The Case For Hakeem Olajuwon As The Greatest Player In The NBA History

[RRR3]

I don't see how people have Shaq in top 10 and not this guy.

2 rings as the Main MAN, all time shot blocker, most skilled center to ever play the game.

Shaq: 4 rings, played with a GOAT contender in Kobe, Wade and the refs carried his fat ass for his 4th ring. Not to mention his ring in 2002 was full of asterisks.

[millwad]

Nah, he really wasn't. 94 Hakeem focused more on his offensive game. His D took a back seat. He had a good defensive team around him in 94 and 95. I'm sure I'm not the only one that saw this. You should watch some games. It's clear as day. What blatant lies did I say? Only kids have your attitude. You must be young. You mention his 94 DPOY as proof. LOL

Stop your bullshit, you have no clue about what you're writing about. Of course the guy concentrated on his offensive game, the 2nd best scorer of that team in the playoffs was Maxwell who averaged 13.8 points per game on 37% shooting.

And still, Hakeem in '94 played amazing defense, only someone without any knowledge at all would claim otherwise. We are talking about the DPOY, I'm not making up anything, the guy got the trophy for being the DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR and he sure thing lived up to it. He had amazing defensive plays through the playoffs a la the gamewinning block vs the Knicks in game 6.

And he also completely shut down Ewing in the finals in '94, Ewing only made 36% of his field goal attempts vs Hakeem and the Rockets. He also shut down Robinson in '95, maybe that's why you have no trust in trophies since Drob really didn't live up to his MVP...

The Rockets without Hakeem didn't have great defense, Smith was abused through the whole playoffs both in 94 and 95 in every series he played. Thorpe was a good defender but never mad any all-NBA defensive teams, Horry was decent, Maxwell was good but he was a nutcase and he never made any defensive teams. Drexler did never make any all-defensive teams either. In fact, Hakeem was the only one who made defensive teams and he was the back to back DPOY, get out of here..

[Big164]

This article is unfair to bird and mchale who whopped Samson and hakeems ass with little to no athleticism.

Bird had to run the gauntlet of Erving, mj, Isaiah, Dominique and Moses before even facing a west coast team. And he managed to win 3 rings during this grueling era.

Where are hakeems 3 rings? Why did he never face mj in any of the bulls 6 finals appearances? Hakeem is way to streaky to be the goat.

[rmt]

Greatest Player in NBA history is a title that needs a better resume than Hakeem's. How can one say he's the GOAT when others have much better resumes and similar skill?

[rodman91]

[RRR3]

[millwad]

This article is unfair to bird and mchale who whopped Samson and hakeems ass with little to no athleticism.

Bird had to run the gauntlet of Erving, mj, Isaiah, Dominique and Moses before even facing a west coast team. And he managed to win 3 rings during this grueling era.

Where are hakeems 3 rings? Why did he never face mj in any of the bulls 6 finals appearances? Hakeem is way to streaky to be the goat.

Bird was a SF and McHale was a PF, Hakeem was a center and neither of them "whopped" Hakeem ass. Hakeem who just was in his 2nd year as a pro had to deal with the Celtics who had 5 HOF:ers on their team while his co-star Sampson got abused by McHale and only averaged 14.8 points during the finals on 43% shooting.

Hakeem played a great series and he averaged 24.7 points, 11.8 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 2.3 blocks per game. He outplayed HOF:er Robert Parish completely in the finals in his 2nd season as a pro and led his team to game 6 vs maybe the greatest team of all-time. And it should be said that it easily could have been a 7 games series since Rockets lost game 4 with only 3 points. What more do you expect from the guy? Before that in the WCF, he abused the reigning champs Lakers and led his Rocket-team to any easy 4-1 win.

And don't you think Bird had a "little" more help? Bird had Parish, McHale, Dennis Johnson, Archibald and Cedric Maxwell when he won.

Hakeem didn't even have an all-star on any of the rosters he won with, how can you even expect the guy to have as many titles as Bird when Bird had at least two PRIME HOF:ers by his side at all time when he won..

Buhu that Hakeem didn't make it to the finals the year MJ did, if that's the case, where was MJ the 3 times Hakeem reached the finals?

[KevinNYC]

Bird had at least two PRIME HOF:ers by his side at all time when he won..

Who were the two in 1981?

