Hakeem Olajuwon is perhaps the greatest player we never talk about. He was a scoring machine with a top-tier rim protection ability and one of the few guys that can brag about leading his team to an NBA Championship in the 1990s.
Olajuwon is the all-time leader in blocked shots and the player who set the tone for the big men to come after him. Up to this day, players still look for him to advise and spend hours studying his footage to try and develop solid footwork.
But among all the great things Hakeem ‘The Dream’ did throughout his career, the 1993-94 season definitely has to stand out. I mean, he literally had one of the most perfect seasons any NBA player could dream about.
Hakeem Olajuwon averaged 27.3 points (third in the league), 11.9 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.6 steals, and 3.7 blocks per game on 52/42/71 shooting splits, played 80 games and averaged 41.0 minutes a night.
Those kinds of performances granted him a spot in both the All-NBA 1st team and All-Defense 1st team, as well as obviously making him an All-Star for the 9th time on his career.
Hakeem also posted 7.9 defensive win shares and a 3.3 defensive box plus-minus with a 23.3% defensive rebound percentage, 2.0% steal percentage, and 5.7% block percentage. The Rockets were 5th in points allowed and had the second-best defensive rating in the league, thus Olajuwon won the Defensive Player of the Year award.
Add a PER of 25.3, a true shooting percentage of 56.5%, a VORP of 7.3, a 6.8 box plus-minus, and 14.3 win shares and you’ll know Hakeem was worthy of the MVP award he also won that season.
Hakeem led the Rockets to a 58-win season. Then, they beat the Blazers 3-1 in the first round, the Suns 4-3 in the second round, and the Jazz 4-1 in the Western Conference Finals.
Then The Dream put the cherry on top of the sundae by averaging 26.9 points, 9.1 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.6 steals, and 3.9 blocks on 50% from the floor and 86% from the line plus a game-saving block in game 6 of the Finals. The Rockets beat the Knicks in 7 games and Hakeem topped his perfect season with a Finals MVP award.
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