How similar was Hakeem to Okafor in his college years?

OK, it works for me now. He numbers are:

Freshman
8.3 ppg, 60.7 fg%, 56.3 ft%, 6.2 rpg

Sophomore
13.9 ppg, 61.1 fg%, 59.5 ft%, 11.4 rpg

Junior
16.8 ppg, 67.5 fg%, 52.6 ft%, 13.5 rpg

Career
13.3 ppg, 63.9 fg%, 55.5 ft%, 10.7 rpg

The numbers show that he was a great rebounder. The high fg% and the low ft% mean that he didn't have a good shot but scored mostly from point blank. Too bad they don't have block shot numbers. Anyway, those stats confirm what I remember: A freakish athlete with undeveloped offensive skills.

 

Akeem was NOT as skilled at Okafor. Akeem developed "skills" like shooting, passing, post moves as time when on in the NBA. But entering the NBA, Akeem was raw athletic ability. Sure, he could score, rebound and block shots. But this was because of his extraordinary athletic ability, not in spite of them.

Hakeem could shoot the ball at UH. Guy Lewis taught him the same drop step that he taught every UH post player and Hakeem already had a pretty good turnaround jumper by '83' I've still got a video of the UH vs Lousiville dunkfest at semi game in Alberquerque. Olajuwon scored 21 , but other than his 4 dunks, the rest was primarily on the turn around.

Now, once Hakeem got to the NBA, he added alot of footwork and fakes and that same drop step turnaround became the Dream Shake.

BTW there's no way Hakeem averaged 27pts/game at UH. He didn't start until midway though the '82 season and he didn't shoot that much. Michael Young was the leading scorer on the '83 Phi Slamma Jamma team at 16pts/game. Hakeem's final season ('84), he averaged 15 or 16 a game. Of course, every opponent pretty much played a zone surrounding him, so scoring opportunities weren't that abundent.

Okafor is good but he doesn't have the super quick feet or the lightning fast 2nd jump that Olajuwon had.

 

Okafor's numbers:

Freshman
7.9 ppg, 59.0 fg%, 62.0 ft%, 9.0 rpg, 4.1 bpg

Sophomore
15.9 ppg, 58.0 fg%, 59.9 ft%, 11.2 rpg, 4.7 bpg

Junior
17.6 ppg, 59.9 fg%, 51.8 ft%, 11.5 rpg, 4.1 bpg

His numbers are actually fairly similar to Olajuwon's. What is interesting is his ft% is getting worse!

 

from aelliott:

I really expected this thread to be idiotic, great job guys from keeping it from being so.

This is from memory, so mine after 23 years, well it's no doubt tainted by Dream's transcendent use of "upside".

I'm clear about his U of H years, but what sticks out in my memory of him as an NBA rookie was defensively he got eaten alive on occasion and on others sort of hinted at the future dominance.

Offensively, his game surprised the hell out of me. He was always great around the rim and the quickest big man ever seen, and he had a decent 10-12' shot at U of H. His rookie season he started firing up 15-17' shots and I cringed, and it always seemed to be in defiance. Maybe of Fitch or being second banana to Ralph, or maybe he'd plotted his course and was just so young that he seemed totally pissed off to me most of that season.

Aside from taking himself out of the game with his aggression and temper flare-ups he hit a fair amount of those 15-17' shots.

I would have sworn he wasn't capable of it, sometimes he looked foolish doing it, but I think Fitch stopped telling him to not take those shots. I still winced.

As much as I loved Akeem I didn't stop wincing until the WC Finals in '86 - and Dream made Jabbar look almost artless. Dreamshake from 15'? Money? It seemed so impossible a part of me thought they're had to be some luck involved.

Okafor's going to be a great player, but he doesn't have the quickness or offensive skill to be a 20ppg 10rb game as a rookie. And upside? It's not fair to compare anyone to Dream. He was too raw and became smoother than silk - er, with attitude.

If we had a shot at Okafor, I'd bring him home. But almost anything else seems more likely. I'd pity any rookie under JVG , and this franchise has no patience now for good reason.

I really believe we could contend next year only with reshuffling. Still Okafor, if I could get him I would.

 

does okafor have a supporting cast to score the team's points like Drexler, Young, et al.? Maybe in Gordon.

Anyway, feishen has a golden point, if you ask me. These nagging injuries, when they show up consistently during an entire college season, are not a good sign at all. In particular, he's gotten a couple of "stingers," even very recently, which sometimes relates a congenital problem of constricted nerves.

Hakeem was not without injuries, certainly, but when he came out of college, he was pretty much an invincible human, as far as we could tell.

All that aside, does anyone else think Okafor is hot? I mean, I was just watching him on TV and all, and I had to say "hey, Okafor is hot." I even said it twice.

 

http://bbs2.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=75731

 

Both of them are black and were about 6'9" at the same age.