I wrote my long Olajuwon makes the Hall of Fame post back in April and didn't want to rehash the same thing. However, it's still a special time when the greatest Houston Rocket all time, the arguable best center of all time, and the inarguable top 3 center of all time, Hakeem "The Dream" Olajuwon is inducted into the Springfield Hall.
Here is the induction ceremony the Rockets held for him in April:
Here is a link to his acceptance speech (Note: If anyone has an embed link for it, send it my way and I'll post it here)
And as much as I don't think Ewing is really a full fledged Hall of Famer, Hakeem was extremely complimentary of him, so that's good enough for me. Also, every picture I've seen of Hakeem and Patrick seems to show that The Dream is taller. Now I know for an absolute fact that Olajuwon is not really 7 feet tall and that he's probably closer to 6'10 than 7', so what does that mean about Ewing? Has he shrunk 3 inches? I always thought he was a true 7 footer? I will get one jab at Ewing in here though, as eloquent as Hakeem was, and remember, English is like his 8th language, Ewing could barely put together a sentence.
JA Adande wrote a great article about Hakeem, and sums up a lot of what I feel about the Olajuwon era. I know that Clutchfans got all overreact-y about it, but there is nothing wrong with that article. Adande wasn't trying to hype Jordan in any way, and it's kind of weak to suggest he was. All he was doing was trying to talk to the casual NBA fan, the guy that only knows Jordan was phenomenal and show that Olajuwon was phenomenal as well. No, he wasn't American, he was one of the first International players to dominate, and everyone should know it, not just Rockets fans.
Here is the induction ceremony the Rockets held for him in April:
Here is a link to his acceptance speech (Note: If anyone has an embed link for it, send it my way and I'll post it here)
JA Adande wrote a great article about Hakeem, and sums up a lot of what I feel about the Olajuwon era. I know that Clutchfans got all overreact-y about it, but there is nothing wrong with that article. Adande wasn't trying to hype Jordan in any way, and it's kind of weak to suggest he was. All he was doing was trying to talk to the casual NBA fan, the guy that only knows Jordan was phenomenal and show that Olajuwon was phenomenal as well. No, he wasn't American, he was one of the first International players to dominate, and everyone should know it, not just Rockets fans.