Better All Around Player: Tim Duncan vs Hakeem Olajuwon

[Pennebaker]

The dude put up a damn near quad double in a Finals closing game. Imagine his stats under a coach that didn't minimize his stats to maximize the team success?

Newsflash: Pop is considered the greatest coach of all time. Duncan is not considered the greatest player of all time. Duncan is not even consistently listed in the top 10.

Here San Antonio is in the post Duncan era and they're STILL winning 60+ games.

The story of Spurs rings has less to do with Duncan and more to do with the GOAT coach in Pop.

You lost every bit of credibility when you said Duncan isn't listed consistently in the top 10

This is my last response to you. You are not worth my time son.

Cy@

Awwww. Your feelings were hurt. Well the truth does hurt.

[DNP - Old]

Hakeem.

Not even close.

There's no such thing as a "Better player than Duncan, not even close", not even Jordan, Shaq or whoever. That's how being one of the GOATs works.

Olajuwan's offensive game was light years ahead of Timmy.

That's just not true. Flashier? Of course, Olajuwon is one of the most aesthetically pleasing players I've ever seen while Duncan had a really sober style. He could be a better offensive player (which I think he was), but not light years ahead, of course.

Tim Duncan is a 0x Defensive Player of the Year.

Which is known to be one of the worst travesties in the history of the NBA.

[Dr Spaceman]

Yall crazy to put up Hakeem Mr. 2 rings over Timmy Mr. 5 rings....

And you forgot about Gregg Popovich.

How many rings do you think Duncan would've won with Rudy Tomjanovich as his head coach? I'd guess 0.

Are you saying Rudy T is a bad coach? Because I can’t voice my disagreement strongly enough. Outside of Phil and Riley he was the best coach of the whole decade IMO, and the principles of his hub-and-spoke model of offense is used by basically every team with a good post up threat (Cleveland, San Antonio, Clippers, with the best example being Dallas during Dirk’s prime).

The reason teams stopped hiring him is because his alcoholism damaged his personal relationships, not because of any deficiencies on the job.

[Fico92]

Hakeem.

Not even close.

There's no such thing as a "Better player than Duncan, not even close", not even Jordan, Shaq or whoever. That's how being one of the GOATs works.

Olajuwan's offensive game was light years ahead of Timmy.

That's just not true. Flashier? Of course, Olajuwon is one of the most aesthetically pleasing players I've ever seen while Duncan had a really sober style. He could be a better offensive player (which I think he was), but not light years ahead, of course.

Tim Duncan is a 0x Defensive Player of the Year.

Which is known to be one of the worst travesties in the history of the NBA.

Gotta and one the truths here brotha.

[Dr Spaceman]

As far as the debate here (“all around player”) to me it’s clearly Duncan, given that he was hugely impactful in a wild array of team strategies even as his body wore down. Hakeem lost his ability to be effective basically as soon as his body stopped being able to keep up with his brain, whereas Duncan had a late career renaissance reimagining himself as a screening, passing, short roll and mid-range jumper machine with the occasional post up against a mismatch. He remained one of the league’s premier defensive players from his rookie season until the literal day he retired. Hakeem notably did not do that.

[dark shark]

Don't think you can judge this based off rings. You put hakeem on the spurs and he's getting rings also. What was the spurs record the season after Duncan retired? They beat the rockets without Leonard. That spurs system is greater than any one player, including Duncan.

[Fico92]

Don't think you can judge this based off rings. You put hakeem on the spurs and he's getting rings also. What was the spurs record the season after Duncan retired? They beat the rockets without Leonard. That spurs system is greater than any one player, including Duncan.

Super successful without Duncan right? How many rings?

[dark shark]

Don't think you can judge this based off rings. You put hakeem on the spurs and he's getting rings also. What was the spurs record the season after Duncan retired? They beat the rockets without Leonard. That spurs system is greater than any one player, including Duncan.

Super successful without Duncan right? How many rings?

you need a star player, obviously. They're not winning without Duncan unless he's replaced by someone like KG, shaq, Dirk etc. Hakeem would have made a fine replacement.

[AussieBuck]

As far as the debate here (“all around player”) to me it’s clearly Duncan, given that he was hugely impactful in a wild array of team strategies even as his body wore down. Hakeem lost his ability to be effective basically as soon as his body stopped being able to keep up with his brain, whereas Duncan had a late career renaissance reimagining himself as a screening, passing, short roll and mid-range jumper machine with the occasional post up against a mismatch. He remained one of the league’s premier defensive players from his rookie season until the literal day he retired. Hakeem notably did not do that.

