Who Has a Better History of Big Men? LA Lakers or Houston Rockets

Exactly Shaq's biggest threat in championship wins came against an old Mutombo and Rik Smits.

 

I forgot Magic played center/PF as well for stretches.
I still say it's close. If ur talking about prime Wilt then I dont know.

Ppl seem to forget how good Sampson was before his injuries and just how dominant Shaq was. Yao would create all sorts of matchup problems. None of those guys on the Lakers had Yao's shooting range outside of say Magic (if you want to include him).

 

thank you!!!

I'm so glad someone explained how dominate Moses was. Moses was just as dominate as any of these big men on this list. Dream would tell you right off the top who schooled him as a youngin'. Moses started the summer tutor thing 1st with Dream at Fondi.

 

I'll give you Deke, but come on. The rest of those guys are 4s or they never faced each other in the playoffs. Shaq never faced Ewing in the playoffs. They played 26 times in the regular season. Orlando never faced the Heat. Robinson didn't play Shaq until he was 34. By that time he was averaging 17.8ppg down from 29ppg when he faced Olajuwon. Also, Hakeem outscored Shaq in every game of that series. He just had the ability to dig deeper. Hakeem played big when he faced the best. He faced the best in the playoffs more times than any other big man.

Not to say that Kareem and Hakeem guarded each other but here's the stats when they went head to head in the playoffs:
http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/h2h_finder.cgi?request=1&p1=olajuha01&p2=abdulka01

Hakeem was the greatest center of all time. In any playoff series in his prime, I would take Hakeem over Wilt, Shaq, Kareem, Robinson, Ewing, even Bill Russell, Bill Walton and Mikan. The only guy I hesitate to say he wasn't better than is Big Moe. And I say that because Moses schooled Hakeem in their younger years. The only argument I'd have is their regular season battles that Hakeem won, but not in the early years: http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/h2h_finder.cgi?request=1&p1=malonmo01&p2=olajuha01

Mutumbo, great defender, but in center battles, scoring is a must. Rebounding is a must. Therefore 15 and 5 (career playoff numbers for Smitty) doesn't hold much water either.

Yes, but then again, no. Yes, because this adds to my argument. No because they don't count as great centers.





Shaq was dominant, but not in the playoffs. When he played a real center who was also in either, his prime or at least playing close to as well as they did in their prime, he lost the battle.

 

There are very few out there in this world arguing that Yao is anywhere near Hakeem's level. Here are the stats for Shaq vs. Yao:

http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/h2h_finder.cgi?request=1&p1=mingya01&p2=onealsh01

If you remove Yao's rookie year stats vs. Shaq, it was almost dead even. In their only playoff series, (Yao's 2nd year and hardly his prime) Yao held Shaq to 16ppg. Shaq is only considered dominant because he didn't play against real competition, but save for a few times. Those few times, he didn't "dominate".

(Note Shaq's scoring fell off by 6ppg from 27.5ppg in 2003 to 21.5ppg in 2004 (when Yao/Shaq faced off in the playoffs) so probably not quite his prime.)

 

Alonzo and Duncan were good.

 

Thank you. Kareem lasted a long time, I'll give him that, but I would much rather start a franchise with Moses or Hakeem.

 

Lakers had the press (which was even more important in the pre-Internet era), the glitz, and the more "famous" bigs. The Rockets have more bigs with whom I would start a franchise.

Put those Houston bigs on the Lakers, and the Lakers do even better with more championships.

Also, the Houston bigs are homegrown (drafted) and mostly played their primes in Houston.

 

This. Beat the living **** out of them. That Sixers team was something else. Favorite non-Rockets team ever.

 

Wow...you have Mikan pretty low on your list. No idea why considering he's a pioneer of the sport and changed the way people saw and played the game. Mikan Drill? You have to evaluate the player during the era they played. You know you're special when the NBA has to change its rules(with an S) just to make it more fair for the other teams.

Obviously a huge Rockets fan and I have no love for the Lakers...

But just with Mikan, Wilt, and Kareem... I'll give it to the Lakers. But add Shaq and Lakers for sure.

However, I have to admit I'm thinking his entire career when I think Wilt... Just during his tenure as a Laker...Hmmm, I'll still give it to the Lakers.

 

lakers have the edge.

but my oh my hakeem is tough to beat. moses malone. yao ming.

lucky for LA they have 3/5 of the best C ever in chamberlain, shaq, kareem.

 

Why exactly did Hakeem and Moses deserve MVP award that year? Robinson and Kareem had better regular season.

 

I say the Rockets simply by the fact that they drafted their big men while LA has had them fall into their lap just by being LA (and yes I am a Homer!!). LA may have had better overall big men but the Rockets had the BEST in Dream!!!!

 

1994/95:
Robinson: 27.6 ppg, 10.8 rpg, 2.9 apg, 1.7 spg, 3.2 bpg on 60.2 TS%, 29.1 PER, .273 WS/48
Hakeem: 27.8 ppg, 10.8 rpg, 3.5 apg, 1.8 spg, 3.4 bpg on 56.3 TS%, 26.0 PER, .181 WS/48

1979/80:
Kareem: 24.8 ppg, 10.8 rpg, 4.5 apg, 1.0 spg, 3.4 bpg on 63.9 TS%, 25.3 PER, .227 WS/48
Moses: 25.8 ppg, 14.5 rpg, 1.8 apg, 1.0 spg, 1.3 bpg on 56.0 TS%, 24.1 PER, .183 WS/48

They just had better regular season.

 

This is what I came into this thread to say.

 

Friend.

The rockets had a worse record than the spurs and dream was hurt most of the season.

I accept Robinson as the MVP because that's a regular season award.

Obviously doesn't mean he's better than dream.