[Big#50]

Stop your bullshit, you have no clue about what you're writing about. Of course the guy concentrated on his offensive game, the 2nd best scorer of that team in the playoffs was Maxwell who averaged 13.8 points per game on 37% shooting.

And still, Hakeem in '94 played amazing defense, only someone without any knowledge at all would claim otherwise. We are talking about the DPOY, I'm not making up anything, the guy got the trophy for being the DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR and he sure thing lived up to it. He had amazing defensive plays through the playoffs a la the gamewinning block vs the Knicks in game 6.

And he also completely shut down Ewing in the finals in '94, Ewing only made 36% of his field goal attempts vs Hakeem and the Rockets. He also shut down Robinson in '95, maybe that's why you have no trust in trophies since Drob really didn't live up to his MVP...

The Rockets without Hakeem didn't have great defense, Smith was abused through the whole playoffs both in 94 and 95 in every series he played. Thorpe was a good defender but never mad any all-NBA defensive teams, Horry was decent, Maxwell was good but he was a nutcase and he never made any defensive teams. Drexler did never make any all-defensive teams either. In fact, Hakeem was the only one who made defensive teams and he was the back to back DPOY, get out of here..

LOL I never said he shouldn't have concentrated more on offense. All I said was his D took a back seat. Was he still a great defender in 94? Of course. All I said was he wasn't better than his best years defensively from 89 to 93. Take a chill pill, kid.

[millwad]

LOL I never said he shouldn't have concentrated more on offense. All I said was his D took a back seat. Was he still a great defender in 94? Of course. All I said was he wasn't better than his best years defensively from 89 to 93. Take a chill pill, kid.

Educate yourself fool, he was just as good as a defender in '94 as any other year you mentioned.

You have no idea what you're talking about.

[Big#50]

Educate yourself fool, he was just as good as a defender in '94 as any other year you mentioned.

You have no idea what you're talking about.

LOL sure ok. Hakeem was just as good defensively in 94 as he was in 90. You must have missed that season. He averaged 4.6 blocks and 2.1 steals that year. Was the league leader in defensive win shares and rating.

[millwad]

LOL sure ok. Hakeem was just as good defensively in 94 as he was in 90. You must have missed that season. He averaged 4.6 blocks and 2.1 steals that year. Was the league leader in defensive win shares and rating.

He lead the league in defensive win shares and rating from 1986-1990 and he came in 2nd place in 94 but you're the same person who claimed that he that he was out of position often when he was younger but still he's 4th on the list in his rookie season...

And by that logic based on DFS, then his defensive prime was from '86-'90, what a bummer that his DPOYS came in '93 and then again in '94..

[nycelt84]

Bird was a SF and McHale was a PF, Hakeem was a center and neither of them "whopped" Hakeem ass.

Hakeem played a great series and he averaged 24.7 points, 11.8 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 2.3 blocks per game. He outplayed HOF:er Robert Parish completely in the finals in his 2nd season as a pro and led his team to game 6 vs maybe the greatest team of all-time. And it should be said that it easily could have been a 7 games series since Rockets lost game 4 with only 3 points. What more do you expect from the guy? Before that in the WCF, he abused the reigning champs Lakers and led his Rocket-team to any easy 4-1 win.

Buhu that Hakeem didn't make it to the finals the year MJ did, if that's the case, where was MJ the 3 times Hakeem reached the finals?

And '86 could have just easily been a sweep. Game 3 was very close and could have easily gone the Celtics way.

[Big#50]

He lead the league in defensive win shares and rating from 1986-1990 and he came in 2nd place in 94 but you're the same person who claimed that he that he was out of position often when he was younger but still he's 4th on the list in his rookie season...

And by that logic based on DFS, then his defensive prime was from '86-'90, what a bummer that his DPOYS came in '93 and then again in '94..

I'm done explaining stuff to you. When you're playing the passing lanes and try to block every shot, you're going to be out of position a lot. Dude, no player is perfect. You're acting like I'm saying he sucked on D. To me he was at his best defensively from 89 to 93. How many games did you watch from Hakeem? I lived in Texas until 91. The midwest was my favorite division. Got to watch hundreds of games.

[Zedja]

Hakeem's accolades dont make him GOAT, however its circumstances based. Give to Dream Showtime Lakers (Kareem's spot), Bird's Celtics (instead of McHale or Parish, or both ), etc., and watch him tear league apart. Talent, incredible drive in the Playoffs, overall impact... He had it all. Arguably the most complete center, ever.

This.