1 Penny

Hakeem Olajuwon is no doubt better in every aspect.

I love Tim Duncan and respect him a lot.

But Hakeem would dominate in today's league more so than Tim Duncan is currently.

I was a David Robinson fan, and still am... always hated Hakeem because Hakeem always embarassed him. Anyways, today watching Hakeem's games... it becomes so much more apparent that he is the most talented and skilled 7 footer of all time.

Hakeem has a very quick spin move, that he can use any time, and he doesnt do it off dribbling with his back turned, he can do it off an interior pass immediately, very skillfully, most centers today or any other centers for that matter will not be able to do this move as easily as Hakeem does.
Hakeem , when he posts up a taller more athletic center, which is rare, but David Robinson, Shaq etc comes to mind, anyways, he can make them redundant in terms of defending him, by his footwork. He is very unpredictable wth his foot work and is the most skilled pivot center or player I've seen. He will usually pin the defender to one side by pivoting his feet towards a certain direction, then he goes for his turn around baby hook.. not your usual baby hook, he spins the other way, making it impossible for the defender to challenge it without fouling him. If the defender can somehow predict this move, Hakeem is skilled enough and smart enough not to lift his pivot foot so he can quickly spin the other way and finish either a fade away at the center of the paint or an up and under finger roll, again so amazingly skilled.
He has an automatic mid range, he will nail that shot.. so you cannot just leave him open to protect the interior. And if you double him, he can still and DID split the defense to find the open man... a lot of elite centers are good at this but Hakeem in terms of skill does it as if he was a small forward, so quick and as I said, unpredictable..

Defense wise, he is similar to Tim Duncan, that he always has his blocking hand up and ready to alter the shooter, but... he is so much quicker than Duncan and most centers, that half the time he strips his opponent mid way to their offense move. If the offense player manages to protect the ball from being stripped, Hakeem will just block him as he has an incredible reaction time.. as most shot blockers do.
Just on a different page and level as most big men, David Robinson is the only other player who is as gifted as Hakeem defensive wise, but Hakeem's unpredictable offense gave him fits.

Rebounding wise, Hakeem always had terrific center of gravity, so he boxes out as well as anyone, but his quickness and instinct is better than most. What else is their to say he is one of the best rebounders of all time.

We all know how Duncan is as we watch him now.. I admit I didnt appreciate Hakeem back then, but lately I've just been watching him a lot and its funny, when you're young you only care about the fancy and exciting stuff.. but man, Hakeem was such an amazing player..

if we had to do that draft again, I'd pick him over Jordan 10 out of 10 times, Jordan is the GOAT i think, but with Hakeem, he is twice easier to start a franchise with as he is a big man after all.