Hakeem Olajuwon's absurd post moves were only his 2nd-best skill | Greatest Peaks Ep. 8 

Probably one of the best compliments you can give an NBA player 😂

I see no cap here. All facts.

You talking about Sam Bowie?😂

This sums it all.

If they have to redo it with the knowledge they have now, I'm not sure they change their pick, as great as Michael is

Did I mishear or wasn’t it 35%

I watched him in the playoffs as a kid and 10 block games were a thing for him. He was one assist short of a quadruple double against the Clippers in one game. I've only seen Hakeem and Andrew bynum get 10 block triple doubles in a playoff game. The announcers of that Clippers game said that Olajuwon had notched a quadruple double in his career before that game. To this day I've never seen anyone put up a quad double. Hakeem was just insane.

@@doxazo5512 "in the last two years it was 50%"

@@Davivd2 Olajuwon has gotten 2 quadruple doubles, and he got them both in the same month.

I think Timmy D did it

I mean did you watch the video he wasnt elite passing out of double teams lmao

@@clawxxchris He wasn't elite passing, but he's one of only 4 players who made a quadruple double in March 1990 vs Milwaukee (18pts, 16reb, 11blk, 10ast) and in the same month, the same year, he was close to do another one vs Don Nelson' Warriors (29pts, 18reb, 11blk, 9ast)

@@clawxxchris what?!? He used to pass out of spin moves and was splitting double teams since the 86' Finals

@@loulou7194 he recorded 376 blocks and 174 steals that season too

@@mandodelossantos2 He peaked as pretty good at it, but he wasn't elite.

LOL YEA

Lmao

Hakeem is Sean Elliot's father😭😭

and then at around the second half of the video is Hakeem making David Robinson dance

dude i loved that spurs team growing up 😭

My heart was fulfilled with pure joy 😍

A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one

As a fan of both sports (grew up watching football, fell in love with basketball only a few years ago), that comparison was like music to my ears.

I think I missed it, where did he make the comparison?

Loved it.

Giannis in 2021 now

@@user-yu7kl3zc6c nope won the finals the year after mvp & dpoy

Michael Jordan

​@@user-yu7kl3zc6c not in the same year

​@@innosantomj 88 won everything except the chip champion

Hell yeah hell yeah you know what’s up

Same

I think Kareem,Russell and Wilt are slightly better but I can definitely see it, since he’s more skilled than either of them

It's got to be kareem

@@brosidenbro638 Agree Kareem and Wilt are slightly better but Olajuwon has clearly always been at least the 3rd best.

Plenty note that Ewing wasn’t 7’0” either, more 6’10” - Which partly explains that while he was great he wasn’t on the level of Olajuwon, Robinson or O’Neal.

@Xalpha23 And flattop, if you're referring to Ewing? Olajuwon would need his wife's high heels to get to 7'0. Dream was scratching 6'10 barefoot, like 6'10 3/4 w/ shoes on.

Dream have crazy wingspan.

@@glovs4188 I just looked it up and God damn I did not expect that

Dream more 6'11

Same goes with my current favorite player jokic. Water polo is why he's such a great passer 😂

Handball not softball

Hakeem has a 13-10 winning Record against over MJ. *Shawn Kemp has a 30-20 winning Record over Hakeem Olajuwon.* In the Playoffs: MJ is a monster. For example: In 1989, the Chicago Bulls lost all regular season games to the Cavs ( 0:5 ). *1989 ECFR: Bulls vs Cavs ( 3:2 ).*

@@allanhouston6759 I think it's funny how when Jordan finally has a team that he won't get swept with, now it's all him! But Olajuwon being the solo all star for the majority of his career means he's a failure! Typical Jordan fanboy double standards. And no, Shawn Kemp wasn't by himself he had Payton, Shrempf and Ricky Pierce coming off the bench. Olajuwon had guards like Purvis Short, Sleepy Floyd, and Maxwell on his team and he still whooped on Jordan and Pippen and Grant routinely. But if you wanna be a dumb broad, I'm fine with that, let's talk about Jordan being guarded by little Craig Ehlo and role player Gerald Wilkins. So you have excuses for Jordan being 1-9 in the playoffs while Olajuwon had already made the Finals, but what's your excuse for Jordan being 5-1 for 3 straight seasons against Olajuwon with his 3 peat Bulls?!

