cpawfan

I don't believe Olajuwon could have given Wilt as much difficulty as Thurmond did.

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neoxsupreme

Hard to say since they're from different eras. Shaq is almost just as dominant as Wilt & Dream has given him problems in their matchups. Dream was the greatest defensive center of the 90's so I think he could hold his own.

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Masbee

Very inefficient scorer. 42% for career. Poor free throw percentage.

He wouldn't have been one of the "best" scorers on his own team, let alone one of the best in the NBA.

No way Nate Thurmond is overlooked as best 2-way player. He wasn't an outstanding offensive player.

Minstrel

Why not? Olajuwon wasn't any smaller than Russell, and Russell did fine in making Chamberlain work for his production.

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cpawfan

His 5 best offensive years, he was the second leading scorer on his team with PER's between 18 & 19. Never did I say he was the best, rather he deserves to be in this conversation if Ewing is going to be included. Even though he wasn't very efficient, he was an above average point producer and an all time great defender.

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cpawfan

The size argument is the best you've got?

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Minstrel

I thought size was what you were getting at. Olajuwon is generally considered a significantly better defender than Thurmond, comparable to Bill Russell. I couldn't see any reason to drop Olajuwon lower than Thurmond for any reason but size.

Though now that I look it up, Thurmond didn't have any size advantage.

So why don't you enlighten me as to why Olajuwon couldn't have given Chamberlain the problems that Thurmond supposedly did?

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You'll never watch your life slide out of view
And dance and drink and screw
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kflo

minstrel - i think you advocate the hakeem comparable to russell argument more than is generally accepted.

cpawfan

I've never seen Olajuwon listed as a significantly better defender than Thurmond and find the concept ludicrous. At worst, they are equals. Olajuwon had better foot speed than Thurmond but Thurmond was stronger and had quicker reflexes. When it comes to guarding opposing centers, there isn't anything that Olajuwon could do better than Thurmond.

There is no supposed on problems that Thurmond caused Wilt as Wilt (and Kareem for that matter) had publically stated that Thurmond was his toughest opponent (of course there are those that believed he said that just to irritate Russell). Nate just wasn't a flashy player and he wasn't a media darling. He just made every opponent work hard and frustrated the hell out of them. He was dedicated to that purpose and succeeded night in and night out.

You're reading far too much into the Olajuwon press clippings.

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Masbee

To me a "Best 2-Way Player" is outstanding at both ends of the floor. Not someone who is outstanding one one end, and average on the other.

As for Ewing. Yeah, he was vastly overrated during a lot of his playing days due to the media oversaturation of being in NY. Not his fault. He was in fact, a very good player on both ends. Just had the luck to play during an era of high caliber competition - Jordan (mostly), Hakeem, Robinson, O'Neal, Mourning. Geesh. A murderers row for that poor fella.

As for Nate Thurmond's 5 best season averaging PERs of 18 or 19, Patrick averaged a PER of 21.0 for his entire career. Nate's best of 19 was a BAD year for Ewing.

You see, the trick is, Ewing could score. 50% fg% and 75% ft% for his career.

You just can't compare Nate to Ewing, which is why Nate doesn't belong in this discussion.

Minstrel