Kareem vs. Hakeem

Riley and Jon,

You guys need to check your NBA history. Hakeem is a great center but Kareem is greater. What substantive argument can you provide against Kareem's play, numbers, MVP awards, and legend?

Kareem:

Games played - 1560 (2nd most in NBA history)
Field goal % - 55.9 (10th highest in NBA history)
Free throw % - 72.1
Three-point % - 05.6
Rebounds - 17,440 (3rd most in NBA history)
Rebounds per game - 11.2 (23rd highest in NBA history)
Assists - 5,660 (34th in NBA history)
Assist per game - 3.6
Steals - 1,160
Steals per game - 0.74
Blocks - 3,189 (3rd most in NBA history) (Note: blocks were not officially tabulated until the 1973–74 season)
Blocks per game - 2.57
Points per game - 24.6 (14th highest in NBA history)
Holds NBA career record for:
Most points (38,387)
Most minutes played (57,446)
Most field goals made (15,837)
Most field goals attempted (28,307)
Most All-Star selections (19)
Most All-Star games played (18)

Honors: Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (1995); NBA champion (1971, '80, '82, '85, '87, '88); NBA MVP (1971, '72, '74, '76, '77, '80); 10-timeAll-NBA First Team; Five-time All-NBA Second Team;Five-time All-Defensive First Team; Six-time All-Defensive Second Team; 19-time All-Star; One of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History (1996).

Kareem Stats: see http://www.nba.com/history/players/abduljabbar_stats.html

Hakeem:

Honors: NBA champion (1994, '95); NBA Finals MVP (1994, '95); NBA MVP (1994); Defensive Player of Year (1993, '94); All-NBA First Team (1987, '88, '89, '93, '94, '97); All-NBA Second Team ('86, '90, '96); Third Team (1991, '95, '99); All-Defensive First Team ('87, '88, '90, '93, '94); 12-time All-Star; One of 50 Greatest Players in NBA History ('96); Olympic gold medalist ('96).

Hakeem Stats: see http://www.nba.com/history/players/olajuwon_stats.html

The numbers speak for themselves. I'll let you read through them and compare. You'll find that Kareem dominates in almost every major category. Hakeem has more blocks but you'll see that they were not tabulating blocks as a stat until four years after Kareem began playing. There are a number of other stats that were not tabulated until later in Kareem's career. Even still, you'll find that he dominates Hakeem on the stats.

Can you argue with Kareem's six MVP awards againts Hakeem's one MVP award? Though Kareem's six Championships against Hakeem's two is a striking stat, I won't argue the championship stat because it is more of a team stat than an individual player stat.

Further, check the NBA analysts and historians. They concurr that Kareem is greater. Hakeem is usually ranked behind Wilt Chamberlain and, in many cases, after Bill Russell. In some cases, he is ranked behind Shaq but I would disagree. I'd put Hakeem at third or fourth all-time:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime?page=dailydime-GreatestCenters
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/65759-top-10-nba-centers-of-all-time
http://www.geoclan.com/sports/articles/06/TopFiveCentersinNBAHistory.htm

I'll accept your concession unless you can provide substantive arguments to refute me, Mike Swenson, and pretty much every other credible NBA historian/analyst out there. In other words, you cannot argue that because I didn't watch TV during Kareem's entire career, Kareem is not greater than Hakeem. We all see fallacy in that argument. Give me something substantive or I will accept your concession that Kareem is greater than Hakeem.

In conclusion, http://www.yougotdunkedon.com/2009/04/kevin-johnson-dunks-on-hakeem-olajuwon.html

Ryan

evans dance

barley

I did get some video of evan's cute upcoming "date". she is the one with the curly locks and blue/green shirt. i was trying to be inconspicuous.