Cornbread, that is. Maxwell was then asked to give his opinion on who he thought was the best player ever in the NBA. Typically, Michael Jordan, LeBron James, or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar are mentioned. If not them, it might be Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Kobe Bryant, or even Bird or Magic Johnson. Maxwell bypassed them all. “Hakeem Olajuwon,” Maxwell said. “He dominated the game better than anybody has ever dominated the game.” https://www.sportscasting.com/cedri...ake-on-his-vote-for-the-best-nba-player-ever/
I've always thought Hakeem was disrespected when it comes to these conversations. He was dominant on both ends of the court and out of all so called best players ever, he was surrounded by the least amount of All - Srars. Magic played with 2 HOFers, Jordan played with 1 HOFer, Bird played with 3 HOFers, the only HOFer Hakeem played with was Drexler and they played 2 yrs together.
Of the top 20 or so all-time players, how many absolutely dominated on defense? Most are considered great for their offense. Dream had both.
dunno the answer, yet MJ was lock down. When he so chose at end of games. Kobe not even that often. LBJ when he wasn’t ScoringBron. Kareem earlier in career. And wouldn’t chase a big out of keyzone. Magic, Bird? Not so much. Russ, Oscar, West? Oh, yeah.
Interesting, to me, is they who are often thought of as THE GOAT(s) are almost invariably 2-3s. 5s, despite the otherworldly greatness of Dream, Russ, Kareem, Shaq these bigs just don’t get GOAT love. Interesting, to me, is only one of the listed here or above besmirched his ‘legacy’ at the end.
Cedric Maxwell... and not Vernon said this? I doubt this. Anyways... Bird, Magic, Wilt, LeBron, Jordan outclassed Dream in marketing themselves.
Indeed it was Cornbread Maxwell. Link was provided. Indeed, Dream did not run a master class in self-promotion. And that’s ok.
Hakeem and Wilt played with the least amount of all star help until their later years. KG as well. Dork played with some very good teammates but overall in historical terms, you can probably add him. TD started out with exiting prime Robinson, ended with young Kawahi but overall id add him. Of course add Robinson who only really had role players through his prime. Giannis could be next. So could joker. Luka just got kyrie. Michael only had 1 all star teammate his entire career. Magic, Kareem, Oscar, Shaq, kobe, wilt, west all in some top 10 or 15 list and have played with each other. So did Curry and KD. Stockton and Malone each rank high at their positions and played together forever. Lebron has played with a ton of top players when their careers are done. So has KD really. Hakeem dominated both sides and to me is the Center version of Michael. Michael was the black cat and DR34M was the big cat. Except the Rockets just had bad luck with Ralph and drug issues and poor drafts that led to some very ugly years through Hakeems physical prime and guys like Duncan and Kareem aged better than him. Those 2 gaps really hurt is overall all time legacy as far as GOAT shout outs vs top 10-12 and even got people now moving him down for the Currys and KDs and even Giannis. It doesn't matter. NBA and current generation of fans only care about offense. They probably think Dame Dolla is better than Hakeem, but Dame would just be another Rod Strickland on his ass.
Dirk was great, but not GREAT. Wilt had some studs, particularly in Philly. But, didn’t always play ‘nice with friends’. Manu is on the Mount Rushmore of forgotten or underloved or underappreciated or or or of truly GREAT hoopers. That 1 from La France had lotsa game. Etc. Dream’s career was not littered with great support.
I agree. Ralph was a ROY and 4x All Star. OT was a 1 x All Star in SAC. Obviously Sam was a rookie but went on to have a nice career and 1x All Star, so i don't think he even counts. I think Sleepy and Joe Barry Carrol were both 1x All Star w/ GS the year before with they came to the Rockets in the Ralph trade and their numbers dropped big time. Then of course past prime Drexler, Chuck and Quitten. So basically his only former all star help outside of Ralph in the early days, were 3x 1x all star bench reserves or injury replacements selected by coaches. You have a ton of guys who made all star teams back then who were injury replacements and coaches always picked the blue collar guys but todays fans just see that and think the league was weak if that guy was an all star. It was just different and filling positions was mandatory, wasn't it? It wasn't as much a popularity contest and showy as it became through the years. End of career guys with former all star appearances don't really count otherwise LeBron played with every all star from the 2ks...and Stevie doesn't count.
Dream played 4 years with Drexler 1994-95 through 1997-98. He also played with Charles Barkley and Scottie Pippen (both HOFers) and Vince Carter (a lock for the Hall). That would be four hall of famer's by my count. Your other numbers are off as well. Jordan played with at least 4 HOFers (Pippen, Kukoc, Rodman and Gervin for 1 season). Magic played with 4 HOFers (Divac, Worthy, McAdoo, and Abdul-Jabbar). Bird played with a whopping eight other HOFers (McHale, Parish, Johnson, Gilmore, Walton, Archibald, Cowens, and Maravich).
