LOL, of all the many dumb statements you have made in this thread, this may be the dumbest. Eddie Griffin? Probably the worst man defender in a Rockets uniform last year? He of no lateral movement? Can Hakeem do the same? Uh, yeah, I think that's a pretty safe bet.
Back to the real subject at hand, I do agree that Yao might probably is a tad too slow to hold down Hakeem 1 on 1. BUT it's impossible to know until they play each other. All I'm saying is this regarding Hakeem vs. Yao: Hakeem's always have some trouble against tall guys like Eaton. Why are you so sure he's fast enough to pass Yao all the time with his dribble penetration since Hakeem's not really known for it? How do you know if Yao's combination of height (along with his unique agility for his size) won't mess Hakeem up (like the way Eaton bothered Hakeem when he's posting up)? If you think yao is not fast enough to contain Hakeem while he's dribbling, that's part of the reason why I brought up Yao containing Amare's slashing quickness to the goal. If Yao can contain Amare's quickness dribbling attacking the goal, what makes you think he can't contain Hakeem?
People here get skewed by the fact that Hakeem school robinson in the wc finals. Because of this and only this, they think no way Robinson can beat Hakeem 1 on 1 is most of your reasoning. Again, a 1 on 1 game would require a different set of skillset. And IMO, David Robinson's skills have better advantages when compared to Hakeems because of the style of 1 on 1 play.
See the 1997 playoffs for Garnett. Olajuwon never really played against Duncan at full strength that much, so I can't say. It's not exactly relevant to any discussion in any way. But the fact that you mentioned Eddie Griffin as an example of a "tough defender" that Amare got past pretty kind of drops you down from zero credibility to negative credibility, if you weren't already there. Thus far you have cited zero empirical or anectdotal evidence 4 pages into the thread. I think you need to shut it down. Oh, and if you think Yao can contain stoudemire off the dribble, I remember Stoudemire dunking it in his grill enough times to make me question that assumption. By "having trouble" that means by Hakeem's otherworldly standards. Against the Jazz in 1985 in the playoffs, Hakeem still averaged 21 points and 13 boards a game (far, far above Yao's averages) however he took more shots (he only shot 47%) to do it. Also, Eaton was a much better shotblocker than Yao, I guess because he had longer arms, which is what gave Hakeem the most trouble. Even then, he still couldn't stop even the young Hakeem.
What are you talking about see the playoffs for Garnett? Irrelevant, they were not holding each other. I don't recall Hakeem dribbling pass Garnett. How in the world can you cite emperical evidence when all you're doing is basing it on assumptions? That Hakeem would dominate Robinson and Yao, or whomever it is 1 on 1. When Yao was dunked on, he was not holding Amare. They were all helpouts.
you are aware that Hakeem is probably the best defensive player ever to play the game(maybe Russel) he was top 10 among blocks and steals for almost his entire career. Duncan doesn't even come close to the defensive player Hakeem was. so what makes you think that Amare can take hakeem on a drive. If a center starts to dribble hakeem can steal him. so a face up isn't verry good for the offensive player against hakeem. Yao wil not be able to dribble the bal 2 times with hakeem guarding him face to face. he justr doesn't drible that good.
I've been trying to compare a 2nd year Yao to a 2nd year Olajuwon. I don't think there is any comparison between Hakeem and Amare. It's not fair to Amare, just as it isn't fair to Yao. You keep bringing up "tall guys", like they had some magical hold over the Dream. They didn't. During the series I brought up, when Olajuwon was in his second year, and Riley had his incredible team focused on containing Hakeem, they couldn't do it. He scored 40, 35 and 30 points during the final 3 games, against a tall guy... Abdul-Jabbar. Yes, he was getting up there, but he was still playing at an All-NBA level. Hakeem got a lot of help from Sampson, but he still was impossible for Kareem (with help of his own) to stop. I think that's a good enough comparison right there. And I saw the games. Oh, and you bring up Eaton. He didn't play Olajuwon one on one. And Yao would be more than a "tad slow".