@@allanhouston6759 you wanna talk about a 13-10 record but you try your best to ignore the 11-5 record Olajuwon had on Jordan for 9 seasons before Jordan picked up Rodman just to be a contender again. Olajuwon beat Jordan more times in 9 seasons than Jordan beat Olajuwon in 15 seasons... even after Olajuwon's surgeries Lmao without Rodman, Jordan would've never made it back to the Finals, but you wanna give him all of Pippen and Rodman's credit cuz you're a delusional fanboy.

@@mandodelossantos2 *Hakeem teammates: Clyde Drexler, Ralph Sampson, Charles Barkley, Scotte Pippen.*

@@mandodelossantos2 *1996 WCSF: Sonics vs Rockets ( 4:0 ).* Game 1, *Hakeem Olajuwon=6-Points, on 33%.* The Rockets won the title just a year ago. If Hakeem Olajuwon is so good, why did he play like a scrub ? ?

He’s embarrassed and made more nba players look silly then anyone else on both ends of the floor that’s for sure

His highlights give me goosebumps every time.

Same here. I was astonished at some of the clips shown on both ends. I had to rewind after the Giannis-esque dribble drive crossover into a finish from the top because it was so smooth I forget what I was watching.

Dark horse highlight reel for me.....manu... S**t had me speechless.

Thinking that he's 7 feet makes it even more amazing.

@Chairs Yeah. His defense was unreal on so many levels. No big (at least that I've seen) played defense like him. And the little guys defense didn't impact the opposition the way his did. He was like whirling Dervish, Human Tornado all over the court.

@Margarine Yeah. He should have won the MVP in 93. That was a crazy year.

Yeah, and his offense was nothing compared to his defense. This video vastly low-balls Olajuwon for some reason, on the basis of some hypothetical limitation he would have playing alongside another superstar. Since when is that the test of greatness? Dream's peak was all-time top 5, no question about it.

@@SapphicTwist Yes. Something that is completely hypothetical is not an argument at all. Plus, alongside Clyde Drexler, he avg: 33 PPG, 53%, 10 RPG, 4.5 APG, 1.2 SPG and 2.8 BPG in 22 playoff games against prime versions of Malone, Barkley, Robinson, Rodman, and Shaq for FMVP.

@@SapphicTwist Hakeem Olajuwon had the greatest peak of any basketball player ever. This is easily verifiable, not just looking at his competition and the era he played in, but the fact that he is still the only lone all star to ever win a championship without another all star team mate. He certainly should have won MVP in 93 and he was the best basketball player in the world from 93-96.

Jordan

I think this is something Jordan and Kobe practiced also. This didn't really work for older MJ or Kobe throughout his career.

@@TyroneNBAFan especially kobe. If I was a coach, I would rage at the shot selection of kobe. But he made them consistently. Probably the greatest difficult shot maker of all time.

@@lik7953 kind of like what Zach Lavine does, except Lavine doesn’t make nearly as many

@@TyroneNBAFan Older MJ had an incredible percentage on his fadeaway shots.

Lmao

“I don’t even know how I can say it with a straight face, but most of the time, I thought I played him pretty well.” -Robinson after getting torched by Hakeem

As mentioned in Ben's David Robinson video, Hakeem was just the ideal matchup against him. D Rob wasn't great with his lateral movement and had a habit at biting at early jump fakes despite his VERY quick ability to get off the ground. It so happens Hakeem could move like a 2 guard on a triple threat spot from 20 feet out and had the footwork and counters to easily make jumpy guys react. Hakeem had similar qualities to Jordan where he was the star killer. There were top 10 players and Hakeem had the ability to keep up and counter those players on the court.

Ewing was shut down by Hakeem's defense more than his offense, and it took Starks ascending to the stratosphere to carry his God awful 38% TS on high volume. The fact that they took it to 7 with Hakeem playing like he was and destroying Ewing defensively is a testament to how hot he was, until game 7.

Ewing played good defense as well. Much better than Robinson. He wasn't soft.

@@teofemo7000 umm no he didn't. Are you forgetting the Knick had a Frontline full of enforcers to have Pat back? Did you notice David Robinson getting ANY help from Rodman? You're probably a New Yorker that's salty Pat career didn't end up better than Robinson's

Absolutely yes, or when you say that he was the most complete center ever, or two-way. He was the greatest two-way (even over Wilt!) center ever I would say.

