Hakeem and company (literally) laugh at those who think the Rockets can afford him when it would cut into his time pimping real estate : http://swamplot.com/how-hakeem-olaj...-of-swampland-for-just-15-million/2011-03-31/
Keep him on the payroll for doing anything he wants, or nothing at all. So long as it prevents him from running around creating potential LeBronjuwons for the competition, I don't care if he's getting paid to sit around playing video games! I'm thinking doing the Hakeem thing is mostly for publicity anyway. It demonstrates you're working on your game in the off season, & makes people think "OMG imagine LeBron with the dream shake!" Because I'm not sure anyone but Hakeem can really master what he did... to what extent did DH's repertoire expand after his Dream Session?
With all due respect to the Dream, I would say Kevin McHale had equal footwork/low post moves, but not the athleticism. I don't think it is too much of a stretch to say a few all-star caliber guys per era could have that footwork...just not the height, athleticism and speed to go with it. For instance, I don't think Scola needs any lessons in low-post footwork and head/ball fakes....too bad the guy can't jump and is a tad slow. Which reminds me, it isn't just the footwork, you need to time it well with head fakes and ball fakes and make instinctive/automatic decisions which move to use and which way to go...putting it all together is the hard part....and the beauty of it that only few in history achieved,,,McHale being one of them.
Why would Hakeem agree to that? He probably likes the opportunity to work out guys like Howard and LeBron. Why would he limit himself to the Rockets? I betcha the Rockets have made an offer and he turned them down.
McHale was very, very good, but Dream was on another level. For instance, you hear Dream talking about how he would get the ball in the post, pivot, take one dribble while he lifted both feet (amazingly hard to do, at least for me), then pivot to the other foot while the defender is thinking he still had the original foot established as a pivot and is defending that side... and at that point he still had access to all the moves McHale could do. Plus, Dream had more range and a greater ability to do the moves outside the lane (which still does not make him a PF).
close your eyes and think about the footwork in that famous highlight where dream got robinson up like 3x before burning him for 2 in the 95 WCF....now imagine mchale doing that. good luck! :grin:
This isn't about Lebron, but, rather Gortat's workout with Hakeem a few weeks back. But he had some really high praise for him that I thought I'd share. http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/articles/2011/08/14/20110814phoenix-suns-marcin-gortat-catching-up.html
For Hakeem to be looked at as less than Shaq and others, it seems awful crazy that every year some superstar wants to work out with him. Based on this fact alone, you could say that Hakeem had to be a players player.
What is with your Hakeem trolling on a Rockets website? First your r****ded ‘David Robinson OWNED Hakeem’ thread and now this, ‘Players must only seek out Dream because he’s a players player’ horse ****. If you didn’t see my post right above yours, players go to Hakeem because they respect him as one of the best, if not THE best, centers of all time – not because of some dumb-ass reason about him being a player’s player. Here is some further testimony from Kobe, since you think superstars going to Hakeem is so "crazy": http://sports.espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/news/story?id=6070354 If you can’t figure out why players can learn more from Hakeem than from Shaq, then you obviously know very little about Dream, or actually, basketball in general.
Lol. Yeah, I know it’s not worth it most of the time, but I still get feisty when it comes to things I hold dear.
I don't think you understand the term players player. For example, when I say that Raymond Carver was a writer's writer. It means that other writers actually look to him to improve their own style of writing. Generally it means somebody who is at the top of their game.
Please tell me you're not gonna get into a war of words with a lady..... Let it go!!!.. She wins...But if you keep goin , You lose!!!!
Um, ok. First you say it’s “crazy” that superstars would seek out Hakeem when he’s not even regarded as highly as others like Shaq. Now you say that it was a whole-hearted compliment all along. Whatever. At least you concede the greatness of the Dream.
Not to put up on a message board of random strangers lol. You guys are harsh enough with gorgeous celebs in the hangout.
