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Message: [QUOTE="hoophuskee, post: 3596040, member: 3535"] For those that want to build up Olajuown vs the Big 3-- (for the record Olajuwon probably my favorite center to watch as a fan in his 93-94 and 94-95 seasons). In regards to Russell (I see more knocks on Russell than Wilt or Jabbar so I'll use him as an example.) - there's comments that he had the great teammates and that Russell didn't shoot well. SO how can anyone rip into Russell's fg% yet claim he had great teammates if fg% was so important? During Russell's time Hondo shot 41.9%. Cousy 43.8%. Heinsohn 40.4%. Sam Jones 45.6%. Russell averaged over 42 minutes per game in which Auerbach had his team run a crummy offense not designed for fg%. Being 2nd on your team in assists for 9 years and 1 year leading your team in assists for a center - while your team is winning-- isn't the incredibly outstanding? Russell was able to lead fastbreaks in the open floor. Was Hakeem or Shaq ever able to do that? And I'd be curious to see his fg% in the 4th quarter vs the other quarters along with his assists considering he averaged for his career 42.3 minutes. Let’s contrast this Olajuwon. Early on in his NBA career he was known as cheap-shot player. And look at his career – for someone as gifted offensively as he was he had a 6 year run of a fg% between .502 to .514. His average dipped to 21.6 in 1991-1992 (previous year he was hurt). ***Around that time he found religion. And he changed his style from power to more finesse. He became quicker. That’s when he “became The Dream” that we know of. Look at his stats. In 1992-1993 his FG up quite a bit. Points up by 4.5 and assists up from a career about 2.2 to 3.5. He never had more assists than turnovers until 1992. This all coincides with his getting more into religion. Look at his matchups with David Robison. Their 1st 13 matchups before Dec 1992 DRob averaged slightly higher points that Hakeem, while shooting 48.9% while Hakeem shot just 40.01%. So DRob is taking 5.7 less shots yet scoring slightly more. But as mentioned above as Olajuwon’s style changed to more finesse –around the time he found religion- he began to dominate DRob. The timelines all coincide. I thought I read an article on this long ago as well but no way I can find it now. SO a candle lit in Olajuwon’s head round the prime of his career. I know some will laud his 88-89 and 89-90 seasons which is absolutely justified in some manner as an individual. But take a look for example at his assist-to-turnover numbers. They stink. They’re awful. AT that point in time he wasn't much of a team player. Then miraculously he jumps to 3.5 assists and the 1st time he had less turnovers than assists for his career in 1992-1993? So while Hakeem was off-the-charts early on – there’s a stretch individually he is but still can be outplayed by someone like DRob. N[B]ot until 1992-1993 when he transformed does he wipe out DRob. The thing is the other 3 ALL-Time greats transformed into great players from day 1 and kept it going for 10+ years. Hakeem didn’t. [/B] [I]He can’t pass worth a lick as good as Russell. Doesn’t have his handle with the ball. Can you say he was a superior rebounder to Russell? SO I’m going to give it to him over Russell because of fg% without consideration of eras and coaching? [/I]Nah. And if FG% is so important then it means he can’t hold a candle to Wilt or Jabbar also. [/QUOTE]

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