i liked Foshizzle bringing up craig ehlo again as a quality teammate of hakeem's. i think i've decided that tim duncan's accomplishments don't mean much b/c he got to play with will perdue. the titles were pretty much inevitable for both.
Not to derail this thread but this has turned into one of the more entertaining long threads in some time. Kinda feels like a barber shop boxing argument.
Hakeem was ridiculously athletic. One plays stands out -- when Rod Strickland stole the ball from another player, Hakeem chased him all the was down the court and blocked the ball from behind. Rod was moving too and was quick back then.
The 85-86 Rocket team lost to one of the all-time great teams. The Celtics won 67 games and went 40-1 at home. I dare say that will never be repeated (one home loss).
He seems to have no skills (or not like Dream's), but Nene is a helluva athlete. I see him do things that alot of guards can't do.
Olajuwon refusing to share the ball so demoralized David Wood that he never became the Dream Teamer everyone thought he was coming out of college...
And all this time I thought Matt Maloney just sucked, when it was actually Hakeem that was holding him back.
The people who say Duncan is a better player than Hakeem obviously never watched Hakeem. Name one thing Duncan does better: shooter? Nope. Passer? Nope. Rebounder? Nope. Shot blocker? Nope? On ball defender? Nope. Overall offensive game? Nope. Footwork? Nope. Free throw shooter? Nope. Duncan is a great one, a top 50 player of all time, but he's not Hakeem. Look at who Duncan has had in his lineup through the championship years - Parker (one of the best points in the league for the last 5 years - Hakeem had Kenny Smith), Ginobli (can take over a game, maybe the best sixth man ever - Hakeem had Mad Max and Mario Elie), Bowen (one of the best lock down defensive players in the last decade - Hakeem had a yound Robert Horry who was a good role player), Robinson (I know this was early on, but he still had David Robinson - Hakeem had Thorpe - I would say this is a wash considering David was on the decline), Michael Finley, Stephen Jackson, on and on and on. Without question, Tim has been surrounded by better talent and to say otherwise shows complete and total ignorance. Finally, I have never, never, never seen Duncan dominate an entire playoff, much less a series, the way Dream did in the 94 & 95 championship runs. His performances were truly legendary.
I like the Rockets, but have always been more of a Spurs fan. I also love Duncan's game. He is very fundamentally sound and a great player. That said, there is no contest between him and Hakeem. If you watched both guys play in their primes, there is no way you would say Duncan is a better player. It isn't even close. Those of you that argue it are showing your age.
I really can't believe you are seriously trying to argue the 1986 Rockets against the Showtime Lakers. I don't even know how to respond, it's so preposterous. Those were some of the greatest teams in NBA history.
