Hakeem trying to calm Maxwell down around 1.40 - 1.50..too bad the guy never listened. A true leader, happy birthday
Dream was Maxwell's best friend on the team. Thanks Dream for passing Max the ball in crunch time in game 7 vs the Knicks. I like non-calm Maxwell, this is Mad Max not a Yoga instructor
If this guy played in New York or LA, he'd be considered top 5 all time. The guy was simply amazing. I'll never forget those two highlight blocks on KJ--remarkable.
Maybe they were good friends, not best friends though. I think it could be true that Maxwell looked up to Olajuwon and was real personal with him at some point. I remember from Dream's book how he described how Vernon was trying to live up to the hype as a crazy, street dude and immediately after going into the stands regretted it and didn't even know why he did it. Olajuwon ends his bit with the 1995 playoffs where Vernon felt unappreciated and he tried to persuade Max to stay and make him feel appreciated but he didn't listen. I think if it wasn't for Olajuwon, Vernon would've been gone even sooner because he talked to him about serious matters and always tried to make him a better person. If Vern had only listened, his life maybe would've turned out the way it did because since he left the Rockets he started to become a real selfish person. He was already selfish at time with the Rockets but in personal life and on the court it got worse and worse. I wonder if people around Max ever tried to convince him he had the same God given talent MJ had, he just had to use it and use his brains more. He could've been a 20-25 ppg guy had he attacked the basket more and given a lead role along Hakeem. I bet if clutchfans existed back then, the board would'be gone crazy over Maxwell and he would've received the same criticism T-mac gets.
Happy Birthday DREAM...your the reason I fell in love with the game...hope for many more Birthday's!!!!!!!!!!!!
I could watch this video 10 times a day, every day for the rest of my life and never get tired of watching it.
I became a NBA fan because of Hakeeem, he made me a Houston Rocket fan by default, been a fan ever since. Happy birthday to Hakeem The Dream!
Hakeem explaining the Dream Shake. vvvvv <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/29WpgU0pqN8&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/29WpgU0pqN8&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> ...don't usually post in these birthday threads, but there's an exception to every rule...Happy Birthday Hakeem. I'm still waiting for your triumphant return to the organization in some professional capacity.
http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=1996_1326831 Sam Cassell, Mario Elie and Kenny Smith are very close to Maxwell, but the former Rockets guard said people would be surprised to learn that Hakeem Olajuwon was his best friend on the team. ""Dream was someone I looked up to," Maxwell said. ""I really respected him a lot for the way he changed his life with his religious beliefs. I'm sure it's hard for people to believe, but we were really good friends. I felt like he genuinely cared about me as a person, not just a basketball player. No. He would get criticized for his off court incidents and of course what happened when they got Drexler. Other than that, these are completely opposite personalities. you can throw a free weight at it.
Thanks for the info. I think I have to explain what I mean when I'm talking about getting the same criticism as T-mac. See, both are extremely gifted and natural talents but both have failed to use it; Vernon even more than Tracy. If the board would've existed back then, we would've had threads about Maxwell's lack of attacking the basket and shooting too many threes over and over. So I agree they are completely different, but they share similar decision making problems. It seems Maxwell simply wanted to be an outside shooters so just threw up hunders of them while he could've been attacking the basket like in 1992 vs. MJ, 1994 WCSF game 3 vs. Suns etc.
I agree for the talent, but you know the 90s Rockets guard's #1 priority was to get the ball to the Dream. #2 not turn the ball over #3 hit open jumpers Let's not forget about the defense, Maxwell loved playing defense and trash talking. unfortunately Max never got a Tmac salary. I'm 100% sure Maxwell wouldn't go AWOL in 95 if they paid him $25 million bucks.
True but even in the days of Don Chaney when it was more PnR with Thorpe & Kenny and not so much focus on Dream, Maxwell would still stand around and shoot too much. It seemed to get worse over the years but he shot way more during the Chaney era, go figure. I totally agree about the money though, Vernon got paid peanuts but I guess his character so with all the suspensions and technicals had something to do with that. Also nowadays players just get paid way too much, it's ridiculous. However, I do not think Vernon would've attacked the basket more and used his head more had the Rockets paid more but you will never know.