Nailed it.

[iggymcfrack]

Think it's interesting that so many people talk about Hakeem being a "light years better" scorer or how there's a "big gap" in scoring. This is the thing that happens shortly after a player retires when you remember them how they were late in their career instead of how they were in their prime. Duncan may have been straight D in the later years but he was a dominant scorer who was the focal point of the offense for a good 7-8 years. Here's how his scoring stats compare to Hakeem:

Hakeem: 30.3 PP100 on .553 TS%
Duncan: 29.7 PP100 on .551 TS%

Pretty darn close right? And when you take into account that Duncan played a little longer, Hakeem has no edge at all putting the ball in the hoop. His offensive game may have been more varied and more fun to watch, but Duncan would wear you down with those 15 foot bank shots off the glass.

[miman15]

Both players are great Offensive and Defensive players... Olajuawon has the eye-pleasing offensive arsenal, but I think Duncan is the more effective player overall even when he is past his prime, his 5 rings is jsut the icing on the cake...

[Baseline Runner]

Consistently, longevity, and team success the answer is Duncan. But who had the higher peak and was more talented in his prime, definitely Olajuwon. There was a 3-4 year run that Olajuwon was so dominant it was amazing (a tragedy of basketball history that he never met up against Jordan in the finals). He had a very mediocre supporting cast in those years, no legit second option (until an over the hill Drexler came along).

I also believe that Olajuwon is the GOAT defensive player. If you ever seen full games of him play his presence in the paint completely altered the way opposing offenses played turning them into hesitant jump shooting teams. He could do everything on the defensive end, play great man to man defense against the likes of Ewing, D Rob and Shaq, block and alter shots as good as anyone in the history of the game, get the boards, defend passing lanes and pick and rolls, force turnovers, hustle back in transition. He was the complete package on the defensive end.

[Vader]

Dream was way better than Duncan.

[Cavsfansince84]

Hakeem mainly due him being a tier above Duncan in terms of athleticism. He was the kind of guy who just couldn't be stopped when he had it going.

[Gil]

Hakeem & it's not even close.

Far superior scoring arsenal, more versatile defender & won 2 rings with a garbage supporting cast.

[Baseline Runner]

Also Olajuwon's defense was what made him so amazing. Yes his offense was great too but his offensive game is somewhat overrated. For example he may be number 1 all time in defense but maybe only number 30 or 40 all time on offense. At his peak he was one of the top offensive players in the league but for much of his career he didn't put up big scoring numbers and early in his career he was pretty raw player and most of his points came from garbage points and easy dunks and layups. It took him many years to hone his jumper, fadeaway and smooth post moves. By the time he put it all together it was a thing of beauty but that offensive peak didn't last very long. Also he wasn't super efficient even at his peak, Shaq for example was a much better and more dominant offensively than Olajuwon was throughout his career.

[ZombieKilla]

Olajuwon.

Easily.

Anyone who does not have an agenda would pick Olajuwon 100 times out of 100.

He was better at basically every single thing during his prime.

[ReaLiez]

Hakeem is the best defensive C (not named Bill Russ) to ever play. Offensively his dream shake and overall speed was elite at an all time level. I love Duncan and his intangibles (never letting emotions get to him, elite bball IQ, exceptional teammate) but if we're talking about play and play alone then Dream wins

In Duncan's defense Dream is a better all around player than damn near everyone IMO

[r0drig0lac]

And you forgot about Gregg Popovich.

How many rings do you think Duncan would've won with Rudy Tomjanovich as his head coach? I'd guess 0.

The dude put up a damn near quad double in a Finals closing game. Imagine his stats under a coach that didn't minimize his stats to maximize the team success?

Newsflash: Pop is considered the greatest coach of all time. Duncan is not considered the greatest player of all time. Duncan is not even consistently listed in the top 10.

Here San Antonio is in the post Duncan era and they're STILL winning 60+ games.

The story of Spurs rings has less to do with Duncan and more to do with the GOAT coach in Pop.

Newsflash: Duncan led Pop for 4 of his 5 championships
Duncan would win rings anyway

[Knicks Byke]

they called him mr fundamental for a reason.