@@dusk6159 Agreed. His game transcends eras. If you took Shaq or Patrick Ewing for example, and put them in today’s game, they would be targeted on switches like Gobert in the playoffs. Hakeem wouldn’t have that problem, since he has the lateral quickness to keep up with most guards.

If even Shaq says you were better than him, that's when you know you've earned a special kind of respect. Because Shaq never says that even when it's true.

Hakeem"s couple of good seasons don"t do him better than Shaq or Kareem. Hakeem Olajuwon 8 times lost in the first round and missed the Playoffs in his Prime.

@@allanhouston6759 true but did Hakeem had the same supporting than them in his prime ?

Stuff like vision and elite passing instincts are usually innate. You can't really learn to become an elite passer or to have that sort of vision. It's like someone learning to become an elite shooter like Steph. You can improve, but to get to elite level, you have to be gifted. Just like Hakeem was such a gifted post scorer, so much balance, coordination, agility, creativity and touch.

@@nostalgicbliss5547 I think he means how hakeem played volleyball, handball soccer etc before basketball and some skills naturally translated.

@@dasupremegentlelad4321 Precisely.

@@nostalgicbliss5547 I think part of it came from playing with hot garbage for about 7 years during his prime. LBJ may have carried some bad teams, but they were bad teams built around him that at least complemented his game. Hakeem's teams were just bad, which is astounding when you consider the Rockets had an all-timer on an undervalued contract, and was single-handedly too good to tank for lottery picks no matter how bad his teams were. He may not have been much of a passing threat, but that's because he was probably better off jacking up a fadeaway into a triple team anyways for half of his prime. If he had better coaching and teammates for his prime, God forbid a perimeter costar, we'd probably see a different Hakeem. Even though he wanted to stay in Houston, if Portland won that coin flip (or the Rockets made that fabled Ralph Sampson trade), most all-time lists would look pretty damn different, and Jordan wouldn't be Jordan.

Nice analogy and Great examples.

We consider them skilled in large part because of their footwork. You know what is really, really good for training light, precise footwork? Soccer. All of the above grew up playing soccer, some very well (Nash). This is also true for the Gasols, Kobe, Chad Ochocinco from football, and many other athletes renowned for their incredible footwork. This is also part why foreign players tend to be more smooth with their footwork.

It's a combination of talent, skill, and a more generalized athletic background. It's like video games, some people play for years extremely regularly, and are 'average' or 'above average' rank. Others start off at the same place, and then a year later they're at 'pro' rank. I can guarantee you, and they'll say it from themselves, they SUCKED compared to their peers when they started playing, despite their physical advantages. Hakeem couldn't even dunk when his first coach asked him to! It wasn't that he wasn't tall enough or couldn't jump, it's just that the motion would have been so awkward and unfamiliar for him that he couldn't do it, like he has to focus on jumping, holding the ball, then focus on something he's never done before. It's like this for every beginner at anything, shit that seems impossible and awkward at first eventually becomes natural with enough practice. Best example I can think of is Mark Eaton, who didn't start when he was 15 or 16, but 20! Then he spent his first two years playing JC ball under probably mediocre coaching where he didn't have to try, he just had like a foot size advantage over his matchup, then, at 22, he went to UCLA, and got a rude wake up call, he was useless. There's a big difference between 22 and 15/16, he was never going to learn NBA big man skills at that age, and he didn't have the speed, agility, and talent to compensate anyways. Wilt saved his career by telling him this and to focus on defense, where he could be a star killing defender and rim protector just by being a semi-aware 7'4" giant that was built like a husky football player. Oh, and part of it is just statistics. Doesn't apply to Nash, but there's just the chance of being 7 feet or taller is 0.000038%. When you consider some of these people are going to be from places that don't play basketball AT ALL, or will have giantsism that prevents them from playing sports at all, and half of them will be too old to be 'NBA age', this effectively limits the number of NBA eligible centers, based on height and age, to 1000, FOR THE ENTIRE WORLD! For big men trying to make it to the NBA, they have better odds of making it than the average public high school boy trying to make varsity. Compare that to the millions of 6 footers competing for point guard spots, and you get the picture, so if you're an athletic and strong 7 footer with long wingspan, you're not only pretty much guaranteed to make it to the NBA, you're guaranteed to be GREAT. Even bad 7 footers can make a career in China or Europe playing professionally, just because they are so rare.

That's what happen when you play football. The footwork man!

