[Grantland] Is Hakeem Olajuwon's Post-Up Play Training All It's Cracked Up to Be?

The thing that separated Olajuwon from a lot of other "just defensive" centers or centers in general at his time was his incredible ability at 6'11 to be so agile with a shooting touch of a two guard.....I'm not so sure if Howard can be any where as versatile as Olajuwon but if he can at least develop that free throw or a 5-15 foot jump shot or a go to hook shot or fake/spin move he would be elite on both ends then. But leaning towards the logic that complete players like Olajuwon are not made or duplicated they are once in a generation. If you notice all that benefit from Olajuwon's camp were already good or great players....

 

This is a little off subject observation that i just realized that I'm probably so late on but Kobe, Lebron, Amare, Howard, Tyson Chandler, all worked with Dream and all came straight out of high school. Oh, and all have been All-Stars at some point or another....

 

Kareem should have a class too

Teach people the Sky Hook. The most unstoppable move EVER!!

 

Blasphemy.

 

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/pX4ZPnYMtOk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

That video bums me out big time. What could have been, what could have been.

 

Good analogy. repped.

 

i can take fine art every semester, but that's not going to turn me into salvador dali. however, if you have talent, it can be harvested to awesome post moves. Dream's center for centers who want to learn to play the true center position is no sham. It's just like any other school/camp

 

It's either you have it or you don't. Plain and simple. I haven't seen any player master or come close to mastering the ski-hook.

Now the best time to teach a player these type of moves is when they are young and/or when they are hungry/ or have that strong will to get better. LBJ and Kobe have that drive in them to perfect because they wants to be the best to ever play this game. MJ and Dream had that type of passion as well.

 

BOO THIS MAN!

 

The other thing about this article that annoys me is that it credits Hakeem's ability simply to his talent which is bull. Anyone that watched Hakeem throughout his career knows that his post play improved dramatically throughout his time in the league. That kind of improvement comes through hard work and practice, not simply talent.

 

It isn't completely useless for Chandler to learn from Hakeem. But I question why Hakeem is teaching him advanced post moves when Chandler doesn't even have a firm grasp on fundamental post moves.

It's like trying to teach a pitcher to throw curve balls before they have any decent command on their fastball.

Or teaching somebody how to do BMX tricks before they can ride a two wheel bike properly.

Chandler may be able to pick up some insights here and there just because Hakeem has so much knowledge... but I question Hakeem's methods of teaching advanced moves before the student has the basic fundamentals.

It also depends on who requested what. For example, maybe Tyson Chandler paid Hakeem to teach him those advanced moves. Maybe that is what he wanted. But if Chandler paid Hakeem to make him a much better center, then I think there are much better ways for Chandler to learn than teaching him the Dream Shake.

 

The reason is because players never wanted to learn the sky hook.

It isn't flashy, and it's fairly difficult until you can get good at it.

So they don't keep working on it.

Players COULD master the sky hook. But they choose not to.

 

And to the person who left an anonymous comment that said I'm a LOF who just started watching basketball last year, I'd be willing to bet I've played a lot more basketball than you have.

1. I'm not a LOF. I'm a Rockets fan. If you check my join date, I joined here when Lin was still playing on the Knicks. Idiot.

2. I've played basketball since I was a little kid all the way through college. I started at a DII school here in Texas. I feel I was good enough to play D1, but I didn't get the recognition because my high school team won the 5A state championship when I played, and I was overshadowed by the two stars on the team. One of them played at a Pac-10 school, and one of them played in the Big-12.

Having said that, that doesn't mean my opinion is more qualified than anybody else here. It doesn't mean I'm right or wrong. We all have our opinions.

But don't try to discredit me by saying I don't know basketball when I've played my whole life.

 

Its ALWAYS about the MONEY. If Hakeem offered lessons for free, their wouldnt be much expectation. Since people are seeing "100K a month" its like man sheeeeit that better give a TRIPLE scoop of DREAM shake at LEAST.

I personally don't see Olajuwon's physical moves being that transferable. So I wouldnt consider his training maximally effective in that regard. I'm with the article there.

I do think it has benefits. Hakeem many times said of Yao that the main thing is to develop a DOMINATING MINDSET of the POSITION. It rolls off Hakeem so effortlesly hearing it from him, but Hakeem said go out and DOMINATE - DOMINATE

Sometimes hearing it from a coach and assistant over and over, it becomes kinda stale in tone, some generic coachspeak.

But when you hear it externally from a LEGEND, and you can see it in his EYES and feel it on his heart that its the BEST thing you could ever do, to possibly be in that select elite group, he's basically giving you license to crush people and making you the undisputed big cheese, you'd have to take SOMETHING from that. Thats what "personal trainers" are for.

Especially when you see hes not wasting his own time on just anyone, like telling it to every little kid telling them theyre "special". He's reserving his time for the ones that matter so even though you gotta pay big, it means he sees something in you too.

(Basically its not all about transferable hard skills, it is prestige, image and pep talk that can influence)

 

This is the key:

Dream tries to teach these players in 3-6 months, what he learned over the course of his life. There is no chance it is going to be THAT useful.

I do think he helps, like Lebron's post up game got a lot better this year (not all Dream, but he likely had something to do with it). Hopefully Dwight will get better too.

The only players that NEED this are 1st choice on offense, big strong players who have the ability to post up, and already fairly athletic. So it's a fairly small segment of the NBA that can actually use him. (1 person who hasn't gone who should is Melo, imo).

A lot of centers who are the 3rd - 5th option on offense going to him of course aren't going to be helped.

 

If you over-analyze it, it almost seems plausible how there can be a reason for that.

College provides little closer learning environment than the pros even for the 1-and-dones, in the sense that coaches and faculty can act as "parental figures". It doesnt mean the TEACHING is better, just the relationship aspects. It is about business but then its still not purely about bottom lines yet.

Someone playing in college can always have ol' Dean Smith or Coach K they can call up. High school players are thrust right in there. How many "mentor" figures do they really have.

Not saying Hakeem is like that, he has some obvious financial interest. But who would be Tyson Chandlers "career counselor"

 

Its well documented that Kareem wasnt a good people person. Too ornery and egoey. He's held himself back . (Same with Rick Barry especially, to where theres claims of being blackballed) KAJ just never could get his image quite right. But yeah its too bad cuz he has a bright mind.

 

Hmmm.... Hakeem train for few hours for a few days. Video clip is about 1-2 mins. Just wondering how much actual time is spent on those "elite" post move posted and how much time is spent on fundamentals, defense etc....

Its like looking at highlights and make players looks better than they are. If the writer did interviews with Dream's pupils and/or been for the entire session of Dream's lesson, then i apologize to him. But I do strongly feel the "sources" of this article is 1 hour spent on youtube.

 

Not only that but he was very raw when he came into the league, moses malone and others helped him grow a lot. Certainly he learned how to teach people as well.