Oscar Robertson was a point guard. Re Hakeem's steals, here is an interesting stat: Hakeem is the only player in the NBA's career top 25 in both blocks and steals! (Dr. J almost made it but was 26th IIRC in steals.) This shows how difficult it is for a big guy to get steals, but Hakeem was so quick he could go for a steal, miss it, and recover in time to get the block.
Air knows what he's talking about, Hakeem never played against a better center than him. Well, maybe Kareem and Moses, maybe.
Yeah it was just a fluke that in Chicago he let Jordan do all the scoring while he does all the dirty work.
That's funny- That's my team, minus Pippen. I would have Barkley in there at PF, and Bird at SF. Nice picks, Jordan! Yet another thing we have in common.. -gets in solid gold benz and drives away-
Drexler22 that was a great post with some provacative thoughts that I can't completely disagree with. Thank you for taking the time to think (and type) all of that out. Anything I don't comment on that you wrote I'd swear to be true, so don't let the following comments make you think I think you're wrong about anything. Also I'm assuming all players are in their primes. All quotes from Drexler22: You're right. Dream was never a catch and shoot guy. I get infuriated when people dare say he was a finesse center because of all the sweat, blood and guts he gave to Houston. However, in his prime he drained catch-and-shoot shots at a very high level, but not quite like Wilt. The only slight area of disagreement here is because of Wilt's post passing ability which I think was a lot better than Dream's. I'm not sure either who'd be best where but suffice to say they'd be completely interchangeable and totally effective. Great point about Wilt's defense. While Russell has been deified, history seems to have forgotten that Wilt controlled games without scoring 60 pts. Russell was a freak of nature in his athleticism (like Wilt - almost 20 years ahead of their time). It's been said Russell was the first basketball genius to play in the NBA and I agree with that. He saw things almost geometrically - the way the very best pgs do. But Wilt was certainly no dummy and was probably as imposing defensively but in a different way than Russell and Dream. Regarding Hakeem being the worst "man" defender of the three I see your point, but I think we may never know. When the '86 team imploded and Ralph broke down Dream had way too much responsibility on his team pretty much thereafter. Unlike Russell, he had to score. Unlike Wilt, Dream had to sweat every foul he got probably until around '93. Wilt never fouled out (or was tossed out) of an NBA game which never would be possible if he'd been drafted in '85. There are probably a hundred guys we could come up with that would have "posterized" and "facialed" Wilt since that time. In his era no one that wasn't a 5 or a 4 would take it "strong to the rack" the way it's mandatory now. And the ESPN highlight reel is usually full of the 1's, 2's and 3's that would have given Wilt grief now that a hard foul is almost a criminal act. Dream's defense was also very unorthodox, he never cared about leaving his man no matter who it was if he though he could make a play. It frustrated all of us even as we were often giddy. I don't think Russell or Wilt or anyone else was cut from the same cloth. So Dream's "man" D could very well be perceived as far below Russell and Wilt, but Dream also faced centers the like of which they never had to. By any definition we can understand, "O" is the paradigm for point guards. He may be the best to have ever played the game. I read an interview with Robertson done about 15 years ago (I think) which blew my mind, but I'm going to shut-up until I can find it again. But Drexlerfan22, please pick your 5th guy. Depending on who it is there are probably 5 other guys out there that could give this gang a really good run for their money. Thanks again for the great post.
Surprising that Jordan picked Dream...even though it IS the logical and correct choice, I always thought MJ was more of a D-Rob fan and especially a Shaq fan. And whoever said Chris Mullins was a better SF then Pippen lay down the pipe, sure Mullins was a better offensive player, but Pippen had the better overall game. And I don't even like Quitten.
Aw jeez, I just knew you were gonna do this to me. Well, let's see... I tend to favor size, so my first instinct is Russell, but having someone who's not really dangerous on offense as well bugs me a little bit. Honestly, while I still can't make a firm decision for all time yet, looking at this list of candidates for my 5th spot (Stockton, West, Jordan, Pippen, Malone, Russell, Hakeem), I think I can narrow it down a bit and then pick one out of a hat. Love Stockton's game, but I'm gonna say that while he did everything at his position the best you could possibly do it, he didn't do other things as well (rebound, block shots, etc.). Stockton's out. I think Russell would mesh alongside Wilt better than Hakeem. Hakeem's out. Malone wasn't a great defender. He's out. West. Jordan. Pippen. Russell. I'm gonna say I'll go with West right now. Honestly, the decision just kind of depends on my mood. Why pick him? Well he's only 6-2, but he had really long arms which allowed him to average 7 rebounds in his younger days, and he was actually also known to block a lot of shots in his younger days to, plus get a ton of steals (not recorded). He has better point guard skills than Jordan, and he had a better outside shot than Jordan. Not a difference-maker on defense the way Pippen and Russell were, but his offense is too good to pass up. So, my line-up: Robertson West Magic Bird Wilt West (6-2) and Robertson (6-5) would be switched for defensive purposes, but West was more of a natural shooting guard than Oscar was (though both could play either guard position). And yeah, it bugs me a little not to have an athletic, shot-blocking 4... okay, a lot, since I actually preach that defense is priority 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5... what the heck. My better half picks Russell, but there you go.
I'll put the 5 retired Rockets in their prime against ANYBODY and win. C Olajuwon PF Malone SF Drexler SG Rudy T PG Murph what a freakin squad that would be.
Switch Rudy and Clyde. You have their positions backward. Also, I'd take a sober John Lucas over Murphy at the point. Murph wasn't much of a playmaker.
I don't know about that: 5 - Chamberlain 4 - Malone 3 - Barkley 2 - Erving 1 - Cheeks It seems like the '76ers could put up a decent starting 5.
I remember rolling on the floor when Hakeem would swipe the ball from someone dumb enough to show it to him, or even turn their head for an instant. Can't forget the way he's kinda slam dribble it way, then chuck it down court. What a incrediable treat to watch his carrer from U of H through the last one here. Just sorry he split for cash, he sure doesn't need it now! To have his Airness put him in the middle says volumes.
I'm So Surprised!!! Who else would could ever math up to Hakeem "The Dream" Olajuwon. In fact I think it says somewhere in The Bible: "Thou Shalt Not Pick any other center above Hakeem "The Dream" Olajuwon!"
StupidMonicker you cheated slighlty on that list, you know Wilt was never a 76'er, but kudos for civic pride everywhere. lexled did bring up in my mind an interesting point, but first a Graucho aside: ill-skillz that was the perfect corrections to lexled's list. No offense, but your posts have been annoying the hell out of me. I love South Park for it's humor, but it doesn't work if the person over 12 is attempting it, and your humorous attempts really looked like a broad swipe to both the realistic and dreamcasters out there and that just sucks, dude. Hard-core Rox fans belong here even if they can only type "Timmmayyy" which is unfortunate (sort of) because that's what Spurs fans do: that must be a huge blessing for Duncan. But ill-skillz I'm glad to know you know your stuff re: Rox. I always remember things like that - people I completley disagree with that a year or so later state postions better than I'm able. So welcome back to humanity. I hope you don't mind if I request you smack yourself in the head. Back to lexled thanks for getting my civic bb pride boiling and also bringing up an interesting thought. Other than the Lakers I think a 15 man roster of our guys (if they were all in their prime) could pretty much tear everyone else up. But just thinking about it I might have to give Willoughby a roster spot just to counterattack Drexlerfan22's all-time team.