Ok, I'm not going to get into moronic tangents about Amare > Garnett > Olajuwon, which is the heart of your current argument. Amare couldn't carry Hakeems jock with a forklift. Nor could Yao, yet, and nor could Robinson when it matters most. The evidence has been posted. I don't know why you have to insult Hakeem in order to justify your love for Yao...but you can do it with somebody else. I'm through with this exercise in stupidity, but by all means, continue posting your basketball knowledge for all to see about Olajuwon's inability to play one on one. http://www.nba.com/0001Video/olajuwon_shake_052495.avi sweet "dream"s.
People just love taking things out of context and overexaggerating things don't they? Nothing wrong with asking questions. I've had it with moronic homers like you. You get so offended so easily when people dare to critique Hakeem.
The Dream would kill Yao hands down. Yao is too slow. Hakeem has size and agility. All the moves Yao can do, Dream can do faster.
Ok, this will be the third time that you have been asked this same question. Who were who where the tall guys that gave Hakeem problems? Eaton made Olajuwon work harder because he couldn't be faked off of his feet (since he didn't really jump). But don't confuse Olajuwon having to work harder with Olajuwon being shut down. Once Hakeem stopped trying to shoot over Eaton and just stepped outside and either shot the 15 footer when Eaton backed off or blew past him if he came out on him, he was very successful. A quick search turned up these performances of Hakeem's vs Eaton: 12/10/87 - 19pts, 14 reb, 7 blocks, 4 steals, 6 assists. 02/22/87 - 28 pts, 5 blocks 11/11/88 - 35 pts, 19reb 3/24/89 - 36 pts, 12 reb here's an exerpt from that one: As far as the matchup of centers goes, Akeem Olajuwon won Friday's battle against Utah hands down. When Jazz center Mark Eaton wasn't busy stumbling after Olajuwon , he was watching him drop shots through the hoop from all areas of the floor. "Akeem came ready to play, there's no doubt," said Eaton , whose 4-inch height advantage seemed to have little affect on Olajuwon . "When he starts floating on the boards, he can be real trouble. He's pretty tough to guard one-on-one. And if you look at the scoring totals, I didn't bother him a whole lot." 11/11/89 - 24 pts, 21 reb, 12 blocks (that's a triple double, folks). 4/14/90 - 27 pts As you can see, Hakeem adapted to Eaton pretty well. But, give Eaton his due, he did make Hakeem work. Now, who were those other tall guys that gave Hakeem so much trouble?
chen what kind of one on one game do you play? i seriously think this argument is just based on what you believe is good for one on one. good team players are good passers. everything in dream's skill set is for one on one play. his spins, his fakes, his everything is for one on one play. thats why you see the videos of him punking d-rob 1 on 1. dream murdered d-rob when it mattered the most. you act as if that means nothing. they admited dream could not be held one on one. dream clearly outscored robinson in that series...WHEN IT MATTERED. i think that is what you are missing. both of the men were trying their hardest and dream clearly came out on top. further this point about taller players...eaton was at least a shot blocker. yao is not a good shot blocker. yao's offensive skills will get better, but it's doubtful that he will ever become a good shot blocker. that's something people just don't develop for whatever reason. you are either a shot blocker or you aren't.
ChenZhen, you've opened such a can of worms here that you could go fishin' for a week! Look at the clip that Sam posted... now Robinson was a great center, but just look at that clip. I've sat here and played it over and over again, just trippin' out. Olajuwon's quickness is astonishing. And he's completely in control, self-contained and confident. A big man shouldn't be able to do that... it ought to be illegal. And Hakeem made that move, and others, all the time. For the life of me, I can't understand where you're coming from here. I'll give you credit for continuing to argue (although the wheels seem to be coming off), but I don't think you've come even close to making a case. How could Yao, the original object of this comparison, do anything against Hakeem at that level? One on one?? And I've already said he couldn't handle the 2nd year Olajuwon, which is my opinion, of course, but I saw him play back then. What's really funny is if someone could put your arguement to Yao and ask him what he thought, I bet he'd burst out laughing, shaking his head.
