I'm going with the Dream.... He had way to much fancy foot work for Russell to keep up with, he also had nice speed and great agility, he was alot better offensive of player then Russell, he was great at defense & rebounding, and he played in a era with centers like Shaq, David Robinson, Patrick Ewing, Kareem, Matombo, Mouring, & etc... While Russell's only competition was Wilt & Kareem. So I have to go with The Dream...He proved himself against better competiton.
2007-01-29 07:31:31 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Sports ➔ Basketball
well as far as pure god given talent it has to be hakeem the dream because he was exiting to watch great defender and the shake nuff said
2007-01-29 07:35:52 · answer #1 · answered by Caring A 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I'm going with Bill Russell. No, I'm not old and just going with the guy I saw. I'm actually too young to have seen Russell Play. Just from what I've seen on film I'll give the nod to Bill Russell. Yes Hakeem played against some of the best centers in the NBA in an era of 'great centers'. But at the end of the day I'm going with Bill. Edward K makes a very compelling argument about eras.
2007-01-29 15:59:11 · answer #2 · answered by Asaph23 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Russell never played against Kareem. Russell retired after the 1969 season and Kareem (Lew Alcinder) started the year after.
Russell had no competition? Dude, I gave you a laundry list of hall of famers and top 50 players that he played against in our other post. And he had to do it EVERY NIGHT( there were not as many teams back then). Plus, he didn't have the luxuries that Hakeem had, i.e... private planes etc...
Hakeem had way too much fancy footwork? What are we in, a dance contest?
Although I believe Hakeem was one of the top ten centers ever, Bill Russell was one of the top three, so I'll take Russell.
2007-01-29 19:50:08 · answer #3 · answered by Hoopfan 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Rusell's only competition was Wilt and Kareem? Wilt and Kareem would crush Ewing, Motombo, Mourning, and Robinson, and Hakeem only got past Kareem once in the playoffs (and, actually, Russell and Kareem didn't play in the same era). I do respect Hakeem a lot, though.
The thing is, you can't take players out of one era and just match them up. Basketball, like any art form, is an evolutionary process. Russell and Wilt learned things from Mikan, Kareem learned from them, and so on. My top ten centers:]
1 Russell--for determination
2 Chamberlin--probably the most talented
3 Mikan--invented the position as we know it
4 Abdul-Jabbar--long term excellence
5 Walton--we'll never know just how good he could've been, but he was good enough to win two titles on bad feet
6 Olajuwon
7 Shaq
8 Malone
9 Duncan (oh, sorry he's a 'PF' lol)
10 Lots of candidates--Parrish, Unseld, Thurmond, Reed, Robinson, Lanier...pick one.
2007-01-29 15:57:35 · answer #4 · answered by Edward K 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
The Dream. He dominated an era with so many great big men. Russell domintated ..... hmmm... Wilt was the only great big man at the time and he scored 50 on russell about many times.
2007-01-29 16:49:31 · answer #5 · answered by mmilner_24 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Bill Russell
2007-01-30 23:23:04 · answer #6 · answered by netsf32 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hakeem the dream hands down.
2007-01-29 15:43:22 · answer #7 · answered by meka g 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
FIRST THING YOU NEED TO STUDY THE HISTORY OF THE NBA. RUSSELL NEVER PLAYED AGAINST RUSSELL. PLEASE LEARN THE GAME.
HERE IS A LIST OF GREAT PLAYERS THAT RUSSEL COMPETED AGAINST:
BELLAMY
REED
THURMOND
LUCAS
PETIT
UNSELD
WILT
ALL THESE PLAYERS ARE IN THE HOF.
I WILL USE THE POWER RATING TO RESOLVE THIS COMPARISON.
POWER RATING = PR = POINTS + REBOUNDS + ASSISTS
RUSSELL --- 15.1 + 22.1 + 4.3 = 41.5
OLAJAWON - 21.8 = 11.1 + 2.5 = 35.4
RUSSELL EASILY GETS THE NOD.
2007-01-30 15:55:50 · answer #8 · answered by smitty 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