3 hours and 20 minutes left on the clock.
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Well, I was pretty busy once again, so couldn't say much.
Top 7 seasons for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar;
1977
1974
1971
1976
1972
1980
1979
(1973)
Top 7 seasons for Hakeem Olajuwon;
1994
1993
1995
1990
1989
1997
1987
My list of top 12 seasons between the two;
1. 1977 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
2. 1974 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
3. 1994 Hakeem Olajuwon
4. 1971 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
5. 1976 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
6. 1972 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
7. 1993 Hakeem Olajuwon
8. 1980 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
9. 1995 Hakeem Olajuwon
10. 1979 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
11. 1973 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
12. 1990 Hakeem Olajuwon
Well, this was almost as bad as the MJ matchup for Hakeem. There are certain things I focused on;
- 1972 Kareem vs. 1993 Hakeem was the bedrock of this comparison. I'm kind of surprised by '93 Hakeem > '72 Kareem because stylistically, these 2 seasons are pretty similar and Kareem did better than Hakeem in rs and also in ps.
Kareem had a goat level regular season, then he had a better showing against a far superior team and also a far superior direct matchup. Kareem's rs performance in '72 > Hakeem's rs performance in '93. Kareem's performance against Wilt and the Lakers > Hakeem's performance against Sam Perkins and the Sonics. For aspects, Kareem's edge on offense was bigger than Hakeem's edge on defense.
Surely this is just speculation but I see '93 Rockets being the frontrunners to win it all with '72 Kareem instead of '93 Hakeem.
- I guess I usually consider 1994 Hakeem as an outlier in a similar fashion to 2000 Shaq. This project is showing me my position with his single season peak.
- I've always found 1980 Kareem and 1995 Hakeem being at the same age interesting.
Hakeem's ps run was more legendary but the gap in rs performances is just too big, especially since Kareem had a pretty strong ps run himself.
- I think me picking 5 of Kareem seasons in top 6 is not a surprise at this point. Kareem was just a better player and I think his defense is underappreciated, surely he wasn't a goat level defender but he was still an all-time level defender with his length and rim protection. Kareem was a goat level offensive + an all-time defensive weapon while Hakeem was a superstar level offensive + goat level defensive weapon.
- The bottom 2 was hard. I initially had 1989/1990 Hakeem for those spots but these seasons are mostly about strong rs performances, I have 1990 ahead of 1989 because I don't put much stock into 1st rounds exits after overachieving rs runs and I think Hakeem was slightly better on D in 1990. The issue here is though, Kareem's 1973 season wasn't that different. The fact is Kareem had an even stronger rs showing and he had a way more solid reason to underperform, one of the goat low post defenders, Nate Thurmond.
Now, picking 1989 Hakeem over both of 1990 Hakeem and 1973 Kareem might look like a decent option. I beg to differ because Kareem still had a stronger season and the Rockets in 1989 were eliminated in a 4th-5th seed matchup by an average team and Hakeem didn't have a particularly strong series. 1989 might look more complete than 1990 and 1973 but 1989 Hakeem had clearly the weakest rs performance, even though the other 2 underperformed in ps, it wasn't like Hakeem in 1989 had an average performance against a very strong team or a crazy strong performance against an average team. So, whatever the gap in ps runs, it is certainly not enough.
Wow, I've been working on this post for 50 mins.
Edit;
A further note about my takes on Olajuwon, as I keep watching full game footage to go along with this project, I'm starting to think less of Olajuwon's offensive game. Demands so much space and ball usage to operate on that production level. Among big men of the top 10; Bill, Wilt, Kareem, Hakeem, Shaq and Tim, that issue is particularly glaring.
There was one labelling we used to have; "making his teammates better" (it has changed over time, worded and thought differently, the closest thing is probably portability right now) and Hakeem did not make his teammates better with such high demand of space and ball at the same time. For instance Shaq's scoring gravity translated into high value shots in open 3 pointer looks, Timmy's scoring gravity translated into high scoring efficiency for the others (especially Ginobili), and that was because their off-ball value was still incredibly high. Even when they did not touch the ball in a decisive manner, they produced significant value and that made their teammates perform better. Hakeem's off-ball value was, for a top 15 ever level player, certainly below average.
After reading my own post, I thought about comparisons among certain versions of the big men; 1964 Wilt, 1965 Bill, 1972 Kareem, 1993 Hakeem, 2001 Shaq, 2002 Tim. (You know, usually the 2nd best seasons minus Kareem's '72)
Right now, 1993 Hakeem is only ahead of 1965 Bill who lacked top end offensive production. Off-ball values of the others are throwing this strong offense+defense combination of 1993 Hakeem off balance.
