Dirk passes Hakeem

Yeah I respect dirk as well but it does frustrate me when i hear comments about dirk being better than Hakeem. Just completely ignore his defense! Kind of like when you see a big man do a slow move that involves a couple fakes and claiming it to be a dream shake! Ugh.

We will likely never hear the end of this and the more time that passes the worse it will get. Back then, most people outside of Houston did not watch many Rockets games and certainly not many before 1993. Everyone was too busy drooling over the Lakers, Celtics, Pistons, Bulls, Blazers, Suns, Jazz, Sonics, and Knicks to notice.

While the documentaries about him are good they simply can't capture that in-the-moment emotion of awe and joy when watching Hakeem play.

The reality is, when players want to improve their post game they don't go to Kareem. They don't go to Ewing, Shaq, Laimbeer, or any of those other guys. They go to Dream.

It's funny, I was listening to Colin Cowherd the other morning (I know, I brought this on myself) and I was floored. He was talking about how in football guys can play a different sport their whole life and then step into football (around 17-18 or so) and become stars, but that in no other sport can that, nor has that, happened.

I seldom want to call a talk show, but I wanted to that day. I wanted to call Cowherd and simply say, "Dream Olajuwon, you idiot!", and hang up.

Dream was a soccer (football) goalie when the scouts found him. They convinced him to come to UH and the rest is history. Perhaps, Cowherd's definition of star is different from mine. Olajuwon was not much of a media darling (until the 94-95 finals teaming up with Shaq), but he was a star-caliber player almost as soon as he first suited up. He attained legendary status around 1994, but he was a star from the get-go.

Getting back on topic, I like Dirk as a player. Like Olajuwon, he achieved a season of perfect synergy that ended with him leading a scrappy group of guys to a championship while playing, arguably, some of the best basketball the world had ever seen. You can't take that away from him. I think that, as was noted above, when you account for the defense, the blocks record, the triple doubles, the passing, and everything else it goes Hakeem's way. However, do not under-estimate the effect each had on the game. Olajuwon changed things for sure--he showed that a little less size and a lot more speed/agility could defeat the 7' behemoths of the NBA. In like manner, Dirk proved that a lanky 7' guy with a sweet stroke could completely neutralize the bruisers employed at PF. The league has adjusted on both fronts--mostly....

In one regard, you could lump these guys together with Julius Erving and Magic Johnson--players who re-defined the possibilities of a position. There have been plenty who dominated their positions throughout the brief history of the NBA, but few have expanded people's beliefs like those 4 have. (for those considering it, LBJ gets left off because Magic already did it). However you slice it, that is some select company.