NBA Playoffs Thread

Kareen, Wilt, Russell, Hakeem, Shaq.....who gives a good fuck who's 1, who's 2, who's 3, etc?

There are more important things to discuss. Like LeBron taking a huge, steaming, greasy shit all over Boston.

 

I'll wade into this debate only to point out that Hakeem is getting short shrift from you guys. Not only was he one of the greatest offensive centers of all time, not only did he carry the Rockets on his back to two consecutive championships, but he was clearly THE greatest DEFENSIVE center of the modern era (and, imo, of all time).

He's statistically the greatest shotblocker ever (http://www.basketball-reference.com/leaders/blk_career.html) and, in what I think is a truly fascinating stat, he remarkably also ranks in the NBA's all time Top 10 in STEALS as a 7 FOOT CENTER alongside whippet guards and wings like Stockton, Jordan Payton, Pippin and Kidd (http://www.basketball-reference.com/leaders/stl_career.html). No other center ranks even remotely close to him in that category, in fact David Robinson is the only other one to even crack to Top 50 (at #48). THAT's how far ahead Hakeem was as an overall defender.

And, on top of the defensive dominance, at his peak he was one of the most reliable offensive go to guys ever to live. As an all around player, offense and defense, all over the court, I don't believe there's ever been a center as well rounded as the Dream. And he also gets bonus points in my book for being as graceful, athletic and fun to watch as any center in history.

His two rings might not measure up number wise to Kareem and Shaq's collection, but he also didn't have superstars the calibur of Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, James Worthy and D-Wade as sidekicks.

 

How about the way LeBron and Wade acted as if they just won Game 7 of the Finals when it was Game 5 of the conference semifinals?

Holy crap, could they have been more melodramatic? LeBron falling to the floor and fake crying was the most ludicrous "Please let this be a signature moment for me" bit of posturing I've seen in a long time, maybe ever.

 

Yeah. It was a little much. Not as much as you, and others I've heard today, are making it out to be. But yeah. A bit much.

Wonder how Pauly Pierce feels about taking his talents to South Beach now? Dude got lit up like a Christmas tree the last two games. A beautiful, beautiful thing to watch.

 

One other point: He only got his rings because of weak fields and Jordan's "retirement" (I say the same thing about the Detroit rings). The Knicks almost won a title those years.

 

I agree with Stoney here (!!). Olajuwon was a great player who didn't get his due.

 

One thing about Hakeem. I saw earlier where somebody called him a 7-footer. He was far from it. Closer to 6-10 by his own admission. Not that it mattered.

Here's my question. What was more unstoppable, the Dream Shake or the Sky Hook? And if the Mavs win this year does Dirk's awkward, little one-leg turn-around jumper join those shots in the legacy of unstoppable shots?

And one more question: Was the Dream Shake a travel? I say not, although to me it always looked like a travel until you watched the replay.

 

Well, that would mean something if the NBA counted blocked shots and steals when Russell and Chamberlain were playing.

But they didn't, so it doesn't.

 

The Dream Shake was awesome. But it was no sky hook. The sky hook alone is the reason Kareem could play till he was 42 and actually be a big contributor at 40. Even at 42 he was a center on a Finals team. He had no other move the last few years, other than maybe a little drop step, but could still put up 20-plus. At 38 he put up 23 a game and had 40-plus games against the Twin Towers during the regular season.

And from a technical perspective, the Dream Shake was a bit more limited as to where he could utilize it. Had to be pretty close to the bucket for his fake, then turn (the fadeaway aspect was most effective on the left block, spinning toward the baseline). Plus, you could, in theory, play good defense by not biting on his ball fake (obviously easy to say, very difficult to do). Kareem would break out the hook from anywhere, and could drill it lefty from about 10 feet in. And it didn't matter what kind of defense you had, he'd just shoot it over the guy, even if he was being pushed 18 feet from the basket. I don't think the Shake was a travel.

Dirk definitely has the ugliest unstoppable shot ever, but it's a fun one to try out in old man basketball on Wednesday nights.

 

The Sky Hook

The Shake could have been a travel, but so could so many moves in the NBA.

For his career, Hakeem shot .512 from the floor. Kareem? .559.

Hakeem's rookie season he shot .538 from the floor. That was his most accurate season. Kareem had 15 seasons where he shot better than .538 from the floor.

Plus, for a large part of Kareem's career there was not three point shot, so the lane could have been more clogged, thus Kareem did it the hard way.

 

Then after the game, LeBron was saying how he couldn't beat Boston by himself. At least don't say that out loud, dude.

 

The Dream Shake without the moniker was a fadeaway jumper with a fake. The Big E had that shot then was criticized for being "soft" because he faded away.

There has not been anything else like the Sky Hook, ever. The key? Mr. Alcindor was so secure in his identity that he took ballet lessons as a kid (I read his autobiography as a kid.)