suggest you go watch some Phi Slama Jama footage and you will change your statement. At least you take the "EVER' out of that statement.

 

Hakeem was 1.75" taller or a full 2 compared to Horry and Thorpe his supposed 6'10" side kicks along the frontline during the championship years 94 and 95. Thorpe wasn't a Rocket when during 95 because he was traded to Portland for Drexler. But if you're going to criticize the Dream on his actual height take a look at some footage of him standing next to 6'10" Horry.

 

it's hard to compare.

remember that hakeem was always matched up versus centers while lebron matches up versus faster forwards and guards so the matchups are somewhat misleading

on the other hand hakeem's footwork is unparalleled even to today. lebron, even if he is FASTER certainly isn't quicker and if you moved him to center he wouldn't be able to pull off the moves hakeem had in his arsenal. not even close

also fill in the fact that lebron is so over hyped by the league while hakeem was dramatically underhyped. remember that to weak minded fools hype is the same thing as skill. there are some idiots who could actually see blazing footage of hakeem and still not know what they saw and claim lebron is faster simply because an authority ($tern, ESPN) led them to think that

keep im mind also that skillsets dont easily translate... jordan who is probably the most coordinated basketball player in history proved beyond doubt that he was below average hand-eye coordination/spacial judgment compared to minor league ball players. the NBA hypes the "best athletes in the world" but we all know that's a fallacy. ANY MLB player has better hand-eye than a hall of fame NBA player and basically any safety, WR or any track athlete would be the fastest guy on any NBA team

for best athlete EVER it's hard to argue versus Wilt. the dude could have been an Olympic decathlete and he's reputedly the strongest man to have played in the NBA.

 

99er I feel ya bro.
some people think soulja boy is a rapper, i don't.
i think tupac is.

 

Such sweet memories.