Dirk is a very good player.... one of the possibly 3-6 best in the NBA currently. But the litmus test for me is when people talk about Dirk, they say : a) How are we going to stop him. He's incredible on offense. When they talked about Olajuwon, they'd say : a) How are we going to stop him? He's incredible on offense. b) How are we going to get around him? He's incredible on defense. There are few players as dominant on both ends of the court as Olajuwon... some dude named Jordan comes to mind, but the list is very short and Dirk is not on it.
He still has a long way to go to get there, but at the current pace he should be well on his way as one of the best to ever play his position. However, right now? Not even close. He just doesn't have the body of work to even legitimize a discussion...yet. It's premature, that's all I am saying. One injury could change everything...
Hey, I am "obviously" a Dirk fan, being from Germany - but even I think that that quote by Sefko is idiotic. Hakeem wins on all levels. Now, who knows where Dirk will be ranked when all will be said and done - I think he has the potential to become one of the all-time greats - but at this point, he is nowhere close to Hakeem.
he's not even at malone's or barkley's level as a pf. as an individual player dirk will never ever be considered in dream's class.
Mavs with Hakeem instead of Dirk in the playoffs = championship Can anyone deny that? No? Well then I've made my peace.
dirk is a badass. by APBR stats he might be best or 2nd best in the league, overall i would say he's undoubtedly top 5. i would say only wade is definitively better at this point, but arguments could be made for a couple of others. his offensive game is amazing and, if the voters are consistent, he's the mvp so far this year. and despite reports to the contrary, he's been a big time playoff performer. one day he'll be in the hall of fame and considered one of the best PF's ever. but i would say there are only 7 people all-time for whom even an argument can be made that they are better than hakeem. jordan, bird, magic, shaq, wilt, russell, and kareem. and jordan is the only one that i feel is without a doubt better. dirk isn't on that list, and he's not going to be. hakeem is so far ahead defensively that dirk just isn't going to match that. think about hakeem circa 1993 on this mavs team. they might be about 49-4 instead of 44-9.
dirk is very good. but he has a ways to go. i guess you wouldnt say its impossible that he gets to that point one day. but unlikely
I know I'm going to get flamed for this, but dirk is the most unguardable player in the league. He is amazing. Right now he is as unguardable as Hakeem ever was save for the 94-95 playoffs, where hakeem took his game to places he himself had never been. I actually think dirk is a better offensive player over the long haul than hakeem. Hekeem however played unbelievable defense so dirk loses ground there, but as far as offense, dirk is unreal, and probably the best shooting big man I have ever seen.
I actually think dirk is a better offensive player over the long haul than hakeem I actually think dirk is a better offensive player over the long haul than hakeem I actually think dirk is a better offensive player over the long haul than hakeem I actually think dirk is a better offensive player over the long haul than hakeem I actually think dirk is a better offensive player over the long haul than hakeem I actually think dirk is a better offensive player over the long haul than hakeem I actually think dirk is a better offensive player over the long haul than hakeem I actually think dirk is a better offensive player over the long haul than hakeem I actually think dirk is a better offensive player over the long haul than hakeem I actually think dirk is a better offensive player over the long haul than hakeem Whew! I think 10 times is the minimum for wiping evil thoughts out of your head.
How old are you? I am old enough to have seen nearly all of Hakeem's games from the beginning till about 1995 the year I moved to West Virginia. And I can tell you that Hakeem was great on offense. For sure, he used to take crazy shots, and he was clutch. But so is dirk, and the sad fact is dirk has a better stroke, he makes shots that I never seen Hakeem make. Take last year, the mavs are down three, the guy has two players on him and he drills a three to send it to overtime. THAT is amazing. You just don't want to see how great dirk is.
Olajuwon's career avgs (18 seasons): 21.8 PPG, 51.2% FG %, 11.1 RPG, 2.5 APG, 1.7 SPG, 3.1 BPG, 23.6 PER Dirkendouche's career avgs (9 seasons): 22.2 PPG, 46.9% FG %, 8.6 RPG, 2.6 APG, 1.0 SPG, 1.0 BPG, 23.4 PER Advantage: Hakeeeeeeeeem Ooooooooolajuwon!
I've decided that there really is something in the water here that makes people crazy. Water here in the metroplex doesn't taste the same as water in Austin or Houston. That has got to be the reason for such outlandish statements. I'm telling you don't drink the water. Dirk being compared to Hakeem. Pssh. Thats just crazy.
So? Are we talking about how "well rounded" a player is? Or how good he is? I know this is a Rockets message board, and Dirk's a no-good whinny Euro flopper that plays for Dallas... but the guy is arguably the best offensive weapon in the NBA today. And IF(emphasis here on the if) he can keep this up for many more years through a normal player career path, he easily belongs in the "best PF of all time" discussion. As much as we all love Hakeem, note that the Rockets team-wise performed very inconsistently until he peaked very late in his career. Because of his late peak, we tend to remember only the good stuff about him and not the bad during the middle of his career.
I have watched the Rockets since 1984. I went through a span between 1993 and 1996 when I watched every single Rockets game- 326, actually, because I missed one for a wedding and one for- I don't remember, sickness or something. Before that, I watched an average of 60 games per year. Let's see, Dream could shoot a hook shot with both hands effectively, had the Dream Shake which he could do from both the left and right side (although more effectively from the left side), could shoot from 18 feet out with 2 (and sometimes even 3) guys in his face, the two-step, one-step, one-step off the glass move in game 5 of the 1995 NBA Western Conference finals against San Antonio, the fading-away-with-Chris-Dudley-in-his-face 18 foot shot against Portland in the 1st round 1994, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Yes, Dream didn't shoot 3 pointers- because, like, the game plan never, ever involved him camping out at the 3-point line. Oh, except for the last basket of the 1995 Finals. I quote Shaq: "Most of us have 5 offensive moves. Hakeem has 5 variations on all 5 of his moves." And Dirk can...shoot well. We'll give him that. Really, please, someone give this person the tapes of games 1-5 of the 1995 WCF. You watch that, and watch that again, and you tell me that Dirk could pull off even 30% of those "offensive" moves, and then we can talk.
This is so true. For many of the early years Hakeem relied on his athletic-ability alone. People forget that Hakeem was a whiner early in his career as well. Hakeem tried to force a trade and would go out and not give his all to win games. What changed Hakeem was Rudy T. Rudy was the one that helped Hakeem become great. Rudy's love for the rockets lit a fire under Hakeem. I think people confuse hakeem's offensive game, because hakeem was never a great shooter, but he had great moves and he was clutch. Hell, I remember games where hakeem couldn't score the first 3 quarters of the game and then have 20 plus at the end, because he shot himself into a rhythm.
dallas has done a far superior job of building talent around dirk than the rockets did for hakeem in the late 80's early 90's. it's not even remotely close. hakeem was a dominant force the minute he stepped foot in the nba. after sampson went down it took nearly a decade for dream to get anywhere near the teammates that dirk has had for years now. this may be a rockets board but it's an insult to dream to put dirk in his class right now when he has nothing to his name. when all is said and done he may be one of the greatest power forwards of all time but as a complete player he will never ever be in dream's class.
