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3rd March, 2008 - 7:07 pm
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| Current Features |
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TEAM RANKINGS: NBA Team Rankings For The Week Of November 4th
Kevin Garnett is back, Rajon Rondo is signed, Rasheed Wallace has arrived and Paul Pierce is as bad as ever. The Celtics are very, very easily ranked first in our first rankings of the 09-10 season. How do the other 29 teams compare?
SCOOP DU JOUR: Statistical Analysis Board, Rondo, Yankees On The Verge & More
Rajon Rondo's surprising extension, RealGM's new forum, locker room wresting, Brandon Jennings and more.
STANDING 10: PER Makes Offseason Decisions By Detroit Look Odd
The Pistons had a positive net PER at three positions during the 08-09 season, which were the three positions Joe Dumars attempted to improve in free agency and the draft.
MOCK DRAFT: 2009 NBA Mock Draft, Version 11.0 (Draft Day Edition)
How will the 2009 NBA Draft shake out? We're only hours away from finding out.
LOCKER TALK: Nash, Cleveland, & Orlando
Steve Nash could draw trade interest this summer and Cleveland isn’t overlooking Orlando…
PLAYER RANKINGS: The Final NBA Player Rankings For The 2008-09 Season
The 2008-09 season is in the books and how did players rank individually?
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By Charlie Danoff
Born within six months of each other in opposite corners of the world, two seven footers who are finalists for the Basketball Hall of Fame this fall are two of the best ever to play the center position.
Comparing athletes who've already retired to see "who's better" is really a silly exercise, that simplifies the players and their accomplishments. As the years go by, memories fade and the subtleties that made the all-time greats who they are get lost in exaggerations. It is an exercise without any real value, save for sportswriters and fans at bars to prove their own intellectual muscle. What happens on a basketball court is far too complex to boil down to a simple "he's better than him," black and white comparison.
That said, given I am obviously a sportswriter, and you a fan, here goes.
In 1984, the Georgetown Hoyas and the Houston Cougars met in the NCAA championship. Patrick Ewing and Hakeem Olajuwon faced each other as college kids under the national spotlight, and that day the comparisons that have not stopped coming 24 years later were born. Patrick came out on top, winning his only NCAA championship, and denying Hakeem the privilege. The stage was set for the ultimate re-match ten years down the line.
In successive years, each was drafted #1 overall in the NBA draft. Olajuwon in '84, following the loss, and Ewing, in the much criticized first ever NBA lottery. The NBA was never to be the same.
Any worthwhile comparison has to have at least some rules to direct the conversation. For the purposes of this exercise, I will select three: accolades received, per-minute statistical production, and championships won.
The accolades are biased by the painfully-far-from-objective national media, but nevertheless, serve as a solid start for any argument. Per-minute career stats allow one to see exactly what each did every minute of their NBA careers, taking injury and outlier dominant seasons out of the equation. Finally, the ultimate mark of greatness in the NBA is championships. Period. At the end of any conversation, especially those amongst NBA players themselves, they are all that matter.
Accolades Received
One playing in the East, the other the West, each dominated their conference, making consecutive All-Star teams as a pre-determined conclusion each season. In total, Ewing made 11, playing in 9, while Hakeem made 12. Too close to say one is definitively better than the other.
Ewing won the Rookie of the Year award in 1985, while Hakeem did not as an NBA freshman the year prior, losing to some guy named Michael.
From the 1987-88 season, through 1992-93, every year save one, they finished 1-2 at the center positon on the All-NBA team. Ewing finished second five out of the six years, only being selected as the First Team All-NBA center in 1991. Olajuwon was #1 in every year, except 1991-92, where both lost top honors to David Robinson.
While Ewing did make three All-NBA Defensive second teams, Hakeem was clearly the superior defender, making five All-NBA Defensive first teams, to go along with five appearances on the second unit. The Nigerian also was selected as NBA Defensive player of the year twice.
Hakeem Olajuwon won the league MVP award in 1994. While Ewing did not ever recieve this honor, each player certainly would've won the award multiple times, had their careers not coincided with the Jordan-era.
