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The one occasional thought I’ve seen when it comes to the three big men are the following: Hakeem was the most talented, Shaq was the most dominant, and Duncan was the most accomplished. Maybe that’s a decent description of them, maybe it’s not. All I know is that these three bigs are all all-time greats and let’s leave it at that.
by BigButter7
35 Comments
I wouldn’t, but the gap is probably more negligible than we give it credit for.
All three are awesome and had tremendous careers.
Mario Elie also said he’s taking Hakeem over Duncan, and he won a championship with Duncan as a starter.
I think Hakeem definitely has the better peak of the two, but Duncan’s longevity and accolades makes him slightly slightly greater to me.
Fair enough. Hakeem is one of the best ever.
No wrong answer when you’re picking from those 3.
Dream was more skilled, probably the most skilled big of all time so I could see it.
When we talk about “bags” I out Hakeem as the only center with MJ/Kobe/Kyrie etc
Well he’s not wrong. Hakeem was easily a better defensive player than Shaq and easily a better offensive player than Duncan. And he is arguably better on the other ends for both as well
Not the first time he’s said this if you’ve watched any other Horry interviews.
But I agree with him. Some of you were too young to see Hakeem play. And yes, looking at rings, two is less than Shaq’s four or Duncan’ five. But he’s BY FAR the best big man I’ve ever seen. Including Shaq, Duncan, Giannis, Joker, anyone. I was too young to see prime Kareem, way too young to have seen Bill Russell or Wilt play. But for the players I’ve seen in their primes, you’re not getting a better center than Hakeem.
hakeem is the most skilled center ever
Shaq himself has said Hakeem is better.
Hakeem was amazing
Hakeem was so good the Rockets don’t regret taking him over Jordan. There’s very few players you can say that about.
Horry has always said this
This is not controversial
As a huge Shaq fan, I understand people taking Hakeem or Duncan or any other legendary big men over Shaq, all of them are so amazing.
I have Hakeem 4th all time, I personally think he’s the most underrated player ever.
Superstar on offence while also being the best defender in league history.
Agree
NBA players overrate 1v1. I don’t blame Horry for underrating Duncan. He has to save Duncan in 2005 finals game 5 and it was way more than a game winning shot. That was the worst series Duncan ever played, injury aside.
Hakeem would beat Duncan 1v1, but Duncan simply brings more to the table in 5v5. People also forget how badly Seattle Sonics teams hard countered Hakeem.
Duncan does way more dirty work like screening for Parker/Ginobili, help defense, and generally has more game awareness than anyone else. It is like the grand master player who keeps track of where all 9 other players are doing at same time and always making the right decisions. He is also a far better leader and teammate than Hakeem and brings a level of poise and calmness to the team, like how Kawhi turned a very jittery Raptors team into champs.
Spurs won 5 rings in a tier 3 city with a shoe string budget and the weakest supporting cast for 3 or more rings. When it comes to winning a basketball game Duncan is simply better than everyone else except Jordan.
Duncan gave Shaq his biggest playoff drop of his career going down to 21pts on 49% TS for the series in 2002, with David Robinson barely playing due to a nerve injury in his back – yet people here are seriously typing comments of how he’s so overrated.
Hakeem never did that, he never came CLOSE. Duncan did this against peak Shaq, while outscoring Kobe and Shaq.
Peak Duncan did not have the teams people love to allege he did, and peak Hakeem definitely did not have the trash teams people love to say he did.
Ive been into that train for a long time now. Hakeem is just a Gigachad at C, physicality, rebound, defense, a traditional center. he just owns the inside.
I’d agree
I’m fine with that. Duncan had a top 5 career, but there are a few PF’s/C’s I’d take over him whether or not they were had as much playoff success
Duncan is generally considered a PF, not a centre when discussing his “historical” position no?
The Rockets took Hakeem over Jordan and everyone is okay with it historically.
Still don’t really get what people mean by dominant when it comes to Shaq. I mean, if he’s more dominant than Hakeem (or basically anyone as they say,) isn’t he the most effective? Most unstoppable? Aka the best? That’s what dominant usually means.
Not bold at all imo. I would rank all three of these guys in my personal Top 10.
I didn’t grew up with Hakeem, but I watched some NBA classic games. The thing that stands out with Hakeem is his nimble feet. He’s always moving with purpose, to a point that he doesn’t just blocks, he steals too. The way he plays the game is almost like a small forward, but with a center’s body.
The way how the Dream just enables the team to play with such pace from #1, to #5 is something else.
Shaq is dominant. No doubt, but I can see why the Dream takes the top spot for Horry.
He saw them all up close and I think all in their prime would know better than me, I just licked Dorito dust off my fingers.
Plus, I mean when you have to choose between Hakeem, Shaq and Timmy there’s really no wrong answer.
I dig it, I feel like Hakeem is always one of the first bigs to slide when talking about all time list. He is normally my 5 for what’s your Top 5 lineup post
I think that David Robinson tends to get less credit than he deserves because of Hakeem.
Hakeem was better, but not by very much. The two played a lot of games against each other. Those games were often the rare occasions when neither got instantly double-teamed on every touch. David was pretty much the only player who even tried to defend Hakeem one-on-one, and vice-versa. They were always epic battles that were a lot of fun to watch. Hakeem usually did slightly better, but only slightly.
The Tim Duncan and Timberwolves era Kevin Garnett battles were similar. Again, they were among the very few to even attempt to guard the other one-on-one. Timmy usually edged out Kevin, but not by much.
Love Hakeem. Phi Slamma Jamma made me a fan for life. But as a Spurs fan, he was the guy I hated to love the most.
As a Knick fan I’ll never forget those moves. Also, it’s hardly ever mentioned that Hakeem had ridiculously great games during Ramadan. He was fasting and wouldn’t even drink water (if I remember correctly)
Hakeem was picked over MJ and nobody gives Houston shit about it
Probably the most skilled center we’ll ever see
I think that’s fair. Shaq and Duncan had better teams around them but Hakeem might have been slightly better as a player. Miniscule though, imo.
Shaq himself said Hakeem was the only NBA player he went up against who could get the beat of him.
I would tend to take Hakeem over the others as well, in part because he was the most fun to watch. IMO, he had the best footwork of any big man ever (Kevin McHale was also up there); certainly better than Shaq’s power-game approach (although he did add moves) and more fluid than Duncan.
The Dream Shake is my favorite NBA move ever; beautiful to watch in motion, completely unguardable. But it was his ability to move and counter any defender with a deep bag of counter-moves built on his footwork, agility, and ability to improvise that made him such a joy to watch.
There was talk that Hakeem wasn’t a great teammate early in his career and would sometimes pad his stats, but he matured through that in the 90s. It never stopped his dominance or his effort on defense, where he was terrifying in an era with great center play.
When he finally got a team built to complement his strengths and a coach who understood him in Rudy T, that’s when he truly shined.
I’m taking Hakeem too but we’re talking 1A, 1B and 1C here. You really can’t go wrong.