Kevin Durant vs Hakeem Olajuwon

[bizil]

IF the scoring is close, u gotta go to the floor game for the tiebreaker a lot of the time when it comes to who is the better player. And Dream is the best two way center of all time. At his peak at LEGIT 10 at scoring and defending his position. That's MJ type territory. In today's game, a peak Dream would TOTALLY change how centers are perceived in today's game. No centers are considered in the argument for best player in the world. Because guys like a Giannis moved to the PF spot. And his secondary position could be SF just as easily as it could be center. Embid and Joker are top 10-12 players in the world. BUT the Dream was the closest we saw to an MJ level talent at the center spot. I'm talking in terms of skill, dominance, and athletic ability as a package. NO CENTER combined all those elements like Dream.

So give me the Dream EVEN THOUGH it could come down to what you need. KD and Dream are around the same territory in terms of peak-prime value at their respective position. Mt. Rushmore type guys for the SF and C respectively. So KD FOR SURE is a valid name to compare. And GOAT wise, I would give Dream the edge too. I got him #11 GOAT wise. BUT KD is top 15 GOAT caliber at this point in his career. And who knows how much he could go up the charts.

[Facepalm]

Hakeem dragged the 94 Rockets to the chip by himself. Durant had 3 hall of famers and couldn't get it done. Had to run and join one of the most stacked teams of all time. Put Durant on the championship Rockets and he would be a first round exit.

[tontoz]

How was Hakeem's scoring efficiency not good?

His first two long playoff runs 20 and 10 games a piece, he averaged 28 PPG on 120+ ORTG. That's as elite efficiency as you're ever gonna see and right on par with Durant. In 1988, he averaged 38/17 on a just unbelievable 134 ORTG. His best teammate was a fella named "Sleepy Floyd" who averaged 18 ppg with negative splits. I get what you're saying 38 PPG and 1.8 APG basically means anytime he touched the ball he was looking to score, but shit... when you do it that well I really cant blame the guy for losing.

Cherry picking can make anyone an efficient scorer. For his career Hakeem had a 55.3% TS in the regular season, not great for a big. In comparison DRob scored the same ppg with a TS of 58.3% and he wasnt a great shooter either.

[Roundball_Rock]

Cherry picking can make anyone an efficient scorer. For his career Hakeem had a 55.3% TS in the regular season, not great for a big. In comparison DRob scored the same ppg with a TS of 58.3% and he wasnt a great shooter either.

The difference is the playoffs. RS TS % in parentheses.

Prime Efficiency for 90's Era Star Centers

Ewing 88’-97’: 52.8% (56.3%)
Robinson 90’-98’: 54.9% (59.0%)
Shaq 94’-05’: 56.7% (58.4%)
Mourning 94’-00’: 54.8% (58.7%)
Hakeem 86’-97’: 57.8% (55.8%)
Daughtery 88'-94' 58.8% (59.2%)

Hakeem blows away Robinson, Mourning and embarrasses Ewing. Daughtery beats him--but Daughtery's 21.7% usage is 3rd/4th option volume. Hakeem is the only one who improved--and considerably, a full 2%, despite PO=facing tougher defenses.

How about Durant versus his peers?

10’s Stars Playoff Efficiency Versus Norm

LeBron 06’-16’: 56.7% (59.2%)
LeBron 06’-18’: 57.9% (59.6%)
Durant 10’-19’: 59.7% (62.6%)
George 13’-19’: 57.1% (56.5%)
Kawhi 14’-19’: 61.9% (60.2%)
Kawhi 16’-19’: 62.8% (60.9%)
Butler 15’-19’: 55.5% (57.9%)

This is boosted by joining arguably the GOAT team. He wasn't this efficient without Curry, Klay, Green, Iggy around him. He was at 57.5% in OKC, jumped to 64.2% on GS.

[tontoz]

The difference is the playoffs. RS TS % in parentheses.

Prime Efficiency for 90's Era Star Centers

Ewing 88’-97’: 52.8% (56.3%)
Robinson 90’-98’: 54.9% (59.0%)
Shaq 94’-05’: 56.7% (58.4%)
Mourning 94’-00’: 54.8% (58.7%)
Hakeem 86’-97’: 57.8% (55.8%)

Daughtery 88'-94' 58.8% (59.2%)

Hakeem blows away Robinson, Mourning and embarrasses Ewing. Daughtery beats him--but Daughtery's 21.7% usage is 3rd/4th option volume.

How about Durant versus his peers?

10’s Stars Playoff Efficiency Versus Norm

LeBron 06’-16’: 56.7% (59.2%)
LeBron 06’-18’: 57.9% (59.6%)
Durant 10’-19’: 59.7% (62.6%)
George 13’-19’: 57.1% (56.5%)
Kawhi 14’-19’: 61.9% (60.2%)
Kawhi 16’-19’: 62.8% (60.9%)
Butler 15’-19’: 55.5% (57.9%)

This is boosted by joining arguably the GOAT team. He wasn't this efficient without Curry, Klay, Green, Iggy around him. He was at 57.5% in OKC, jumped to 64.2% on GS.

Hakeem's 55.8% TS is the lowest in your post.

Hakeem had a bunch of first round exits. His 145 playoff games are drawfed by 1238 regular season games. I'll go with the bigger sample size thank you.

Hakeem did have the best playoff series i ever saw though, from anyone.

