We watched in luxury as Dream always came to play in big games against elite competition. Dropped 49 on Seattle in a game 7 loss, murdered the mermaid when he was named MVP instead of Dream. Dropped Barkley on his head when started talking smack, spun Ewing all the way back to NY, gave a young Shaq grief as he dreamshaked him into a 4-0 sweep. Yes, Dream had help but we all knew that Dream would do more than his part to ensure we had a chance to win. As a result, when Tmac and/or Yao doesn't perform in the big games ala Dream we let them have it. I kinda feel sorry for both of them because they're always going to be compared to the Rocket legend and until they win a division title, playoff series, wc title, nba title we're going to analysis and critique every part of their games. In the finaly analysis, I love MY ROCKETS but I don't see what we need from out superstars to get further in playoffs, let alone our own conference.
dream is arguably a top 5-7 player of ALL TIME and arguably the most skilled center of all time. but dream had his shares of struggles earlier on. tmac has stepped up in big games. avg 31, 7, 6 in 04-05 v. dallas. 29 and 13 in game 7 v. utah. we're getting close. we just need the entire to be HEALTHY (that's our main downfall). hell going into this postseason, yao is out. tmac is injured, landry is not fully back, alston is injured, battier is injured... i'm serious, health is the only thing really holding us back since tmac has been here.
LOL they are just negative, faithless fans that watch espn all day and believe every word that comes out of Charles Barkley's mouth.
You'll never get anyone outside of Houston to believe that. I doubt you will be able to find many people in Houston who have watched the NBA since at least the mid 80s to believe that. Dream was a great player throughout his career and morphed into a great winner and leader in the early 90s but I don't think he is a top 5 or even 10 NBA player of all time. Let's just be happy that he is a top 5 Center of all time.
Nobody really compares them to Dream.......Its not like Kobe being compared to Mike..........Its just Tmac and Yao........And i Accept that........Maybe next year when we have them both we will have a killer year (not saying this year is over) and people will trying in 15 years to be compared to a duo like tmac and yao.....
well, it depends on who you talk to. most basketball heads i talk with believe hakeem (in fact my roomate--a laker/kobe fan believe it or not--believe hakeem is the best center of all time) is a top 3 center of all time the reason is that not only was he dominant on the offensive end, he dominated the defensive end. you can argue he was the best 2-way player of our generation along with jordan. russell wasn't a great offensive player. chamberlain, from hearing the media, wasn't that great of a defensive player. plus, the first year that he won the championship, he was the only true star. i don't think i have remembered anyone doing that. and the 2nd year, we won as a 6th seed beating a bunch of great teams along the way. you have to watch him to really know how dominant he was on both ends. stats don't even come close to telling how ridiculously good hakeem was. have you ever seen one player dominate another superstar (and MVP in robinson in the history of the NBA). i would put hakeem in the top 5 of all time and a top 2-3 center. skillwise, i think he was the best center. the reason you don't hear people put hakeem so high is b/c they base it on rings and individual achievements like MVPs. hell, if you ask a dumb fan right now, he say nash is better than dream b/c of his 2 MVPs. but i'm shocked you wouldn't consider him at least a top 10 player of all time. name me 2-3 players who are as dominant as hakeem on BOTH ends of the floor. when i say dominant, i mean REALLY dominant (not tim duncan dominatn right now).
I think Dream and Jordan are #1 and #2 due to the following, check the players on the team and none of the players they played with are mentioned as top players except for Clyde and Pippen. We all know that Magic and Bird teams were loaded with all stars. All I want to see is Tmac and Yao get over the hump next year. I truly think next year is the last year for these two. We will need to make a change if nothing happens next year and I'm talking about WC finals at least.
if they're "HEALTHY," they will get over the hump. i have no doubt about it. but will tehy be healthy? i have no doubt they will go deep this year if yao was healthy. hell i think they could sitll win a round if landry was 100% healthy. we have more talent. and i'm sure morey will add more talent in the offseason. this duo will reach its potential sooner or later.
after the other top 5 centers of wilt, russell, kareem, shaq, and then the mj, magic, and bird trio, who else can really be argued to be better than hakeem? maybe the big O i guess, but that's at most 8 people ahead of him. MJ is the only one i would definitely put ahead of hakeem, the big O and russell i would definitely put behind, and then i think he's at least as good as shaq and bird (i always put him in a tie with shaq and think he's slightly ahead of bird but wouldn't have a problem if bird was tied with hakeem), and then it's just a matter of what to do with wilt, kareem, and magic. i could put him behind all 3, but i have no problem if he's ahead of 1 or 2 of the 3. but not top 10? please.
Michael Jordan Larry Bird Magic Johnson Wilt Chamberlain Bill Russell Kareem Abdul Jabar Jerry West Oscar Robertson Elgin Baylor Shaquille O'Neal (I hate him but he was the most dominant player in the modern era) You could argue that Rick Barry, Bob Petitte and probably a few others I'm forgetting were better players (for their careers) than Dream was. It's hard to compare players who played 50 years ago to the modern players but these guys were competitors, winners and have the amazing stats too.
He would have switched to Boozer and ate Boozer's lunch. This happened in the Sonics series, midway through the series, Hakeem switched from Sam Perkins, who basically hovered around the 3 pt line like Okur does, to Kemp and Otis Thorpe switched to Perkins. What I saw after that is Hakeem owning Kemp whenever Kemp tried to take it to the basket. Therein lies the difference between Yao and Dream. Oh, wait. If Okur defended Dream? Dream would have ate his lunch or Boozer's and have them bamboozled, Jazz would most likely be forced to double team Dream.
bill russell??? dude, what did he average on offense? 14-15 ppg in an era where the avg score was 120-130ppg? shaq was dominant, but he was never a dominant defensive player like hakeem was. and half of the players you mentioned were not great 2-way players. did you even watch hakeem?
Russell is generally considered a top 3 Center. I've never seen anyone outside of this forum say Dream was better. Shaq is the most dominant player in the last 30 years. He was never the all around defender Dream was but he was very good shot blocker for years and well known as a good defender due to his size and quickness. None of that really matters though because he changed the game offensively for his team in a way that only Wilt Chamberlain had ever done before. Yes, I watched Hakeem. Probably more than you or 95% of the people on this forum and I'm telling you that you won't find many knowledgeable fans, former players or NBA "experts" who put Dream as a top 10 player of all time.
If the argument was most versatile or most well-rounded Center of all time then Dream gets the nod as #1 and certainly would be a top 10 PLAYER as well. My point is that there were other players who were more skilled and were also better winners and leaders over the course of their career. Dream didn't reach that level until late in his career and was really only on the level of MJ, Magic etc for 3-4 seasons. That doesn't make a career.
I haven't live in Houston since 1986, pretty much lived outside of Texas most of that time and I can tell you most basketball fans I talked to believe Dream to be one of the top 3 centers of all time, top 10 player of all time. You are WHACKED! Did you ever watch Hakeem play during his prime?