@@nathanieldurfee5419 Well, Duncan didn't play soccer growing up, he was a swimmer. A very talented one too. Swimming involves a lot of coordination and syncing of your body to pull off specific movements to drive yourself forward in the water. That probably helped him a lot with just body coordination and fluidity with movement.

It's probably because they started that late that they became so good at it. They brought in habits and skills from other sports and employed them on the basketball court; everything is pretty much textbook, but when you say, bring in a swimmer's stroke into a defensive stance, you don't really know how to properly counter it because you're used to the go-to moves that have already been done.

For real It’s the basketball appreciation I’ve been looking for in taking about their skill and proving it by skill man People sleep on the players this guy has made videos on

@@SuperMisteryMan01 ye

it'll probably show up randomly on recommended videos for random people in a few months. RU-vid algorithm can be weird.

@@back2back379 I hope so, he deserves it

@The Ultimate It would take over 2 hours of content to deep dive into Russell and Chamberlain. I'd rather have 20 minute videos on separate profiles.

I always speak of the Championship Series that never was Chicago v Houston No answer for Olajuwon not much of answer for MJ

He had the right team. Robert Horry at Power Forward along with all the other great shooters and Kenny Smith at Point Guard, it was the right team to get him over the top. He carried mediocre teams to the playoffs before that, with Rudy T and his teammates, they were a great team. Plus, he elevated his game as a playmaker, getting more assists than he had before in his career. Dude ran through some great teams to get those titles and in 95, they peaked in the playoffs with him and Clyde Drexler running through a gang of Hall of Fame big men including David Robinson and Shaq.

It almost sounds like Will Ferrell's Harry Caray.

It’s up there with his Madvilliany reference in a past vid rip DOOM

What is your Top 5 All-Time list? I have Hakeem number 4.

Totally agreed...every group of guy friends have played the "draft game"...hakeem is ALWAYS my #1 pick...to me pound for pound HD was the best most talented player I've ever seen play

@@koolkai4299 I have MJ, lebron, Kareem in that order. But after that I have Hakeem, Kobe, bird, Kobe, Tim Duncan and wilt chamberlain

@@paulh3261 Sorry for the late reply lol. I have 1. MJ 2. Kobe. 3. Lebron. 4. Hakeem 5. Kareem

@Jus The Irony Is: By the end of his 2nd season, he was considered the 2nd best player in the NBA . So, that shows us how good he was for so long, despite his teams problems (which folks from a far, would try to hold against him).

One of the nastiest moves ever for sure.

The spin on Ewing was in a very close hotly contested pivotal Game 3 battle in a 1-1 series tie, to regain home court advantage. The shake on Robinson came amidst a much needed series victory too, but he was already dominating The Admiral really badly in that game. I watched both moves live, and they're both phenomenal in their own way, but I agree that you've got to give the one on Ewing the edge, because it just came at a more crucial juncture of a big game in a late series, where it was a back-&-forth warfare, and buckets were hard to come by.

@@arsonhakobyan Yeah. The Knicks dragged the game down with their super physical DEFENSE. So, for Hakeem to average what he did (27 pts, etc.) under those conditions in the finals, magnifies his accomplishments even more! Note: Edit, defense; I had written "Offense" originally.

When picking you starting 5 is it the 5 best or 5 best to make a team? Who are they?

IDK about that , I think you are forgetting about Kareem , I know most people just think of his sky hook but if you compare both there stats , Kareem had about the same amount of blocks and level of defense but with a trade off of foot work vrs. that sky hook that was almost a cheat code. Kareem also played at an elite level longer. The there is also Wilt who no one really got to see play so it's hard to say with him. Overall Hakeem in an all time starting 5 is not a bad pick but there are a few others I would take over him at a PF/C position.

Good point. Best two-way players I can think of are MJ, Wilt and Hakeem. Giannis may get there some day …

@@tonysobon4669 yep, Kareem had the greater overall career and there’s certainly an argument, a strong one, for him being the better offensive player. Opponents Feared Kareem on offense. The only thing I can throw against his superior offensive stats is the eyeball test. Hakeem just looked more skilled, quicker, seemed more clutch. Opponents feared Hakeem on both offense and defense. Defensively, Hakeem has the better stats (blocks, steals, and rebounds per possession) over his career. And the eyeball test: he was much more disruptive. Opponents feared Hakeem’s defense over his career much more than they did Kareem’s. I know that Cap’s early career, especially with the Bucks was incredible statistically. And those clips of him taking on an old Wilt are great. But he got to play with sooo many greater players than the Dream did. And often Kareem was not the best player on his team. Dream was the best player on every Houston squad he played on.

