Hakeem Olajuwon Quotes

I've always felt it was not up to anyone else to make me give my best.

Inside the Lakers’ locker room, the reaction was subdued euphoria. Ceballos was an obnoxious brat who played no defense and went AWOL. Horry, on the other hand, was a 6-foot-9 outside gunner (he was a lifetime 34 percent three-point shooter) and low-post defender joining an operation in need of long-range shooting and low-post defense. It was a trade that, by NBA standards, generated little attention. It was a trade that changed everything. Suddenly, instead of being a towel-throwing pain on an 11-24 team going nowhere fast, Horry was a coveted piece of a first-place club that sat 17 games over .500. During his first four NBA seasons, all with the Rockets, Horry had learned how to play with Hakeem Olajuwon, the 7-foot, 255-pound Nigerian center. He knew his job was to feed off the big man, and that a box score where Olajuwon scored 30 and Horry scored 12 usually meant Houston won. Now, with the Lakers, he was more than happy to acknowledge O’Neal’s place as the center of the basketball universe.

Guys like Patrick Ewing and Hakeem Olajuwon that were so dominant don’t exist anymore.  Instead, 7-footers are judged on how well they can run the floor, handle the ball and shoot from the outside.  Look at Durant.  Look at Nowitzki.  Back in the 80s, guys like that would be parked in the paint and taught post moves.  Maybe Magic Johnson started the revolution of guys not being pigeon holed to positions because of size, but now positions are almost interchangeable.