Welcome to LWOS Basketball department “NBA Time Traveler Series,” the column that imagines which retired player from an NBA franchise one would most want to travel back in time to see them play again in their prime. The LWOS Basketball department will review each of the 30 NBA franchises and which retired player would be their “NBA Time Traveler Player.”
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Time Travel to See Hakeem Olajuwon play for the Rockets
The Houston Rockets have a multitude of players that would be worthy of seeing play in their prime again. It is almost impossible to choose between the duo of Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming or to pass on the opportunity of watching Steve Francis fill up the stat sheet every night. Despite all the great players in this franchises history there is one player that stands alone, that player is Hakeem “The Dream” Olajuwon.
Hakeem Olajuwon was drafted as the number one pick in the 1984 NBA Draft above other notable players such as Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, and John Stockton. The seven footer out of the University of Houston went on to average 20.6 points, 11.9 rebounds, and 2.68 blocks per game in his rookie season. The only reason he did not win the Rookie of the Year is because he was competing with Michael Jordan, but he was the only other person to receive any rookie of the year votes at the time.
Olajuwon is most known for his creativity in the post, but his most defining moment as a professional would have to be in the 1994 NBA Finals. In the final game of the seven game series Olajuwon led the Rockets against Patrick Ewing and the New York Knicks with 25 points and 10 rebounds. This was enough to defeat the Knicks and win the first championship for this franchise since it was founded and brought to Houston in 1971.
The current NBA is filled with big men who have managed to maintain a career without developing any significant offensive moves. Being seven feet tall is often enough to get rewarded with at least ten million dollars a year. Olajuwon was not one of these big men, he established himself by displaying an arsenal of offensive moves. He even managed to have a move named after him, The Dream Shake. Olajuwon would catch the ball in the low post, spin around the defender while faking a shot, and then take an easy shot while the defender is still recovering from the movement. At the age of 52, he recently displayed how effective his post moves still are as he displayed them in the recent NBA Africa exhibition game, while current NBA center Nikola Vucevic was covering him.
Throughout his career in Houston, Olajuwon averaged 25.9 points, 11.2 rebounds, and 3.3 blocks per game. Olajuwon was the cornerstone of the 1994 and1995 championships as he was named the NBA Finals MVP during both campaigns. Olajuwon was the Defensive Player of the Year in 1993 and 1994 and was voted as an All-Star twelve times in his career. Throughout his entire career, Hakeem managed to be named to the All-NBA First Team Six times, and to the NBA All-Defensive First Team five times. Olajuwon was the first NBA player to record at least 200 steals and 200 blocks in single season, this occurred during the 1988-89 season. He was also the first player to be named NBA MVP, NBA Defensive Player of the Year, and NBA Finals MVP in the same season.
After retirement Olajuwon has been called upon by many of the upcoming players in the NBA to instruct them on how to emulate his post moves and improve their performance around the basket. Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, and Dwight Howard have all benefited from his instruction. Olajuwon was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008 and was the Rockets’ all-time leader in points, rebounds, steals, and blocked shots at the time of his retirement. In a league that is currently dominated by point guards and three point shooting, it would be a welcome change in pace to see a dominating seven footer with the talent and passion that Hakeem Olajuwon displayed during his career play again.
