Watching Mutombo do an admirable job against Shaq, I have to say he's probably the best big man in the league in terms of matching up against Shaq. He's always been known as a terrific defender, but I always saw him as a help-side defender moreso than as a straight man-to-man defender. He's proving he can do both in this series. All this thinking lead my careless mind to wander; what if the Rockets had dealt our local legend Dream to Philly in the mid-season? Now, I know there wasn't any subsantive rumour to indicate such a trade, but with the Sixers looking for a big man with Ratliff's injury, and with no player on the roster with any championship experience, its certainly a plausible scenario. We could have traded Hakeem, Walt and possibly Carlos for Ratliff and Kukoc (who we could have in turn used as trade bait in the off-season). Anyways, to get back to the point. What kind of impact do you think Dream would have made on the Sixers? At this point of their respective careers, Mutombo has a greater defensive presence than Hakeem and is less injury prone, but I believe the Nigerian has an edge on the offensive side against his Zairan counterpart. He simply has more range, more moves and a is heck of a lot smoother in his footwork. And considering Philly was a team already strong on the Defensive side and lacking in offense, you have a case that Dream might actually have been a better fit in Philly than Mutombo. I'm not saying he would be, but it would be interesting. As much as I would hate seeing him in a different uni, it would be cool seeing him go deep in the play-offs, and make another run to his already stocked resume. Plus, he would give Iverson the offensive side-kick he desperatley needs. My take; with Hakeem on board, he would have been more handy against the Eastern conference teams and would have resulted in a slightly easier run for the Sixers to the finals. He can still draw double teams from time to time - then again, so does Mutombo you could say, but Dream is much better passing out of it - and that would give The Answer some open looks. However, Mutombo would be a better matchup against the LakeShow and might prove more worthy in the Finals. Both ways - Lakers win. Sorry for the unneccesary long post. Now Discuss. Azim da Dream ------------------ "Snacks and drinks for five friends to watch game seven of the Stanley Cup finals at my house: $75. One authentic Avalanche sweater to wear while cheering on the team: $285.00. Seeing Ray Bourque lift the Stanley Cup for the first time in his 22-year career: PRICELESS." - Jeremy Elkins, hockey fan from Memphis http://www.clutchtown.com [This message has been edited by Azim da Dream (edited June 15, 2001).]
I love the Dream, but I can't believe he would have done as well as Deke has against Shaq. Dream has never been a physical player, and he is really small compared to Shaq. I think it would have been ugly, unless the Dream somehow recovered some of his old style and finesse, and produced 30 point, 15 boards and 5 blocks a game. ------------------
It will be interesting to see how much interest their is in Hakeem this off season...the way I look at it is, he could push Philly, Toronto, Millwalkee and Miami "over the top"... He'd be better on Shaq than anyone in the East...he can guard him as much as anyone there but ALSO score on him. Dream can draw Shaq out of the paint better than anyone... I think he'll get a lot of "4.5M" offers... ------------------
--------------------------------- Watching Mutombo do an admirable job against Shaq.......... --------------------------------- oh goodness gracious, i do not want to hear that mutombo did a good job on shaq because he did everything BUT that. I don't call 44 points and 20 rebounds in game 1 a "good job." I don't call 28 points and another 20 rebounds (and almost a QUADRUPAL double) in game 2 a "good job." I don't call 30 points in game 3, 34 points in game 4, and 29 points in the last game a "good job." He had double-doubles in every game. Goodness, mutombo in fact did a horrible job on shaq. He did takes some hard hits from shaq though, and I must give him props for that. But aside from that, mutombo should be ashamed of himself. ------------------ [This message has been edited by RocketKid (edited June 16, 2001).]
Amen, kid. It looked like Deke saw the writing on the wall. ------------------ "norm, would you like to buy an indian scalp ? This deal isn't gonna make or break me Norm, so don't jerk me around." Harry Carey "Norm, if I had a mohawk scalp, I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you."
As much as Shaq dominated Deke, he would have dominated Hak even more so. We all remember the complete domination that was the 1999 playoffs. That series was difficult to watch. Seeing Hakeem get his lunch handed by Shaq was not right. ------------------
Barkley played Shaq better than Hakeem in that series. As much as we all love Hakeem, we, and he, need to realize that his glory days are behind him and any expectations beyond role player are a bit far fetched. ------------------ What's a Nubian?
