Dream - He's almost certainly the greatest center of all time, and he may possibly be one of the 10 greatest basketball players of all time. No contest. Duncan - Anyone that's watched Tim Duncan play cannot overestimate how GOOD he is. Just an amazing player. Shaq - Lazy but big and dominating. He throws his weight around and doesn't get called for fouls for it. That's gotta count for a lot. Ewing - Was always overestimated his whole career. Great big man but not the best. So why isn't David Robinson on here? He played at the same time as all of them...
Peak Value: Shaq - Hakeem in 1995 was a god, no doubt, but Shaq's peak came in an age without big men peers Dream Ewing Duncan Career: Dream Shaq Duncan Ewing Legacy: Shaq - too many titles and finals appearances to deny Duncan Dream Ewing Build Your Team Around: Hakeem - Almost as efficient on offense as Shaq, twice the defender Shaq Ewing Duncan
PEAK VALUE: Hakeem --Peak Shaq/Duncan --Value CAREER: Shaq Hakeem Duncan (Hakeem has better overall career numbers, but Shaq has career numbers and too many other accolades to be denied. Duncan's played less years. LEGACY: Shaq Duncan Hakeem (Everyone knows Shaq Diesel. Duncan's boring but smartly carving out his niche as fundamental effective guy. We all know Hakeem should be #1, just wish other people knew it more.... ) BUILDING TEAM: Hakeem/Shaq/Duncan/ (Can you really go wrong here? Hakeem all-around offense and defense. Shaq's as safe a pick as there ever was in the history of all sports. Duncan went to college 4 years and its payed off nicely in the NBA.)
I should probably add that Duncan will have a couple of more rings before he retires. That Spurs team is my pick to win it all this year, which would give Duncan as many rings as Shaq.
-Peak value Hakeem & Shaq (tough call at their peaks) Duncan Ewing -Career Shaq Hakeem (blocks and steals keep him ahead of TD) Duncan Ewing -Legacy Shaq Hakeem & Duncan (TD could change that with another playoff MVP) Ewing Ewing was better than people think. He just happened to be a center in the Hakeem-DR-Shaq era. In his peak form he would probably be the best big man in the game right now--cetainly right with the current version of Duncan (TD is not what he used to be) and Yao (Yao is probably a little better offensively, a little worse defense/rebounding). What I do like this question is that Duncan is being compared to who he should be compared to, centers. Duncan is more of a center than power forward--it is even more evident in the playoffs. It would be interesting where Mo Malone and DR would go. I think Mo Malone would be ahead of Ewing and Robison in legacy, career and peak. Mo Malone would fall behind Shaq and Hakeem in most respects, but him and Duncan would be interesting. So overall: Shaq Hakeem ----(gap)---- Duncan Mo Malone ----(gap)---- DR (could add Karl Malone and Barkley if you want to add other PF bigs) ----(gap)---- Ewing This is kind of an odd comment. Kareem, Wilt, Russell, Shaq and Dream are all top 10 players of all time. Duncan (Center/PF) and Mo Malone (center) are close/maybe. So the centers dominante the top 10 list. I think they only non-center in the top 4 is Jordan. IMO the arguments for the best player come down to Jordan, Kareem (center), Wilt (center), and Russell (center)--some good cases can be made for anyone of them. Nobody can convince anyone else deserves serious consideration as the best basketball player ever.
This is insane...Dream at peak-value is better than anything any of these other fools managed. Many people talk about Hakeem's '93-'94 season as the greatest individual season ever.
Dream at his peak is as bestestest as it gets. He was a complete package on offense and defense with no holes in the game. Absolutely dominating.
You can make a case Hakeem at his best is the best of this group. Personally I have this group with Shaq. A pretty green Shaq played Hakeen in his prime better than anyone (despite the 4-0 sweep, blame that on the Rockets role players stepping up and Orlando's folding). And Shaq progressed after that point, developing a few moves and becoming a better passer. When they faced again in the playoffs then Hakeem was a couple notchs down and it was no contest. Hakeem in his peak form might have taken Shaq in his, but I have enough doubt to call them "even". I have no doubt TD's worst nightmare to play would have been Dream. To think the challenges he had with Nene. Unlike Shaq, TD couldn't overpower Dream. TD couldn't out quick or out jump or out finese dream either. I don't see any counters Duncan could have had to produce efficiently off Dream even in 1 on 1 situations,
