Article about the Hakeem no-show http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sonics/2002812963_allen18.html
Disappointing for sure, but hey, he's retired and he gets to live his own life out from under our expectations. He's earned it.
Us rockets fans of all the people should know that Hakeem really doesnt care much about spotlight and fame. The man has a life outside of basketball and is attending to it. I respect him for that. The man, the legend lives on......
earning this and respecting it is one thing. sure he can do whatever he wants. what he has done is turn his back on the city and people who enabled him to have everything he has. to be able to retire at 38 and move his family to jordan to study. he obviously doesn't feel any sense of responsibility to that at all, and he should. it's just disappointing to me (and i'm sure many of you), since he is far and away my favorite athlete ever and the one sports idol of my youth.
he might see our idol-worship as a crime against God, and thus has turned his back on that time in his life. allow him this.
May be he was busy with something, but I am disappointed as well mainly for my own selfish reasons, because I wanted to see him representing the city and the franchise, I am pretty sure Drexler was disappointed as well because judging from his comments, he ain't too happy about Hakeem not being there to share the moment with him, especially with both being good friends and all. Oh well, I will be interested to know why he wasn't able to make it...
All right guys, Hakeem's a legend around these parts and we marvel his athletic ability. But...... Hakeem was never known as an overly nice person. I know some people that used to do work on his cars and they said he was the most complaining, cheap and annoying customer they had. Let's not forget... The fight Hakeem had with his brother in the Summit parking lot after a game. The time he smacked a convenience store clerk. The time he smacked a cameraman at his girlfriends apartment complex. The fights during games early in his career. The fact that he bolted to Toronto for basicaly a little more money. The BS story he made up about his brothers being bigger than he was when in fact they were actually smaller. The whole Akeem then one day...nope I'm Hakeem. Look...I have met Hakeem 3 times and he was not nice any of those times. Just because the guy was a phenomenal athlete does not make him a great person. Houston was nothing but a place for him to make money. Hakeem did a good job of upgrading his public image but he was the same old surly guy behind the scenes.
you're an idiot Some of the statements posted you have no idea what your talking about, why did akeem change is name to hakeem, hey do you know it is an arabic originated name and that is the way it is actually pronounced HA-keem instead of A-keem and when he bolted for toronto, we couldnt have given him a little more money for all he did, no we had to go spend it on someone like MOOCHIE wow, you met him three times, that means you sure knew him well i've also met him before, in Masjids and such, and he is one of the nicest people you'll ever meet the man has his own life now let him live it, just cause your upset he didnt show up for the all-star game dont go bashing the man
That's complete and utter BS, I hate how some some people come around and try to trash a guy just because he didn't show up for an event. Grow up! All those problems you stated was before Hakeem found God and became a dedicated man. I have met him numerous times and he's an extremely nice person, he's not the trouble-maker he was early in his career. Let's not mkae something out of nothing, I understand we're disappointed he didn't show up at the ASG, but that's his prerogative, he doesn't owe the Rockets anything anymore, he's retired from the game and wants to live his own life.
My favorite Rockets player is Hakeem but by not showing up, I get the feeling that although he uses all the benifits he gained in Houston, he doesn't have any normal feelings towards our city , our team and his fans!! We should not expect anything from Hakeem, he seems to have abandoned us!
Were you the Cameraman and the storeclerk he decked earlier in his career? If you are I can understand your bitterness. Honestly though, if pedestrians got into fight with Hakeem, I dont see how they would come out alive against a well built 6-10 athlete. Not to mention, there would be well-documented law suits and extortions for $$. The rest of your accusations are pretty much baseless so I, like other, will have to call BS on that. Nice try though. Come play again. Hakeem is well respected by the athletes and people who are close to him. All have nothing but good things to say about him. I would assume people who have surrounded Hakeem most of his career know him better than you, an average storeclerk.
First off buddy....you've got some nerve calling anyone else an idiot. Duh.....I knew why he changed his name. It was kinda stupid running around using a name that wasn't really his name for as long as he did. I could care less if he went to the All Star game or not. My point was he has a track record for being an a-hole in this town.
Why don't you grow up an realize that online forums are for expressing opinions, which is what I did. You on the other hand came whining because I said something about your hero. He doesn't owe us anything usnless he promised us something, In this case, he did just that. Again, my point is...he's not what he's being billed as.
that is your OPINION, but i believe 99% of the posters here will also tell you he was a nice guy, or better yet some have already said so in this thread, and would you care to remind me when in his track record was he an A-hole to this town, his younger years he might have been a little brash oh and you knew why he changed his name, yet you still put it in their anyways you're the first person i've come across that doesnt like him, whats the matter he didnt sign an autograph for you Heres my OPINION of you- you are not a rockets fan, which takes me to my next point, why are you here?
Dude those were well documented incidents complete with eye witnesses reprting that Hakeem lost his cool and was in the wrong. Hakeem got in the fight with the store clerk because he thought he was too good to stand in line. He kicked his brothers butt at the Summit because he wanted to borrow Hakeem's car. I think the world of Hakeem the basketball player but I could do without the off court Hakeem.
