<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Rock4life:</div><div class="quote_post"> Duncan won another ring this year, but he wasn't even the best player in the finals, it was Robert Horry. </div> , I'm sure most people would disagree with you on that one.
When it comes down to it who would you rather have on your team? Shaq, Russell, TD, or Hakeem? I have to go with Hakeem because he was literally unstoppable. Shaq is amazing, don't get me wrong, but Hakeem was truly unstoppable. Teams would triple team him when he got hot, and he would still knock down 26-27 without goin under 50%. I shouldnt have to talk about his defensive talents.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting SkiptoMyLue11:</div><div class="quote_post">, I'm sure most people would disagree with you on that one.</div> After Game 6, after Duncan had another terrible performance, Horry bailed the Spurs out again. I think MVP could have gone to about 3 other Spurs.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Lamont:</div><div class="quote_post">first of all how does td have a better team then hakeem. lets see: hakeem had clyde drexler, robert horry in his prime, kenny the jet smith who was better then parker is today. how is td's team so much better? i compared the 2 because they are players who put up similar stats and who can shift between the 4 and 5 spot.</div> ok my bad about the having the better team. but really my main point is, you keep mentioning stats. stats this, stats that. more championships this and that. you can't base everything on just numbers alone. there are many great players in the nba. but in hakeem's era, he'd take each and every one of the great players to school. to be fair, you could pretty much say the same thing for TD. i'll give you that. but overall, if my team was down by a one point, and i could give it to one player, it would be hakeem, not TD. hakeem has the almost automatic baseline jumper. TD's bank spot off the glass isn't great compared to the dream shake. in a few years though, i would admit that TD will catch up or even surpass hakeem. that i'm not gonna argue with. but you still gotta give it up to the dream.
I think people are getting things a little mixed up when they talk about THE DREAM. He is a legend because he brought a different STYLE to his position and dominated every conventional player of his time. Quickness, Balance, Footwork, and an Indefensible assortment of moves. He is in the class of guys like Pistol Pete, Magic, Jordan and I would have to say Iverson. These and others CHANGED the game with their magic on the court. The skill level of these players was so astronomically special and ahead of others in the game. Its not stats or rings, Dream stood out because he was so much more skilled than the big men of his time. AND THAT IS WHY HAKEEM IS GREAT. Why was the Defensive player of the Year awards not listed for Hakeem and Duncan. Nobody can argue that Hakeem's defense is lightyears ahead of Duncan.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting moeinhouston:</div><div class="quote_post">I think people are getting things a little mixed up when they talk about THE DREAM. He is a legend because he brought a different STYLE to his position and dominated every conventional player of his time. Quickness, Balance, Footwork, and an Indefensible assortment of moves. He is in the class of guys like Pistol Pete, Magic, Jordan and I would have to say Iverson. These and others CHANGED the game with their magic on the court. The skill level of these players was so astronomically special and ahead of others in the game. Its not stats or rings, Dream stood out because he was so much more skilled than the big men of his time. AND THAT IS WHY HAKEEM IS GREAT.</div> BINGO! I couldn't have said better. It's not about STATS or RINGS. people need to understand this. Sure having good stats and rings is a plus, but Hakeem was just on another level because he could kill any defender.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting JWohl:</div><div class="quote_post">Yes, Hakeem schooled shaq in the '95 finals when Shaq was 23 years old and not close to his prime. Hakeem however was 31 years old and as good as he ever was. You can't use that matchup as a comparison for the two over their careers. Hakeem was a better defender but are you really gonna argue that Hakeem was better offensivly that Shaq? Three words for ya: Most Dominant Ever. NO one has ever been as dominant as Shaq was. </div>You bring up some good points, but I just felt that I should add something about this. Shaq came on at a time when there was literally no competition at center in the league. The great centers of the 90's era (Ewing, Olajuwon and Robinson) were all entering their late thirties while no new talent were coming in save for Michael Olowokandi. From 1996 to now, no one has been able to guard Shaq and it's much easier to say that he's more dominant than Olajuwon. If any of those 3 greats played in this era, they'd be most dominant as well. Also, the point you bring up about Olajuwon being in his prime when he schooled Shaq is invalid. We're not talking about Shaq as a wide-eyed rookie who came into a game only to use up six fouls. We're talking about Shaq in that season who led his team to the best league record and averaged 29.3 ppg, 11.4 rpg, 2.7 apg, and 2.43 bpg. He actually beat out Hakeem Olajuwon for Second Team All-NBA. Shaq was already one of the best four centers in the league at the time and many would have placed him on a higher scale than any of the other three. The fact that Olajuwon swept his team proves only Olajuwon's superiority, not Shaq's lack of experience.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">And that little list you made isnt even that impressive</div> And the teams Russell played against were????....come on I respect Russell and he was great player, but the competition that Hakeem had was much more difficult (players skills have gotten better with time)....and yes it is a fact that Hakeem is a better all around player than Shaq, you'd be foolish to think otherwise....Hakeem can actually shoot,was a better defender, and his footwork deficates all over Shaq's....so yes it's a fact Hakeem is a better rounded player.....Shaq is one dimensional on offense, power game and that's it......so like I said before the only player you can honestly say was better than Hakeem during that era was Jordan. EDIT Thanks Locke for bringing up the point about Shaq, yes he wasn't in his prime, but Shaq was still one of the top 3 players in the league and Hakeem schooled him.
hakeem was great no doubt, but when he faced shaq, true shaq was insane back then but he was still raw. but if any of u saw old clips of the series where the rockets faced the lakers in the 80's western conference finals kareem schooled hakeem, when hakeem was similar to shaq's age in orlando.
Well I can't remember that far back....LOL...but Kareem probably did school Hakeem, but at that time in his career Hakeem had not developed into the dominant player that he once would be............Shaq on the other hand was avg. 30 points and 11 rebounds a game (similar to his numbers in his prime).....I would love to see Kareem go head to head with Hakeem in his prime, when he was fully developed.
