Some 93 Hakeem Hypotheticals

[Mr Exlax]

He was injured that year with a bloodcloth in his knee or something like that. The only reason he made it back was new medical technology. Hakeem was done by 97 I give u that one through.

Ahhh that's right. Forgot about that.

[rhythmic]

In 89-90' Hakeem played all 82 games and lost in 4 games.
What bloodcloth are you guys talking about?

[SilkkTheShocker]

He was injured that year with a bloodcloth in his knee or something like that. The only reason he made it back was new medical technology. Hakeem was done by 97 I give u that one through.

I wouldn't say he was washed up after 97. But his scoring took a huge dip. Like from 23ppg to 16ppg, I think. I would have to check though.

[Mr Exlax]

[QUOTE=rhythmic

[Mr Exlax]

[QUOTE=rhythmic

[fpliii]

Hard to say. 94 was definitely the Knicks best shot. I think Ewing is underrated though. His teams weren't all that. They could defend and rebound, but their offense was ugly and a lot of their players didn't have the best IQs. He tends to get the blame, but im not buying it. While he wasn't as talented as D-Rob, I would still take Ewing over him for his toughness. I mean old, broken down Ewing put the team on his back in game 5 to beat prime Zo in and the Heat in 99 playoffs.

I think part of the problem with Ewing is he was miscast as a primary scoring option. If Bernard King comes back and performs at a decent level, and they resign him in free agency, Ewing gets to focus more on rebounding/defense (which is what he was hailed for in college). King was 30 going on 31 with knee problems so I guess they didn't want to deal with that whole mess, but Knicks office should've tried harder to acquire a different scorer.

[rhythmic]

Oh my bad i thought you were talking about the stuff towards the end of his career. Those numbers you posted were from the 89-90 playoffs?

Top one was 89-90' and the bottom one was 97-98'.

[SilkkTheShocker]

I think part of the problem with Ewing is he was miscast as a primary scoring option. If Bernard King comes back and performs at a decent level, and they resign him in free agency, Ewing gets to focus more on rebounding/defense (which is what he was hailed for in college). King was 30 going on 31 with knee problems so I guess they didn't want to deal with that whole mess, but Knicks office should've tried harder to acquire a different scorer.

Agreed. Ewing was better off as #2 scoring option. Pretty amazing he was the scorer he was considering how he played at Georgetown.

[rhythmic]

I'm not asking about the 9 losses though my man. I mean, you said he lost in 4 games in the 87-88 season, but had one of the greatest performances you've ever seen in a single series. Was it his fault that they still lost then? Does his lack of team success make not one of the 10 best players in NBA history? That would mean Dirk is better than Malone and Barkely right? Team accomplishments vs players stats. The stats give me something I can analyze. I know it has to be looked at in context and all but you have to look at my POV in context as well kinda thing.

No.
I am comparing Hakeem to 10 of the greatest players of All-Time, not to Barkley & Malone (who Hakeem is better then).

Your example doesn't make sense to me because the players Hakeem is going up against all have very stellar (complete) resumes. They have it all, basically. Besides Wilt, who isn't as high in terms of winning and team accomplishments but his individual dominance more then makes up for it (similar to Hakeem). However, I don't think many people will say Hakeem had a bigger impact on the game then Wilt did, so that point is kind of irrelevent.

Russell (defensive impact, winning, leadership, team accomplishments)
Magic (winning, accolades, leadership, impact)
Kobe (winning, accolades, impact)
Jordan, Wilt, Duncan, Shaquille, LeBron, Bird & Kareem.

I think they just have better overall resumes bro.

[juju151111]

In 1990, Hakeem began the season a bit limited physically as he had not played any basketball in the summer and missed pre-season due to a blood clot in his leg. If you watch the games from this season, he wore a padding on one of his calves if I'm not mistaken. There are some roster additions as they pick up Larry Smith, John Lucas (the same Lucas that was suspended for drug abuse on the 1986 squad) and Vernon Maxwell late in the season who wasn't a proven commodity as he was a bit of a headcase.

I'll link a couple of articles from this season that talk about Hakeem's game and briefly summarize them as well in case you don't want to go through the game.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1989 ... ck-johnson

This link above is an article early from the 1989-90 season and primarily highlights the fact that Houston was still a 1 man team and that guys had to step up and give Hakeem more help.

Asked if the Rockets are basically a one-man team, Lucas said, ``Yes. We`re hiding from being a one-man team right now. The preseason gave us confidence, but it doesn`t mean things have changed. Olajuwon has to do as much as Michael Jordan has to do for Chicago, but in a different way.``

Eddie Johnson also talked about how Hakeem was trying to do too much as he'd try to make one play right after another which perhaps is a sign of not trusting his teammates although at the same time, you could argue it was justified due to a lack of support. He also talks about playing on a mediocre or bad ball club will naturally have a negative impact on the player's image which is certainly true.[QUOTE=rhythmic

[fpliii]

BTW does anyone else have thoughts on the hypotheticals in the OP? What would Hakeem have had to done differently to win it all that season, assuming he gets nothing else from his teammates that he hadn't through the West Semis?

[juju151111]

Btw Hakeem Late 80s team were mostly top 5 in defense and Hakeem was the only good defender on the freaking team.

[juju151111]

BTW does anyone else have thoughts on the hypotheticals in the OP? What would Hakeem have had to done differently to win it all that season, assuming he gets nothing else from his teammates that he hadn't through the West Semis?

Shoot over those triple teams maybe? What else could he have done. He was putting up stupid statlines and series was decided by some bs call. He was triple teamed and made the right plays.

[millwad]

I don't think he can beat Jordan with just Kenny Smith, V. Maxwell, Thorpe, Horry & Carl. He'd simply need better teammates.

They took Seattle to game 7 and lost by 3 in overtime.
Hakeem was brilliant in the early to mid 90's, there's nothing more he needed to do. He was an MVP cnadidate and a DPOTY candidate every year, he was doing everything for that team.

He led his team in points, rebounds, blocks, steals and was 3rd in assists as a center. Guy was more to that team then LeBron was to Cleveland, IMO.

I guess you didn't know but Olajuwon is the only superstar who played against prime Jordan while having a winning record against him as well.

So your logic completely fails, he was in fact beating Jordan with Smith, Maxwell, Thorpe, Horry and Herrera and Jordan himself has said that he was lucky that he didn't have to face Olajuwon and the Rockets in the playoffs.

Jordan and Hakeem faced each other 23 times and Hakeem holds a 13 to 10 edge against him.

[juju151111]

I guess you didn't know but Olajuwon is the only superstar who played against prime Jordan while having a winning record against him as well.

So your logic completely fails, he was in fact beating Jordan with Smith, Maxwell, Thorpe, Horry and Herrera and Jordan himself has said that he was lucky that he didn't have to face Olajuwon and the Rockets in the playoffs.

Jordan and Hakeem faced each other 23 times and Hakeem holds a 13 to 10 edge against him.

That's regular season.