@@seanrc8642 Kareem played legit defense for most of his career , also to say he wasn't even the best player on his team is not really care since your talking about Magic and that was towards the end of Kareem's career and again Kareen played more productive years. Also back to the defense thing , It's hard to say one was better then the other because Hakeem was not as tall and relied on his footwork more so in a way it made his defense look better. With Kareem he was so tall and lengthy he just looked less skillful on defense but his production on defense was as good and because he played almost a decade before it's a bit harder to find highlights but his stats do not lie. I love Hakeem , I watched this video because I do but it just bothers me how much Kareem gets snubbed when it comes top these kind of topics , Hakeem does also but To me Kareem was the better overall player. prosomal awards but I do factor in MJ era where MJ won so many personal awards for a player to win any during the time he played there is a very good chance they would of had more in a different time.

Hakeem was a goalkeeper hence could not have had "soccer" moves.

@@naturalblockade3412 You would still need soccer moves to play goalie.

@@BTcycle No. The moves by the center forwards are different from those of the full backs which are different from those of the outside left or outside right. As I am writing this, I am thinking of the moves by specific different players and positions. Regarding Nigerian soccer players, the moves by Usiyen were completely different from those of Captain Chukwu or those of Fabian Duru or those of goalkeepers - Okalla and Ogedengbe. Moreover, goalkeepers are a lot more static.

That short 3pt line helped Clyde, he was already shooting better from 3 before he came to Houston. He did have some good synergy with Hakeem though, he was washed up, but still had enough gas in the tank to attack the rim and the Rockets were adept at getting him good possessions.

young dirk probably used to study that same clip

And Wilt did it way before then.

@@sambeaumont395 oh really? One-legged? Can you link me footage or quotes from reliable sources?

@@back2back379 - Wilt Chamberlain Archive - this video shows fade-away, a lot of two foot jumps, but the one legged is in there still - obviously no where near as pretty or exaggerated as Dirks but Wilt likely would have been called for fouls if he raised his leg or kicked out like Dirk did, just like he would have had he played bully ball like Shaq. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-8O9MgNfcGJA.html

@@sambeaumont395 I didn't see any one-legged ones in there like Hakeem or Dirk, certainly not shot in a way where you could legitimately say that's where they got it from. Yes, Wilt likely would have been called for fouls if he raised his leg like that, which furthers the point that he was not doing it. Hakeem on the other hand, is noticeably raising his front leg on the one-legged fadeaway, so it's very clear that his one-legged fadeaway is a legitimate pre-cursor to Dirk's. Wilt had a nice regular fadeaway of course, but there's just a completely different balance and awkwardness when you shoot it one-legged the way Dirk and Hakeem did. Anyway, thanks for the link, although I've seen it before.

plus a jumpshot

@@kizvy and high free throw % which for a center is valuable.

@@dexterjankaren yeah, it was 72 or 71 percent right? decent for a center

Honestly, if he had a consistent 2nd best player, he would have definitely won at least 3 rings. Top 5 Defender and most skilled Center along with being the one man Shaq and Jordan claimed they feared.

@@9ra307 top 5 defender??? I think the nba hasn’t seen a better defender than Olajuwon ever

There’s a statistic out there that ranks the difficulty of all championship runs since 1984 and the ‘95 rockets are firmly placed at number 1.

And even without that that run and ring would be insane, and on the level of carries of Lebron and Tim Duncan, especially without Glide.

Shaq is way better than Hakeem

@@Oppenheimer1967 even Shaq disagrees with that.

@@Oppenheimer1967 at beating creampuffs

Wilt Chamberlain was quite possibly the greatest athlete who has ever played in the NBA. It’s a shame he was a selfish egomaniac who was more concerned with padding his stats and sleeping with a lot of women than he was with winning basketball games.

