A great article on the Namesake

There will never be another Hakeem Olajuwon.

I love Yao Ming's game... but he's not on Hakeem's level (yet).

Check out this excellent article in the Chronicle on Hakeem and how it was he made it to Houston to begin his path to the Hall of Fame.

Oh, and suck it, David Robinson -- I never get tired of this clip:

Hakeem is underrated

Yes. You read the title right.

Hakeem Olajuwon is tragically underrated as one of top centers in NBA history.

From his wikipedia page: "Olajuwon is generally considered one of the five greatest centers to ever play the game, along with Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Shaquille O'Neal." Sure, okay, maybe I shouldn't get so riled up at being put in this category.

Then you read this ESPN report from last year where Olajuwon ranks *fifth* (yes, fifth, as is 1, 2, 3, 4... fifth) as an all-time center.

To put it mildly - that is absolute bullshit.

There is no f'n way Hakeem should ever be ranked below Shaquille O'Neal on any list. Except maybe "most cheeseburgers consumed during an NBA career." The one time Shaq faced Hakeem in a playoff series during Hakeem's prime - the Dream crushed that mofo. Swept his team right outta the NBA Finals.

(Doesn't the Fat Ass look skinny in that picture...? Wow, 1995 was a long time ago!)

Anyway, it's not just Shaq that annoys me. It's the list in general. The all-time greatest NBA centers list should look like this:

1. Wilt Chamberlain - he's a freak, but he did rely on others to get him his ring.
2. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - Sports Guy says he is a ninny, I don't disagree. But he's good.
3. HAKEEM
4. Bill Russell - though he's overrated on many levels
5. The Fat Ass - (and the fact that the Fat Ass isn't #1 overall is a shameful reflection of Shaq's wasted talent. Too many movies and CDs... not enough time being a leader. Kobe was right - Shaq spent too much time showing up out of shape.)

***note the complete lack of players from Utah, or anyone named "Patrick Ewing"

That said here's some arguments for why Hakeem is/was better than all of them:

Wilt

Wilt won two championships - in 1967 and in 1972. Wilt's 1967 Sixers team was very good - but it featured TWO other future Hall-of-Famers (Hal Greer and Billy Cunningham). A starting lineup with three HOFers... in the 1960s. When there were like 10 teams. Wilt averaged 24.2 rebounds per game that season. That's video-game shit there. But he'd never duplicate those numbers in the 1990s version of the NBA. No way.

Wilt won another championship with the 1972 Lakers. A team that was so loaded that Chamberlain wasn't even the featured scorer or star player on the team (that would be Jerry West). Wilt didn't even make 1st-team all NBA that year.

Imagine Hakeem Olajuwon with Jerry West, Gail Goodrich and cameos from Elgin Baylor and Pat Riley?? That would be sick!!

Of course, Hakeem can't compete with Wilt off the court... 20,000 women? A record soon to be broken by Paris Hilton, but impressive nonetheless.

Kareem

Kareem is the all-time leading scorer in NBA history. He also has 6 NBA Titles (one less than Robert Horry - suck on that Kareem). Only one of those titles came without the help of one Earvin "Magic" Johnson. This cannot be overlooked. Magic is probably a top 5 NBA player of all time - and the #1 PG of all time. Kareem survived longer than he should have because Magic was that damn good. Five titles because he got to stand around and watch Magic, James Worthy, Michael Cooper and Mychael Thompson run wild. Oh, and Byron Scott - he wasn't as shitty a player as he is a coach.

Plus, no one ever really feared Kareem once he left UCLA. Sure, he was a HOFer without a doubt, but even Shaq scared people. Kareem kinda pranced his way around the court. Even his go-to move was kind of lame for a dude that is 7'2". A sky-hook? Really? That afraid some guard is going to block your stuff? Whatever...

Okay, 6 rings is hard to overlook. And all the points. And everytime someone mentions Hakeem's blocks record they always talk about how the stat wasn't kept in Wilt and Kareem's day... to that I say, whatever. And the scoring record? Kareem played 1,560 games in the NBA. Look it up. If you play that many games are are *not* one of the top scorers of all-time, you must have a lot of dirt on Pat Riley. That's all I'm saying. Shit, when Karl Malone is the #2 leading scorer of all time - that kinda negates the argument that it is an important record.

Russell

Bill Russell has 11 rings. Yes, I know. This keeps getting shoved down my throat every time his name is mentioned. Here's the thing though: if he did NOT have 11 rings, his career would have to be deemed a failure. During the vast majority of Russell's career, there were EIGHT (*8*) teams in the NBA. He had a 12.5% chance of getting a ring every single year. Plus, the dude had, on average, 5 hall of famers on his roster at any given time (Russell, Bob Cousy, John Havlicek, KC Jones, Tommy Heinsohn, etc., etc.).

Seriously? You have 5 HOFers on the roster at the same time? You are not allowed to lose with that kind of talent. To make a more direct analogy - if the Celtics of that era ever lost a game - it would be like the Duke Blue Devils beating the San Antonio Spurs. There is no excuse for having any *less* than 11 rings.

Oh, and your career scoring average, Bill? 15.1 ppg. In an era when teams routinely scored in the 120s. Shit, even Patrick Ewing laughs about that low number. Check that... Xavier McDaniel laughs at that number. And while the X Man rules, he is not in the HOF.

