Hakeem Olajuwon - (Maxi Basket photo)

SPORTS NOTES - NBA's ALL-TIME GREATEST PLAYERS TEAM

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Olajuwon was the 1st overall pick by the Houston Rockets in the 1984 NBA Draft ahead of Michael Jordan who was chosen 3rd by the Chicago Bulls - In the 1993-94, he became the only player in NBA history to win the NBA MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, and Finals MVP awards in the same season - THE 50 GREATEST NBA PLAYERS of ALL TIME LIST

Sunday, November 16, 2014

THE DREAM MAKES THE TEAM

Rounding out our NBA All-time Greatest Players team is Hakeem Olajuwon who is one of the most intelligent athletes from all sorts that we have ever interviewed. Olajuwon was the 1st overall pick by the Houston Rockets in the 1984 NBA Draft ahead of r Michael Jordan who was chosen 3rd by the Chicago Bulls which leads to a trivia question. Who was the 2nd pick ahead of Michael Jordan in that draft?

From 1984 to 2002 the Nigerian / American played the center position for the Houston Rockets and Toronto Raptors. He led the Rockets to back-to-back NBA championships in 1994 and 1995. In 2008, he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Olajuwon is considered one of the greatest centers ever to play the game and is a member of the NBA's 50 Great Ever team. Olajuwon was nicknamed "The Dream" during his basketball career, for his grace on and off the court.

We selected Olajuwon since he had the best footwork that we have ever seen. At 7' tall (2.13 m) utilizing his footwork he could cover a lot of ground. With the ball, Hakeem displayed a vast array of fakes and spin moves, highlighted in his signature footwork he referred to as his "Dream Shake" that was also referred to by former NBA coaching ledged and the 1967 NBA champion Philadelphia 76ers General Manager Jack Ramsey as a drop step.

During his youth, Olajuwon was a soccer goalkeeper, which helped give him the footwork and agility to balance his size and strength in basketball, and also contributed to his shot-blocking ability. Olajuwon did not play basketball until the age of 15, when he entered a local tournament. It has been said that a coach in Nigeria once asked him to dunk and demonstrated while standing on a chair. Olajuwon then tried to stand on the chair himself. When redirected by staff not to use the chair, Hakeem could initially not dunk the basketball.

Despite early struggles, Olajuwon quickly became taken with the game: "Basketball is something that is so unique. That immediately I pick up the game and, you know, realize that this is the sport for me. All the other sports just become secondary," he noted.

His Dream Shake move was executed with uncanny speed and power; they are still regarded as the pinnacle of "big man" footwork. Shaquille O'Neal stated: "Hakeem has five moves, then four countermoves - that gives him 20 moves." Olajuwon himself traced the move back to the soccer-playing days of his youth.

"The Dream Shake was actually one of my soccer moves which I translated to basketball," he said. "It would accomplish one of three things: one, to misdirect the opponent and make him go the opposite way; two, to freeze the opponent and leave him devastated in his tracks; three, to shake off the opponent and giving him no chance to contest the shot," he added. The Dream Shake was very difficult to defend, much like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's sky-hook.

On offense, Olajuwon was famous for his deft shooting touch around the basket and his nimble footwork in the low post. Hakeem was a prolific scorer, averaging 21.8 points per game for his career, and an above average offensive rebounder, averaging 3.3 offensive rebounds per game. Additionally, Olajuwon became a skilled dribbler with an ability to score in "face-up" situations like a perimeter player. He is 1 of only 4 players to have recorded a quadruple-double in the NBA. It should be noted that quadruple-doubles were not possible. before the 1973-74 season, when blocked shots and steals were first kept as statistics in the NBA. During his prime he was quick and a good outside shooter from 15'. His outside shot was better than Chamberlain or Russell's and almost equal to Bob Pettit.

The Rockets had immediate success during Olajuwon's rookie season, as their win-loss record improved from 29-53 in 1983-84 to 48-34 in 1984-85. He teamed with the 1984 Rookie of the Year, 7 ft 4 in (2.24 m) Ralph Sampson to form the original NBA "Twin Towers" duo. Olajuwon averaged 20.6 points, 11.9 rebounds and 2.68 blocks in his rookie season. He finished as runner-up to Michael Jordan in the 1985 Rookie of the Year voting, and was the only other rookie to receive any votes.

Olajuwon averaged 23.5 points, 11.5 rebounds, and 3.4 blocks per game during his second pro season (1985-86).[18] The Rockets finished 51-31, and advanced all the way to the Western Conference Finals where they faced the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers. The Rockets won the series fairly easily, four games to one, shocking the sports world and landing Olajuwon on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Olajuwon scored 75 points in victories in games three and four, and after the series Lakers coach Pat Riley remarked "We tried everything. We put four bodies on him. We helped from different angles. He's just a great player." The Rockets advanced to the 1986 NBA Finals where they succumbed in six games to the Boston Celtics, whose 1986 team is often considered one of the best teams in NBA history.

In the 1993-94, he became the only player in NBA history to win the NBA MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, and Finals MVP awards in the same season. Olajuwon was a member of the USA Olympic gold-medal-winning United States national team. He ended his career as the league's all-time leader in blocks, with 3,830.

Olajuwon had some hoops to jump through to become eligible to be a member of the USA national team. In 1980, before arriving in the US, Olajuwon played for a Nigerian junior team in the All-Africa Games. This created some problems when he tried to play for the United States men's national basketball team initially. FIBA rules prohibit players from representing more than one country in international competition, and players must go through a three year waiting period for any nationality change. Olajuwon was ineligible for selection to the "Dream Team" as he hadn't become a US citizen.

Olajuwon became a naturalized American citizen on April 2, 1993. For the 1996 Olympics, he received a FIBA exemption and was eligible to play for Dream Team III. The team went on to win the gold medal in Atlanta. During the tournament, he shared his minutes with Shaquille O'Neal and David Robinson. He played 7 out of the 8 games and started 2. He averaged 5 points and 3.1 rebounds and had 8 assists and 6 steals in eight games.

While many basketball fans may have other players they feel are deserving of being on their all-time team given our experience having seen all of our selections play live in a game and not on TV we feel that we have chosen the best of all-time.

Consider this… all of our sections are on the NBA's 50 Greatest players team (see list below). As the league continues to grow and athleticism of individuals improves the most important factor is that as famed college coach John Wooden stated that he didn't choose a team of the best talented players but a team that could function well as a TEAM. Wooden knew what he was talking about having played professional basketball prior to the creation of the NBA.

Wooden's most notable claim to fame is having coached on the college level in leading UCLA to 10 NCAA championship titles including seven in a row. Wooden was prudent about nutrition and health matters. He knew what he was talking about as he passed away just a few days before his 100th birthday. It's his rationale that we applied in choosing our NBA's greatest ever team. Think about it…. Can you assemble a team that can defeat ours? The ball is on your court.

TRIVIA ANSWER:

The 2nd overall pick in the 1984 NBA draft was Sam Bowie by the Portland Trailblazers. Bowie had a moderate career.

NBA's ALL-TIME GREATEST PLAYERS TEAM - BOB PETTIT is one of THE BEST of the BEST

NBA's ALL-TIME BEST - Part 1

NBA's ALL TIME 1st TEAM - Part 2

THE NBA'S ALL TIME GREATEST PLAYERS - Part 3

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