@@hkgcgsdhjgd Wilt was the greatest athlete to ever play. "Chamberlain holds 72 NBA records, 68 by himself." He's the only Center to lead the league in assists. Also, he had a field goal % of 72.7 in his last season. I could go on and on about other players saying he moved them around like they were nothing, and because of his incredible strength he couldn't utilize it at all times or he would have severely harmed many other players. Michael Jordan never would even be close to Wilt if he played when Wilt did. He wouldn't be "allowed" to dunk over players like Wilt, because if he did then he would have been flattened the next time he tried it. Jordan may be the best player of all time, but the most dominant player in any sport was Wilt. As Wilt said to Jordan, "how many rule changes have they made that favor you?" Virtually all the rule changes when Wilt played were changed to make it more difficult for him. Take care!

@@michaelulbricht9438 Thanks so much for giving Wilt the proper respect he deserves! It seems that in these days, there are those who don't have the insight to see what a phenom he was and how he changed the game beyond measure...again, thanks!!!

@@michaelulbricht9438 Love That "His quickness, energy, and relentless pursuit was truly remarkable!" So true. So, many don't eve realize the type of engine/furnace/energizer bunny/human tornado he was on the court.

Oh man just shut up. Why you talking about Jokic under a video about The Dream. Meatrider.

You could play both Dream and Jokic, with Jokic as your high-post ball distributor, Dream working the baseline, MJ, Curry and Leonard running off-ball...

Yessir

We’ve all been waiting for it!

Same

Sameee

Facts! Hakeem is legendary

I agree, his versatility and skills would’ve made it so he could fit with anyone IMO. The only counter with the Clyde and Pippen example though is that none of them were quite in their primes, and then again neither was Hakeem.

I think the point plays out in the tail of Hakeem's career. I think it is fair to argue that Drexler and Pippen both played secondary roles to Hakeem as the primary. Later Hakeem did not have more success when they added Barklee and then Pippen. I think in-elastic is a fair descriptor. His strengths are extreme and I agree it is fairly ludicrous to think about a player of his era joining that team and taking the primary role. However that is kind of the point. Contrast that with a player like Larry Bird. While certainly a star and a primary option, he also was able to amplify other stars with his passing and shooting. Or Lebron. Think about how his playstyle has adapted from his early days in Cleveland to his days in Miami to his championship last year in LA. Lebron is very elastic in his ability to bring in other stars (D-Wade or AD) and amplify their ceiling. Overall I don't think it is a powerful knock against Hakeem. He was an incredible player and very worthy of being in this list. But he was not perfect in all areas of which a GOAT can be great.

@@KleyDeJong drecktet and Clyde? You mean pippen and Clyde and you’re right but let’s just imagine hakeem playing in the triangle offense and for a coach who really teaches the system I think his passing would have gotten better or at least looked better just because from a post up there would be off ball screens and he can get more easy passes for someone flashing to the free throw line for a jumper plus his normal kickouts and then he’d put more focus on finding cutter maybe

I think Larry Bird exist in that Steph Curry type of space of being a non-ball dominate star player which is insanely impossible to find or replicate so using them as a standard of what a star should be is a fallacy that would using the anomaly to pigeon hole a standard which is ridiculous. The reality is the overwhelming majority of star players are going to ball dominate players whether it’s a ball dominating scorer like Jordan Kobe Harden or a ball dominating facilitator like Magic Nash Bron. So expecting your star player to be infinitely elastic and malleable as to fit the needs of any type of player that may be brought into the organization is ridiculous the secondary star should be the one adjusting. Like Dwayne Wade learning to be the best Off Ball cutter in history to fit in with LeBron rarely do you ever have the one to fit like dropping KD onto GSW or Kawhi in Toronto.

@@keithjunior6130 you’re completely right on bird

It's probably the GOAT NBA series. This and "Attention To Detail" from "By Any Means Basketball" are the best on RU-vid.

I got him #1 but mixtape videos has him #3 behind Kareem and Jordan

Most of Hakeem's prime was wasted because the Rockets were incompetent. Poor coaching, plus some bad luck with Sampson getting injured and never being the same, some of the other guards on his team in the 80s suspended and even forced out of the league because of their drug habits. If Hakeem had the luck to be drafted in the situations of Magic, Bird or getting someone like a Pippen, Horace Grant in their prime to play with, he would have been top 3 all-time without debate. He also never played with any really good playmaking PG in his career. One that would get him easy buckets, he had to work so hard in the half-court for everything. He wasn't a mammoth like Shaq or 7'2 like Kareem. He was really just 6'10 and 250, that is the size of a lot of power-forwards. Yet the man was anchoring defenses as one of the most dominant centers ever!

