[thesportsjury]Showing Love to the Legends - Hakeem Olajuwon

http://thesportsjury.com/20101109466/nba/showing-love-to-the-legends-hakeem-olajuwon

Showing Love to the Legends - Hakeem Olajuwon

The other day while supervising the local basketball team that I’m training this season lift weights I happened to bring up his "Airness", Michael Jordan. Of course everyone knew of Jordan although most had only seen highlights. However, when I mentioned Hakeem and the legendary “Dream Shake” I received looks of wonder and realized that they had NEVER seen Hakeem in action. That was disappointing and I decided that I wanted to introduce a series on the legends of the NBA that might introduce novices to their greatness or cause those who witnessed their play to reminisce.

My first subject will be my all-time favorite center, Hakeem Olajuwon.

During my youth I vividly remember the first time I became truly aware of the greatness of Olajuwon. My brother was a huge fan of David Robinson (I was as well) and as youngsters we both anticipated that the 1994-95 season would be the year the Spurs broke through and won a championship. Robinson had just been named league MVP the previous season with averages of 29.8 points (including 71 points in the season finale), 10.7 rebounds, 4.8 assists, and 3.3 blocks and was an annual All-Defensive first team juggernaut. Robinson was a legend in his own time as well, and was looking for his first ring.

Then he ran into Hakeem Olajuwon in the Western Conference Finals. Most of us know the story. If you don’t please take the time to watch this.

After this series I emphatically decided that if one were to embark on the task of creating the perfect balance of grace, skill, intelligence, and coordination and thrusting them into a seven-foot frame, you still might not create a creature as dominating as "The Dream". What an amazing athlete and person he was and still is.

Olajuwon's legendary status goes far beyond the statistics and honors. Despite the accolades which included an MVP, two rebounding titles, three blocks titles, two Defensive Player of the Year awards, twelve All-Star nods, or the two NBA titles (and Finals MVP awards) Hakeem's game became the stuff of legend because of his magestic agility on both ends of the floor. At times he played like a shooting guard in a center's body and for a 3-4 year period in the early 1990's no player, not David Robinson, Patrick Ewing (whom he held to .363 shooting in the 94 Finals) or scoring champ Shaquille O'Neal in the 1995 Finals were capable of derailing him or the Rockets.

Success for Olajuwon came quickly as he won the ROY award in 1985 while helping the Rockets to a nineteen game improvement and led Houston to the NBA Finals the next season (defeating Magic Johnson's Lakers in the process), losing in six games to Larry Bird and the Celtics.

While he piled up the stats each year, including becoming the only player in history to record over 300 blocks and 200 steals in a career (including 200 each in 1988-89), playoff success eluded him until 1993-94, when the Rockets won the first of back-to-back titles. The second title came at the expense of a young, raw O'Neal, who was victimized by Olajuwon in much the same manner Robinson was in the previous series on the way to a Houston sweep.

Even Michael Jordan agrees about Olajuwon's greatness:

"If I had to pick a center [for an all-time best team], I would take Olajuwon. That leaves out Shaq, Patrick Ewing. It leaves out Wilt Chamberlain. It leaves out a lot of people. And the reason I would take Olajuwon is very simple: he is so versatile because of what he can give you from that position. It's not just his scoring, not just his rebounding or not just his blocked shots. People don't realize he was in the top seven in steals. He always made great decisions on the court. For all facets of the game, I have to give it to him."

—Michael Jordan (from the book One on One with Michael Jordan, Shanken, Marvin

Olajuwon dominated defensively with the quickness to guard smaller guards and stifle the pick-and-roll and amazing discipline to not only block shots but then keep the ball in play, resulting in transition buckets that likewise wouldn't have happened. Offensively he had deft shooting touch ranging out to about twenty feet with an awesome repitoire of low-post moves that froze defenders in their tracks.

Hakeem retired from the game after eighteen years with the Rockets and a one-year stint in Toronto with 26,946 points, 13,748 rebounds, 2,162 steals, and an all-time best 3,830 blocks. Those are statistics that rank him among the greats of the game, and those who saw him play would surely agree.

In today's NBA we have Dwight Howard, Yao Ming, Andrew Bogut, Kendrick Perkins, Brooke Lopez, and Chris Kaman to watch play the pivot (no, I don't count Tim Duncan, who is a forward). As good as they may play at times none will ever ball at the insane level of "The Dream" himself.

I will always be in awe of your legend, Hakeem. We miss you.