I would like to call your attention to something you already knew about Hakeem.

[Kblaze8855]

So he kicked it out and the shot was made but they missed it the first time in the stats...and the NBA didnt want to change it just for the record even though the assist did happen?

[starks]

Maybe it was a legit assist and they missed it, maybe it wasn't a legit assist and Houston officials claimed it was.

And the article says, the questionable assist was in the first quarter. So, it wasn't the 10th assist or something.

In any case, I think the league did the right thing. Because I'm sure there are lots of missed or overcredited stats in every game. If every team's stat crew reviews the tape by themselves and try to change the official stats, then there would be chaos.

[Jasper]

Two simple points I will make about keem -

Probably the quickest center that played the game and he learned moves from vid's of Jordan.

I'll never forget how he schooled young Shaq , and at his prime schooled Ewing.

[Kblaze8855]

[bumpyknucks]

That clip at 2:18 is great.....Ive never seen it before......the Mailman getting his isht punched after doing that pose.

[RoseCity07]

Guy was never appreciated because the league didn't like Houston being in the finals. They wanted to promote Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York.

Another player that totally gets overlooked is Kareem. Guy might actually be better than Michael Jordan himself. I myself have said Jordan was better but now I'm rethinking it.

We are talking about the all time leader in points scored. You know he has more rebounds and blocks than Jordan.

Kareem was the man.

[Riker]

Maybe we should let some of these modern guys catch Hakeem before we even start talking about catching Jordan. None of them are even that close to Dream in his prime. I think you should prove greater than the apostles before you are in the running for next Jesus....

No because James jockies are smart.

They will use the words as "dominant like no other ever" and bla bla - and than twist it as soon as you put a goon like Hakeem on the case.

See, my whole point here, these players today are nowhere near the 90's Superstars.

Nowhere.

These guys played the best games against TOP teams. They didnt waste too much energy on crushing stats over San Diego Foresters or Tucson Space Cadets

They went in when the stakes were high.


Nowdays we see slightly above average performances against proper teams and defenses and "monster" games against sub-par teams.


But the media needs money, needs interest and needs a new "Jesus". They really work hard to fabricate one.


Your post was amazing, I repped you and I have now esablished Akeem as my #1 center in my All Time NBA starting 5.

I couldnt decide between him and Shaq sometimes. Now I can.

[bdreason]

Hakeem is the second best player I've ever watched play in their prime.

I didn't get to see Kareem's prime, but I did watch most of Magic's and Bird's primes (I was really young)... and I'm taking Hakeem over both of them.

[bdreason]

Guy was never appreciated because the league didn't like Houston being in the finals. They wanted to promote Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York.

Another player that totally gets overlooked is Kareem. Guy might actually be better than Michael Jordan himself. I myself have said Jordan was better but now I'm rethinking it.

We are talking about the all time leader in points scored. You know he has more rebounds and blocks than Jordan.

Kareem was the man.

I missed Kareem's prime as a kid. I think Kareem gets overlooked because the league really exploded when Magic and Bird hit the scene. Magic will even tell you that Kareem was the most dominant player of all-time, and the best player on those Lakers teams... even in the twilight of his career.

[Hammertime]

Us older guys are often accused of looking at the past with rose-tinted glasses when we talk about old players, and there are times when even I suspect that's true. Then I try to put things into perspective. I remember a few years back when Ben Wallace made the ASG four times in a row and was even a starter for one or two, I believe. On some very intrinsic level, this bothered me greatly, and I argued with my friends over it. They would laud his defense, his contribution to the 2004 Pistons title, and say how when you really get down to it, he was a great center.

I would then look back at the 80s and even the 90s and think, good lord, how low have the standards gotten? Ben Wallace is a great defensive player. Well, he was 5 years ago, anyway. Even at that point though, would I say that on defensive end, he was better than Hakeem? D-Rob? Ewing? Mt. Mutombo? Moses? Kareem? Hell, as a Jazz fan, I would even say that in his prime, Mark Eaton was a much more terrifying and dominant defensive presence than Wallace. And with the exception of Eaton, those other guys had offensive game the likes of which Ben Wallace has only seen in video games. And yet for a brief while, Ben Wallace was a top-3 center in the league. Don't tell me the quality hasn't gone down.

And then I hear people compare Dwight Howard to Hakeem. People who've evidently never seen Hakeem and only know that he was a center, and he put up close to 25-15 at one point. And I almost forget that Hakeem has been retired for almost a decade, and that I haven't seen footage of his prime in year. Then I watch a retro game on NBATV and I get my jaw off the floor eventually. Dwight Howard is so one-dimensional compared to Hakeem that I don't even know where to begin. Passing, shooting, spin-moves, ability to beat double-teams....All things that Hakeem did well and Dwight Howard doesn't. Nevermind that you'll never see the ball in Dwight's hands with the game on the line.

I think the problem is that many of these old players have simply moved from our TVs and into the legend, and have become so ingrained in our minds as legends, that people sometimes forget they haven't actually seen very much of them. It's like last night when after the doubleheader on TNT, they showed a clip of Paul Millsap talking (very respectfully) about Karl Malone and saying that while a prime Malone could kick his ass easily, he might be able to beat current Malone one-on-one. The Mailman's response to him was "Son, I still got one great game left in me. Do you really wanna be on the receiving end of it?" Malone may be 45, and 4 years into his retirement, but people need to remember that he had moves that perhaps no player at his position today does. Does Paul Millsap really think he could defend the 20-foot fadeaway that players in the 90s couldn't?

[joe]

K-Blaze, I don't respect anyones opinion on this site like I do yours. So can you do a break-down of todays players vs the 90s players? And I'm not talking about just all the stars, I mean role-players too. A lot of people say things like "man the 6th man on every 90's team would be a star today."

Well, okay, they don't get that far, but you get my drift. Were the 90's really some melting pot of incredible basketball that completely shatters todays league or is this just a lot of fuzzy memories at play.

[Psileas]

I wont bother with talking about his skills which we should all be well aware of. With all the recent talk of stats and which stats are more impressive and the nationwide polls and so on......I am going to give you a selection of Hakeems best games....not from his career. And not even from one season. But one month. March of 1990

Coincidentally, I had recently skimmed through his '90 season statlines a few days ago. Hakeem at March '90 played some of the greatest all-around basketball ever. His averages for the month were 26.0 ppg, 15.3 rpg, 3.8 apg, 2.8 spg, 6.1 bpg. Disgusting.

[Hammertime]

Coincidentally, I had recently skimmed through his '90 season statlines a few days ago. Hakeem at March '90 played some of the greatest all-around basketball ever. His averages for the month were 26.0 ppg, 15.3 rpg, 3.8 apg, 2.8 spg, 6.1 bpg. Disgusting.

He better have been the player of the month. I think back then they still did that league-wide and not conference-wide.

[lolwut]

My favorite player ever without any shadow of doubt.

[DonDadda59]

I always thought D-Rob was the better player. Hakeem's just better when they meet head to head but against other teams, D-Rob was better.

DRob was in no way, shape, or form even near the level of The Dream. Just to drive home the point, enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hW4uXlRGAF0

So am I supposed to disregard this epic ass whooping just because you think Robinson was better against other teams and worse centers. He was thoroughly dominated man to man against Hakeem, yet you think Robinson was better? Olajuwon>>>Robinson by a lot.