Category Winner: Olajuwon
Per Minute Statistics
Regular season/Playoffs/Difference%
Ewing
FG%: 50.4/46.9/-6.94%
FT% 74.0/71.8/-2.97%
FTA Per Min: 0.180/0.160/-11.14%
TRB Per Min: 0.286/0.276/-3.63%
AST Per Min: 0.055/0.053/-3.23%
STL Per Min: 0.028/0.023/-16.29%
BLK Per Min: 0.071/0.058/-18.39%
TOV Per Min: 0.087/0.066/-23.97%
Fouls Per Min: 0.099/0.100/+0.86%
PTS Per Min: 0.611/0.540/-11.64%
Olajuwon
FG%: 51.20/52.80/+3.13%
FT% 71.20/71.90/+0.98%
FTA Per Min: 0.172/0.180/+4.36%
TRB Per Min: 0.311/0.282/-9.30%
AST Per Min: 0.069/0.080/+15.21%
STL Per Min: 0.049/0.043/-12.83%
BLK Per Min: 0.087/0.082/-5.20%
TOV Per Min: 0.083/0.074/-11.06%
Fouls Per Min: 0.099/0.098/-1.37%
PTS Per Min: 0.609/0.653/+7.19%
For these numbers, I have divided them up into regular season and playoff per minute performance. I did this, because one of the true marks of greatness is playing better when more is on the line. Good players do their best, and can go home happy following a playoff loss, so long as they've given it their all. All-time great players cannot go home, so do everything necessary to ensure it remains an impossibility.
Looking over the numbers, in the regular season, each clearly dominated impressively. Consider that averaging .6 points/minute, playing 36 minutes a night comes out to 21.6 PPG, and that each put those numbers up, night in and night out for over a decade and a half.
Their numbers are really remarkably similar. Ewing was the better regular season scorer slighly, while Hakeem the better rebounder. Each made a living of going to the line and making over 70% of their free throws. The only regular season statistic that one clearly dominates over the other is assists. While Ewing was a good passer, The Dream has to be one of the all-time best passing big men.
The deciding difference, according to the numbers, is clearly the differences between their regular and post seasons performances. In nearly every category, except expensive playoff fouls Ewing's numbers went down, while Hakeem's improved in points, assists and field goal percentage. That is not to say Patrick played poorly in the post-season, it's just that with the game on the line, Hakeem took his to another level, while #33 slipped.
Category Winner: Olajuwon
Championships Won
Exactly ten years following their first meeting in a title game, the two met again in the 1993-94 NBA Championship. Thanks again to His Airness, it would be their only meeting in the NBA Playoffs. During his season in exile, they faced off to settle a score that had been brewing daily for years.
Unlike their college match up where neither led their team in scoring, each was clearly the dominant player on otherwise good, but largely unimpressive teams. Their sidekicks were the memorable, but not necessarily for Hall of Fame level basketball, Kenny Smith and John Starks. Neither had a single teammate average scoring over 20 PPG that season.
Coached by two of the All-Time greats in Rudy Tomjanovich, and fellow '08 Hall of Fame Finalist, Pat Riley, it was a dream match up for NBA executives and the players themselves. Realistically, going against another All-World center had to be more rewarding for each than watching their teammates fail time and again to slow MJ.
It was an intense, bitter series and after six games it was deadlocked at three a piece. Once again, it all came down to one game for the pair, except this time, it was Hakeem, not Ewing who came out on top. For all of Hakeem's NBA success, Patrick at least could hold onto the fact he had won the game that mattered most back in college. Now, Hakeem had stole that too.
Given that the Rockets repeated as NBA champs the following season, this category is a slam dunk for Hakeem.
Category Winner: Olajuwon
Well, and there you have it sports fans. Hakeem wins in a 3-0 sweep. An eternal debate bantered about belligerently in bars for eons settled in just over 1,000 words. Are both clearly Hall of Famers? Yes, obviously this whole "finalist" business is a mere formality. Each more than qualifies to be inducted on their first ballot.
Nevertheless, as my absolutely 100% lock solid, foolproof logic has proven over the preceding paragraphs, there can be absolutely no doubt, Hakeem is the better player.
Although, some might say, Hakeem played with better teammates over the course of his career. Ewing never had running mates like Clyde Drexler, Charles Barkley and Scottie Pippen. There is also the fact Ewing played in the East, and every year his path to the finals was squarely blocked by #23. Considering this, Olajuwon probably should've appeared in at least one to two more Finals over the course of his career. Had Ewing played in the West, who's to say he wouldn't of been in three or four NBA Finals? |
