Hakeem Olajuwon is one of the greatest big men to have played in the NBA, and some would say he is perhaps the most underrated one among them. Drafted first overall by the Houston Rockets in 1984, Olajuwon spent the bulk of his career with the franchise, during which he won 2 titles, 2 Finals MVPs, an MVP, and 2 Defensive Player of the Year awards.
He was so great that the NBA honored him by naming the DPOY award after him earlier this month, and Olajuwon earned a lot of admirers with his play over the years. Michael Jordan was just one of the many, and he once spoke about how impressed he was by the big man’s versatility.
“Olajuwon, he was in the top 10 in five categories, steals, rebounds, blocked shots, scoring, and shooting percentage. To have a big guy of his size to be in the top 10 in steals, you would assume that he would be in blocks, which to me showed versatility and what type of guy he really was.”
Olajuwon has a case for being the greatest defensive player over the last 30-odd years. LeBron James recently passed him on the all-time list for steals, but Olajuwon still remains in the top 10 with 2,162, which is simply remarkable for a big man, and he isn’t really at risk of being passed by anyone anytime soon. He is also the all-time leader in blocks with 3,830 and now ranks in the top 15 for points as well as rebounds. There probably won’t ever be another true big man who is able to do so many different things at a high level on the court.
Hakeem Olajuwon Also Greatly Admired Michael Jordan
There is clearly a lot of mutual respect between Jordan and Olajuwon, with the big man stating back in 1995 that MJ is in a different class. He said that while most superstars neutralize each other, Jordan dominates superstars, which is true.
It is a real shame that we never got to see these two battle it out in the Finals, as it would have been a spectacle. It was just the regular season, but Olajuwon did hold a 13-10 lead in their 23 meetings, and the Chicago Bulls would have found it very difficult to slow him down. Still, Jordan being Jordan, would have probably found a way to come out on top eventually, but we’ll never know for sure.
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