Decent?? OT averaged 10.61 rebounds that season. That's far better than decent. And remember that he played next to a vacuum cleaner in Hakeem. Max, as we all know, was a streak shooter. On and off. When he was on, look out! He was far more consistant with his defense, but he could be on and off there, as well. Max was a riddle, wrapped in an enigma. Or some other stupid cliché.
I agree with "The Freak" OT was a very consistent player -good compliment to Hakeem. Max was very steaky with a lot aof heart. Hakeem was never surrounded by great players. He spent many sad years surrounded by mediocrity. IMO my 2 favorite seasons for him were 1986- opposing teams absolutely feared him. My personal favorite -'92 - '93- they were ready to go all the way.
Individually, 89-90, hands down IMO. Team wise, I'd say 93-94 (I can see why some say 94-95 because of the Robinson thrashing)
... i would also include 92' those three years were probably the most dominant three years of any center in the history of the NBA. hakeem had no weakness to his game and he torched every other big man of that era. and there were more great big men then than there is now or has ever been in the past. offense, defense, team play at both ends. hakeem was the best. i'm holding back tears boys. we had a fan chamionship with one of the classy, all-time greats. who happens to be this city's adopted son. LONG LIVE HAKEEM
Absolutely agree about the '85-'86 season. It's one of the reasons why I haven't answered the question. I'm so conflicted. I got so much shear joy out of watching him play that year with Ralph, and especially the playoff run, with the highpoint being the Lakers series. I've posted this before, and maybe you saw it yourself, but Riley wrote on his blackboard during one of those times when the cameras were watching, "Contain Akeem!!!!" This was after the first game, during the 2nd or 3rd. His whole game plan had been reduced to stopping a 2nd year center, skinny, compared to how he was later, raw, and rough around the edges, who was absolutely killing them. I don't think I had as much fun watching a series until the championship years. LA were the defending champions. The Rockets were written off by Fran Blinebury before the playoffs even started, who wrote that they had no chance to get past LA. None. Zip. Nada. Something he conveniently forgot. (Fran, I bet you read this BBS. If you are, I'll keep bringing this up until I see a mea culpa, dude) Yes, "force of nature" has been overused to the point of absurdity with Dream, but that's what he was back then, and regardless of what some may say, by the LA series, he was hitting mid-range jumpers. What a joy to see, and Sampson was a gas to watch as well. Great supporting cast, even with Lucas gone. If we had that bench today...
I was going to post this and give it its own thread but once again rookies arent allowed to start new topics, but heres a dvd broken down into 3 parts that details Hakeems whole career. I'm not sure if i can post links like these on here but if i cant i appologize but to those who download enjoy! DVD on the great Hakeem "The Dream" Olajuwon.... File Size: 700MBS Quality: Awesome! Format: AVI Running Time: 48:52 Server: Sendspace LINKS: Divided into 3 parts: Part 1: (298MBS) http://www.sendspace.com/file/pg5a4h Part 2: (298MBS) http://www.sendspace.com/file/vawh3i Part 3: (99MBS) http://www.sendspace.com/file/zymdx1
WTF is my poll? ALL OF THEM. If you're a true ROCKETS fan, you don't think of ONE season as being Dream's best. He had 17 BEST seasons.
