I would have the statue be Hakeem shooting a fadeaway over Shaq in his Orlando jersey. Then next to him I would have a statue of Charles Barkley on a horse, looking fierce.... eating a cheesesteak. (D-Wade's idea)
Im not a fan of "boxing in" a design in general. The statue looks like a large tombstone or (like someone else said) hans solo captured. If you're going with the jersey as the "abstract represenation of Hakeem", why not taken an icon Hakeem moment (ie shake and bake on robinson) and design the jersey as it looked on hakeem at that moment?
Not to get too off topic, but this brings up a great question... What or how are they going to represnt Hakeem in The Hall of Fame? Since there is a bust of every player...
Mine would be on the ground... Half court sized with the markings etched in concrete. On the low block would be footprints where Dream regularly received the entry pass... then a series of footsteps that show the permutations of the Dream Shake... sort of like dance steps. On the other side, have the same thing, as well as for the top of the lane. On the rest of the court, etch in his stats and various quotes from Dream, including the passage from his book where he talks about the art of blocking shots. Everyone could literally stand in Dream's footsteps and see if they could mimic his moves.
There must not be a bust of every player. Hakeem isn't the first Muslim to be inducted into the HOF. Kareem has been there for years.
Do they really have a bust of players for basketball? I know for sure they have one in Canton for Pro Football.
I like that idea. At the very end, I'd put an abstract steel stick figure in the motion of shooting, depending on whether or not this is considered a "likeness," and call it the "Dream Shake Monument." Hakeem's number would be on the ground somewhere or on a plaque, not on the figure. I'd make the argument that the figure is not his likeness because if you had it carrying out some other basketball move, the immediate thought wouldn't be "hakeem olajuwon." If you had the same figure dunking from the free throw line, it would be "michael jordan" (even though he's not the only person to do it, he's most often associated with that move). The figure itself carries no information, the sequence of moves carries all the information. Just like the number 34 itself doesn't carry information, but the context does. I think this wouldn't be much more of an immediate representation of hakeem than his jersey. I guess we could argue this as much as we like, but if hakeem says no in the end, it's no go. Anywhoo, good idea rimrocker.
