The Jordan question was easy, almost pathetic. Now for the most difficult question that should cause even the most hardcore of "dream" fans to tremble with fear. Is Hakeem one of the top 5 centers of all time? Honestly, Hakeem against Wilt, Moses Malone, Kareem, Shaq, Bill Russell, and to a lesser degree Patrick Ewing, even, David Robinson (j/k). And you have a guy that just barely misses out of the top 5. But that is my most humble opinion. But I'm sure you can all prove me wrong big time, we're talking about clutchfans after all.
Most people would probably put him 4th, 5th, 6th, or 7th. Wilt, Kareem, and Russell are generally considered the top 3 in no particular order. Shaq and Moses arguably had better careers. Old-timers might point to Mikan. I think Hakeem was clearly ahead of anyone else. I'd put him behind Shaq, but ahead of Moses and Mikan. He's one of the top 5, but not "easily".
Durvasa is right, 4-5 is the spot; I do think that it's pretty easy to put him past Malone though. I also think, as much as it pains me, that Shaq is a clear #4 based on career achievements, though we've rehashed this debate a thousand times.
Top 5 are Wilt, Kareem, Russell, Shaq and Hakeem. I don't think there is much debate about these 5. Moses, Duncan (he plays center in playoffs after all), DR, Mikan--those guys all are in the 2nd 5. Moses has an excellent argument for #6 (him or Duncan probably), but not being ahead of Hakeem or Shaq, no way.
Because we didn't want you to notice it and hit the neverending wayback machine; within minutes we'd be awash in retro LA GEAR ad copy and Ralph Sampson court transcripts.
he is extremely easily top 5. factoring in both sides of the ball he is as good as any center to play the game. i think the list of five - wilt, russell, kareem,dream, and shaq all have their strengths against each other and are hard to seperate. for instance a lot of people put shaq ahead of dream. he has the offensive numbers and the rings, but on the other side, dream got the best of him in their only playoff matchup and was a far superior defensive player. thus i put them as equal. threads similar to this must have been created 100 times before.
I have this argument with my family and friends everyday.... I think that considering both the offensive and defensive ends of the floor, you would have to put Hakeem ahead of Shaq at the number 4 spot. The were having this argument on an LA radio sports talk show a couple of months ago and I thought the guy arguing for Hakeem brought a couple of great points up.... 1. Shaq has always had the young sidekick to finish games off (ie. Penny, Kobe and now D-Wade). Hakeem was the Rocket's closer. He didn't have a trust sidekick to run a pick-n-roll or isolation play for at the end of games. The final play was always draw out for Dream or threw Dream. 2. You can argue that Hakeem should have had a couple more trophies in his case. (ie 1995... and he should it by destroying Robinson in the playoffs) 3. Hakeem through his career has played against tougher match-ups. Whereas Shaq has only had matchups against Dampier and Brad Miller (you can stretcht that and put Yao, but thats a stretch). Hakeem has faced more true centers in their primes. I thought those points were interesting.... Think about it!
Come on! What kind of poll is this?? What semi-knowledgeable fan would vote no, much less one on a Rockets fan site? Slam dunk, no brainer. An interesting poll would be whether he makes it in the top 3. Then who would you drop out? Wilt - the greatest statistical player of all time by a mile? Bill Russell - the greatest winner of all time (11 titles)? Kareem - owner of the greatest offensive weapon of all time, the skyhook (plus 6 titles and 6 MVPs)? Shaq - the most physically imposing player ever (plus 4 titles, 1 MVP)? My opinion? I'd drop Shaq and Bill Russell and install Hakeem at #3.
H*ll Hakeem is fighting with Kareem . . .Kareem has pure Longevity on his side but I cannot say he was NEAR the terror on Defense that Hakeem was KAreem was a offensive Monster Kareem > Hakeem on Offense Hakeem > Kareem on Defense Hakeem > Kareem on personality [The Tie Breaker] Rocket RIver
I hate playing the devil's advocate and arguing against Hakeem, but..here goes: OK, true. But so what? Hakeem had one for a few years in Drexler - and if you recall Game 1 vs. Orlando in 1995, Hakeem scored the winnig basket by tipping in Drexler's drive after the defender rotated off Clyde. Secondly, even though Hakeem had to finish the game off, do you take Hakeem's 25-26 ppg during his prime plus ability to finish, or Shaq's 30 ppg? Not an easy answer. Yeah, but an additional MVP - so what? Really, if Olajuwon had won the MVP that year and not Robinson, it would probably have detracted from the legacy of that series and his motiviation. Hakeem not winning it that year, IMO, made it even more significant. Probably true, but, really Shaq's style of play was so difficult to stop; it was not pretty of course but so devestatingly effective. even the prime Hakeem merely contained the rookie shaq, he did not stop him. Shaq also got the best of Duncan a few times in the playoffs, was WAY too much for Mutumbo, arguably one of the great defensive C's of all time, in 2000. I find it hard to believe that he would be bottled up by any center past or present. I agree that they are interesting, but a lot of them boil down to hypotheticals - i.e., what if Hakeem had a sidekick all those years, what if he had less competition, could he have achieved as much? In the end you have to go by what actually happened on the court, and it is just hard to argue against all of Shaq's points, rebounds, and championships. I think the best argument is that Hakeem at his peak - due to his versatility and lack of a glaring weakness like Shaq (ft shooting) - was a better player than Shaq, but Shaq's peak began sooner and lasted longer.
In the list of centers you want taking the last shot in a meaningful game, Hakeem is #1, by far. He is also the best defensive center (player, IMO) of all-time.
Ewing and Robinsion weren't at the same level as Hakeem. And Hakeem was definitely better than Shaq, who was dominating but only effective near the rim. I have never gotten all the love for Shaq; yeah he was dominating but in a Mac Truck crippling a Delorean type of way. Hakeem had so much more to his game.
