hall of fame center on the Rockets? No, not Ming. I'm talking about Kareem. He coached the Oklahoma City team to the USBL championship and maybe he's the perfect person to coach Ming and teach him how to be a great center. It seems to me that Ming's physique even resembles Kareem's. Kareem wasn't a great center because he was the most physically dominating center. He was a great center because he was a tremendous finesse player, with an awesome hook and a great ability to see the court and pass out of double teams. If I were the Rockets, I would put some serious thought into bringing Kareem to the Rockets to serve as an assistant coach.
That'd be great........I saw a few of their games, and he's more of a Phil Jackson type coach that seems like he just sits there......He's not the coach of the Storm anymore, it was announced today, so why not?
here is kareem teaching a young chinese kid the skyhook Here is Kareem getting a skyhook over Wang ZhiZhi This was a 1998 4-game tourney of ex-NBA players vs the Chinese National Team in Shanghai, Beijing and Hefei. The XNBA players besides Kareem were Moses Malone, Alton Lister, Tom Chambers, Frank Brickowski, Adrian Dantley, Alex English, Kiki Vandeweghe, Walter Davis, Jay Humphries, Lazarus Sims and Darnell Valentine. Oscar Robertson was the coach. Kareem only played in the first 2 games. The Chinese NT at the time had Wang and Bateer but no Ming. They beat the XNBA players 3 games to 1. Here is Wang vs. Moses Here is a nice blocked shot by Mengke Bateer on either Frank Brickowski or Kiki Vandeweghe.
I would love to see him on the Rocket's payroll. Then add Mengke Bateer who can help Yao transition to American culture and keep him from getting too home sick.
Kareem Available? Kareem Abdul Jabbar according to an espn article is looking to coach in the NBA.. should we not consider getting him to teach Ming some big man techniques.. imagine the Kareem sky hook all over again.. and the former Laker being responsible for helping the Rockets take his old team down!
Yeah, Kareem really did wonders for Olowokandi. I just say let Rudy and CD coach Ming. They helped turn Hakeem into the MVP and loaded him up with more offensive weapons than any other center to ever play the game. I think they'll do just fine.
Kareem coached the USBL team here in OK (the Storm). They won the championship after starting out the season slow. This may not be entirely because of Kareem because they added Chris Porter and Corey Brewer to the roster at the end of the year. Today, Kareem said he would not be back to coach the Storm. I think Kareem would be an interesting hire as an assistant coach. Some say he is a condescending jerk, while others say he is a very knowledgeable basketball guy. All I know is that he was a great player and he lead a minor league team to a championship. I believe this qualifies him for being an assistant coach in the NBA, so I would be all for hiring him.
Akeem also had the privledge to play against Moses Malone regularly while he was at UH. Talk about preparation...
Nice historical revisionism by uprising and DCkid. Funny how Hakeem (Akeem) was with the Rockets and became a superstar long before Rudy T. was the coach of the Rockets. Rudy T. had little to do with Hakeem's development as a player. And Rudy T. has proven to be an awful teacher of young talent with the players that he has had. The Rockets are awful fundamental basketball players and Ming must be a good fundamental player if he is going to succeed in the NBA. Sorry, I didn't meant to turn this into another fire Rudy T. post. But let's face it, the Rockets could certainly use someone like Kareem to teach Ming how to be a center in the NBA.
Reread my post. I never said Rudy turned Hakeem into a superstar if you would have read closely. I said he turned him into an MVP and he significantly added to his offensive game. In case you didn't know, Hakeem did not have a large set of offensive basketball skills when he came into the league. Ask yourself some questions. 1.) When did Hakeem win the MVP award? 2.) When was the first year Hakeem was seriously considered for the MVP award? Was it Rudy's first full season? 1992-1993, when Barkley mistakenly won it? 3.) When did Hakeem turn into the most nimble, graceful, and skillful center ever to play the game? 4.) When did Hakeem's overall statistics suddenly spike? 5.) How and when did Hakeem all the sudden develop the most complete arsenal of moves an NBA center has ever possessed? And the answer to all of the above five questions is: <b>When Rudy started coaching.</b> Next you're going trying to tell me Hakeem could hit a baseline turnaround jumpshot while fading out of bounds nearly every single time "long before Rudy came?" Face it. Hakeem's game went up a knotch when Rudy started coaching. There's no way you Rudy-hating, ungrateful Rockets fans can deny that. Complain about Rudy in the present if you must, but don't try to discredit the incredible accomplishments he and the Rockets made during the early to mid-90's. If you can't see the way in which Hakeem's game improved when Rudy started coaching, and if you can't see the overall improvement in the way in which Hakeem was used when Rudy started coaching, then you must be blind.
I love Mo but since he decided to go into the HOF as a 76er instead of a Rocket I am not really to concerned about his feelings towords the Rockets. Kareem played the type of game I envision Yao playing and if he does nothing more than help refine Yao's Sky Hook then he would be well worth the money. If the Rockets hired Kareem then I would be estatic.
Just because you can play a game doesn't mean you can coach it or teach it. I have read on numerous sites that Kareem cannot do either.
Magic Johnson always gave Kareem credit for teaching him the baby hook that was so effective in the latter part of his career.
I might get flamed for this but here goes. The guy Yao most reminds me of is Ralph Sampson in 1984-1986. An incredibly tall guy with the hands and feet of a guard. Last I checked Ralph was an assistant coach in Virginia so why not find him to come and teach Yao some moves. True Ralph's career was washed up by injuries and later attitude but who better to teach object lessons to a young guy and he would probably come cheap. Just a thought. On the other hand if Kareem is willing to do it then get him. A more crazy idea is to get Yao to pull a Wang Zhizhi and hang out here over the summer and play with Dream at Westside Tennis. Afterall Yao's idol was Dream.
