[Thinking Basketball] Hakeem Olajuwon’s absurd post moves were only his 2nd-best skill

calurker · Apr 11, 2021

rimrocker said: ↑

Decent video but at 6:05 the guy uses a Penny dunk from the Finals to say that by then Dream had a slower motor and wouldn't contest everything--but that play was in the first half of a game. When I was watching it live I initially wondered why he didn't contest that shot too, but it soon became obvious that going against Shaq, Dream could not afford to get in foul trouble early and so it was a choice, not a physical decline. When you rewatch it as part of the game and the play starts to develop, you can almost hear him thinking, "I'll let this one go for now." Penny tries something similar in the late 4th quarter of that same game and Dream challenges it with good results for the Rockets. In fact, he's challenging everything late in the game when the odds of fouling out are greatly reduced. That whole series, he may have looked a little hesitant during the first 2-3 quarters, but it was really just playing smart and he always showed up in the 4th. That he adjusted his style of play in that way is perhaps his greatest compliment to Shaq but Shaq remains oblivious to it. That's another data point that, in my mind, puts Dream ahead of Shaq on the All-Time list.

Everyone talks about Dream's physical accomplishments, but he was an incredibly smart basketball player who took time to think through the game. He would not be as great without his understanding of both the larger issues and the finer points.
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That’s a mighty long-winded way to say he simply fockass more in the 4th quarter.

photojoe · Apr 11, 2021

RocketsFido said: ↑

Compare this AD, it makes AD looks like a scrub but because there are so many Faker fans, AD is gonna be labeled as an all-time great.
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AD's playoff series against the Blazers that one year was fantastic.
Outside of that, he has been a really, really good player but somewhat of a disappointment compared to his projections coming into the league, tampered even more so by his durability issues. He is nothing close to an all time great.

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[Thinking Basketball] Hakeem Olajuwon’s absurd post moves were only his 2nd-best skill

calurker Contributing Member

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