The Fat Ass

Uh, yeah, Shaq. He who could not win in 1995 with Penny Hardaway at his finest. He who had to have Kobe carry his fouled out ass to the ring in 2000 (Pacers), save his ass against the Spurs in 2001, and had Horry save his ass against the Kings in 2002. Sure, Shaq got to beat up on New Jersey in the Finals because the East had no centers. Whatever. Shaq has never been able to do anything without the help of a stud 2 guard. Witness this season without D-Wade. Or Shaq's rookie year pre-Penny. That Fat Ass is a lot of hype, a lot of mouth, a good sound byte or 20, but the substance just isn't there. And he's never going to approach Hakeem's 3,800 blocked shots.

I'm not even sure Shaq has jumped off the ground 3,800 times. Takes too much effort. Even Cartman learned how to use his powerful ass in productive ways:

Hakeem

12 time all-star
Only player to be NBA MVP, NBA Defensive Player of the Year, and NBA Finals MVP - in the same season. Suck on that, Jordan.

The only HOFer to play with Hakeem during his prime? Clyde - and we got Clyde on the downside -- for Otis freakin' Thorpe. And until my attempts to get Robert Horry inducted are successful, that's it.

(The Barkley era is struck from my memory. I can't believe we traded Horry, E.T., Chucky Brown and Mark Bryant for a broken down Barkley. I'm still crying about this. 10 years later.)

.... oh.

For anyone daring to claim that I need to discuss David Robinson? No. Fucking. Way.
I direct you to this. Case closed:

pwn3d!

We have liftoff

I’ve always fancied myself as a writer who is too lazy to write. Truth be told, I’m probably just like everyone else; I bet I blow as a writer. But what the hell, let’s find out just how much I am to writing as Heather Harmon is to the skin flute:

When I was just a wee little guy my mother introduced me to sports (That’s right I jumped straight from porn to my Mom, I do not have issues I swear). She was a pretty big sports fan, though over time her interest has waned from what it used to be. I think it has something to do with my step-dad not being with us any more so she immerses herself in other things. Ultimately though, she’s the reason I even cared when he came along and why I still care after he’s passed on.

Now my step-dad was a HUGE sports fan, and the Rockets were the team he followed the closest Before he and my mother married, the Houston Oilers were my number one love. He had pretty much stopped watching the Oilers after years of heartache. We joked about it, but I honestly think he felt he jinxed them into losing, much like he felt he jinxed the Rockets a few times. All of my unhealthy superstitions are rooted in him. (Thanks a lot for that by the way Dad!) His Rockets passion slowly played its way out to me becoming a fanatic of the Rockets. I wanted to please him so much that I memorized stats, and studied the games. I wanted to be able to talk about basketball with him, and I learned a lot from it. From 1990 to 1998 I probably missed a total of 8 minutes of all Rockets games that were televised. I used to tape them and watch them later, I was nuts about it. I jumped through many hoops just not to hear the score of a game I taped, starting conversations with “I don’t know if you are a Rockets fan, but do not tell me the score”; it was a sickness (a sickness I loved by the way). Deciding I should graduate from college and the Rockets starting to digress took its toll and I slowly lost the zeal to watch every minute of every game, eventually it got to the point three years ago where I watched about 15 games and sometimes forgot to check the box scores or even remember that the Rockets played the night before. That's just not right, what happened to that sickness? Was I just outgrowing the NBA? Was I just too busy to care? Or did I just forget how much I liked it?

When the 2004-5 playoffs started I decided to immerse my self completely again. I was back in Houston from Austin (Hook’em) and the Rockets were back in my life. My co-contributor and I bought tickets to the playoffs and watched the Rockets repeatedly get stuck on 88 points at home as the Mavericks pulled out a series that the Rockets dominated in parts. I planned on completing my re-emersion the next season, but it wasn’t meant to be.

Before the season even started I got the news that my girlfriend was pregnant. The subsequent wedding and my kick ass son being born killed the best laid plans… I decided once and for all that I need the Rockets back in my life. I need to teach my son about Hakeem, Big Shot Rob, Vernon, and Clyde. And I need to know what the future of the Rockets is to teach him about where they are going. So finally I’m back, and what better way to celebrate that than to chronicle my path back as a Rockets fan.

Now that you know a bit about me, here’s what to expect with this blog. Personally, I expect a lot of cuss words and as foul mouthed as I am, I bet more come from Dave than me, I’ll try and limit them, but if Rafer shoots like the piece of shit he is, I’m going to say he’s fucking killing me, that’s just the way it is. I wouldn’t expect full game recaps; we have lives and demanding jobs. That’s not to say that people that recap games don’t, but they are freaks of nature and we simply will not have the time for that. That being said, I would expect something said about every game and some analysis as to why Dave and I think the Rockets won or (hopefully a LOT less often) lost. I would expect some healthy debate over the use/lack there of of Steve Francis (Dave’s wrong by the way). I wouldn’t expect only Rockets talk; I would expect mostly Rockets talk though. I would expect this blog to be funny; I wouldn’t expect you to like every joke. I’m sure there’s more but I’ve gone on long enough. I’ll leave you with one of my favorite moments of all time, Hakeem using Robinson like the second tier center he was.

Oh ya, and Rafer sucks, a lot, even more than Derek Chievous and Buck Johnson,and that's just sad