[tpols]

Cherry picking can make anyone an efficient scorer. For his career Hakeem had a 55.3% TS in the regular season, not great for a big. In comparison DRob scored the same ppg with a TS of 58.3% and he wasnt a great shooter either.

I dont give much a **** about regular season compared to playoffs. That's a weak analysis. Compounded by the fact that, despite Hakeem's lower regular season efficiency, he totally shit on david robinson when it mattered most in the playoffs.

[tpols]

The difference is the playoffs. RS TS % in parentheses.

Prime Efficiency for 90's Era Star Centers

Ewing 88’-97’: 52.8% (56.3%)
Robinson 90’-98’: 54.9% (59.0%)
Shaq 94’-05’: 56.7% (58.4%)
Mourning 94’-00’: 54.8% (58.7%)
Hakeem 86’-97’: 57.8% (55.8%)
Daughtery 88'-94' 58.8% (59.2%)

Hakeem blows away Robinson, Mourning and embarrasses Ewing. Daughtery beats him--but Daughtery's 21.7% usage is 3rd/4th option volume. Hakeem is the only one who improved--and considerably, a full 2%, despite PO=facing tougher defenses.

How about Durant versus his peers?

10’s Stars Playoff Efficiency Versus Norm

LeBron 06’-16’: 56.7% (59.2%)
LeBron 06’-18’: 57.9% (59.6%)
Durant 10’-19’: 59.7% (62.6%)
George 13’-19’: 57.1% (56.5%)
Kawhi 14’-19’: 61.9% (60.2%)
Kawhi 16’-19’: 62.8% (60.9%)
Butler 15’-19’: 55.5% (57.9%)

This is boosted by joining arguably the GOAT team. He wasn't this efficient without Curry, Klay, Green, Iggy around him. He was at 57.5% in OKC, jumped to 64.2% on GS.

So now you realize rate of successful shotmaking and offense matters huh?

[Roundball_Rock]

His 145 playoff games are drawfed by 1238 regular season games. I'll go with the bigger sample size thank you.

You could say that about anyone. Ewing: 139 playoff games, 1,183 RS games. Robinson: 987 RS games, 123 PO games. Durant 849 RS games, 139 PO games. Daughtery: 548 RS games, 41 games. Jordan 1,072 RS games, 179 PO games.

Not surprising since there are 82 RS games each year, when Hakeem played a maximum of 26 PO games if you somehow went 5/7/7/7 (28 now).

[SouBeachTalents]

Real talk, does anyone think Durant wins a single playoff series with the '94 or '95 Rockets?

[Roundball_Rock]

Real talk, does anyone think Durant wins a single playoff series with the '94 or '95 Rockets?

They would beat the Blazers in the first round in 94' with KD but that is it.

The reverse: put Hakeem on OKC and then GS from 2017-2019 in place of KD. OKC does better with Hakeem, GS the same, most likely.

[kuniva_dAMiGhTy]

Hakeem because he's proven to be the tougher player, mentally. Unlike Durant, Hakeem stayed with his organization and took his playoff lumps. Grew with his teams and finally broke through with one of the GOAT postseason runs. Hakeem also did more with less and could anchor a defense while maintaining elite commond on O.

Hakeem scores 46 points vs Portland (1994 WC1R GM2)
Hakeem closes out the Jazz - 22/10/6/4/7 (G5 - 1994 WCF)
Hakeem Olajuwon closes out Phoenix - 37/17/5 (G7 - 1994 NBA Playoffs)
Hakeem w/ a 30-point double-double vs Ewing in the Finals. Elimination game to tie the series 3-3

Those performances were all in ONE playoff run. But en-route to a ring. That year, Hakeem also led Houston to the second best defense (behind Robinson's Spurs). Overall was second in blocks behind Mutombo, third in PPG, #4 in box plus minus and #2 in player efficiency. In the postseason, Hakeem was #1 in points, #2 in box plus minus (#1 in defensive box-plus minus), #2 in player efficiency. Again all in one year.

Durant is one of the best scorers ever, but Hakeem had the entire package. And is less prone to fold with everything equal.

[tontoz]

I dont give much a **** about regular season compared to playoffs. That's a weak analysis. Compounded by the fact that, despite Hakeem's lower regular season efficiency, he totally shit on david robinson when it mattered most in the playoffs.

History doesn't share your view. The regular season is the best predictor of playoff success.

If Hakeem could dominate Robinson in the playoffs (yes i watched that series) why didn't he dominate him in the regular season?

https://stathead.com/tiny/c0vxz

Either he was just coasting too much in the regular season or that series was a small sample anomaly. And if he was frequently coasting in the regular season that would mean a lower playoff seed. Maybe that's a reason why he has 8 first round exits on his resume.

[SouBeachTalents]

They would beat the Blazers in the first round in 94' with KD but that is it.

The reverse: put Hakeem on OKC and then GS from 2017-2019 in place of KD. OKC does better with Hakeem, GS the same, most likely.

Even that is extremely iffy to me, Hakeem averaged 34/11/5/2/4 in what was a pretty competitive series. Best case scenario Durant matches his scoring while the Rockets have a seismic drop off defensively

[tpols]

History doesn't share your view. The regular season is the best predictor of playoff success.

That... is just total bullshit. Kyle Lowry and Demar Derozan would like to have a word with you.

[SouBeachTalents]

That... is just total bullshit. Kyle Lowry and Demar Derozan would like to have a word with you.

As would Ewing, Malone, D-Rob, Harden etc.