@@nostalgicbliss5547 did you watch the video? It's pretty hard for Hakeem to plag with another high usage player. The team must be built around him.

@@Somm_RJ Hakeem played with Ralph Sampson. A guy who was a 20 and 10 all star caliber PF/C. The original twin towers. Even when Hakeem was still raw in his second year in the league, he lead his team to the finals after beating the showtime Lakers. They lost to the 67 win Celtics in 6. The 1986 Celtics are considered one of the best teams ever. Hakeem could def play along a high usage player. If Hakeem played alongside Clyde Drexler in his prime, he'd have won a lot more championships.

@@nostalgicbliss5547 I understand, Hakeem was my favorite player growing up. I made a reply based on your original comment. Let me answer it clearly. No, he would not be able to take Bird's or Magic's team because he is not a playmaker. If he went to the Bad Boy Pistons, probably yes. He won't need to playmake but the team would still be nicely built around him. Drexler was in his last legs when he teamed up with Hakeem. I could not see it working out if the they had prime Drexler. When Drexler came around, it was good on paper but not really. The team was built around Hakeem, they won the 1st championship without Drexler. They don't need Drexler, what they need are good role players, not a 2nd star or 3rd star. In fact, they regressed in their 2nd chanpionship, when Drexler was around.

I get your point but you show a bias for Jordan and LeBron by even bringing them up here. Let Hakeem have his video without the daily casual fan and media head obsessions with Jordan vs LeBron.

@@eternalboss1046 I'm not an MJ or Lebron fan, so I'm not biased towards any of them. I was actually highlighting Hakeem's unique perspective in that discussion since he's been one of the few to see them up close. I always respect what Hakeem says because of his culture and how humble he is and I found it interesting that he would make a comment like that. I don't have any favorite players. I just enjoy the sport. If anyone disagrees with Hakeem, its they have the right to, but no one else has been in Hakeem's position to make a comment like that.

Totally agree with you nhoj nhoj. Hakeem was in a unique position to be able to make a comment like that and what he said was always on point. I hate the GOAT debates but I respect what Hakeem said. He wasn't one of these fanatics, he just spoke based on what he saw up close without any biased.

@@nhojnhoj6485 Fair enough

Yup, Hakeem played a lot of different sports and he knew how difficult it was to play basketball in his era when Jordan dominated. He tried teaching Lebron to improve his footwork down on the post, but for whatever reason, Lebron never really developed that part of his game. Maybe that's why Hakeem made that comment. His footwork down on the post was unmatched and few had the discipline to learn it. Kobe was also trained by Hakeem but he put hours of work into applying what Hakeem taught him and it showed.

Because he was Muslim and an International player. Look at Giannis they disrespect him in current day media.

Clyde?

@Sbrecat That went hand in hand, with Houston getting good coaching/change of philosophy (, and building good shooters around Dream) with the arrival of Rudy T.

Facts him and Sampson made the 86 Lakers they little b****😂🤣😂

@Mike Martin Great Post. Yes. Dream was way more innovative than many realize, give him credit for. Here's some of the things he emphasized/Popularized/Introduced into the NBA: 1) Olajuwon's Step/Fall Back Jumper (that people think Dirk did first) 2) His Dream Shake, obviously 3) Hakeem's Baseline, Turn around [Fadeaway] Jumper, including behind the backboard 4) How he jabbed at defenses to confuse post players; slow down rebounders, and to guard, steal the ball from guards out top. He flashed; smothered, and jabbed at everyone individually, as well as playing the passing lanes. What Center was doing that, with maybe the exception of Bill Russell? I'm sure they're other things I forgot. LOL

I mostly agree, but watching this video, I think we come away with more complaints about Hakeem's game than we did in the 1990s, when he totally dominated the era. Even though the video makes a good attempt, you really can't emphasize enough Olajuwon's defensive greatness, there just aren't sufficient metrics available. And this weird focus on his selfishness and presumed inability to play with other stars is really wrong-headed. Stats do not exist in a vacuum, they occur in a very specific context, and Olajuwon's offensive approach was dictated by the fact that he was surrounded by sub-par teammates. So we're going to take his "selfishness" as a vice, instead of his "aggressiveness" as a virtue? Makes no sense to me.

Hakeem was Kobe Bryant in Centers body

@Allen Lott Bingo (on everything), especially on your last line about what happened after his 2nd season!!!!