If you were a die-hard NBA fan in the 1980's, you bought your NBA betamax videos at a stall at the top floor of Virra Mall in Greenhills. They sold everything from the All-Star Weekend to the NBA Finals. And when Michael Jordan's Come Fly With Me became more popular than Vivian Velez' sex tape, that was the place to go.
Looking for something back then was like a quest for the Holy Grail. Nowadays, you have amazon, ebay, craigslist, and Divisoria.
One of those tapes that I bought was one of those first NBA videos... NBA Superstars where they set the highlight reel of some superstars to popular music. There was Larry Bird taking all sorts of crazy shots to John Cougar Mellencamp's "Small Town," Michael Jordan taking off with an F-14 Tomcat taking off from an aircraft carrier to Berlin's "Take My Breath Away," and Charles Barkley dunking with reckless abandon to Scandal's "The Warrior." My favorite was Dominique Wilkins stupefying everyone with his rim rattlers set to Yanni's "Through the Looking Glass." That was frigging awesome.
There were a few more vids in the tape and one of the least ones I liked was Akeem (minus the "H") Olajuwon twisting opposing centers and forwards into pretzels in sync to Kool Moe Dee's "How Ya Like Me Now." I thought it was cheesy maybe even somewhat lame. But the Dream's game was anything but. Even as a young stud out of Houston, he was an amalgam of Maurice Lucas and Moses Malone inside the lane. His two NBA titles -- as the caretaker of the Larry O'Brien trophy while Michael Jordan was on his baseball sabbatical -- are proof of his greatness.
The Dream will be entering the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame along with another center who was all-world during that time -- Patrick Ewing. I'm not going to even start a debate here as to who was better because the answer if pretty obvious, but Olajuwon was then the latest model in a long line of great centers that Houston seemed to be known for -- Elvin Hayes, Moses Malone, Ralph Sampson (for awhile), then the Dream. Yao Ming is the latest in that long and distinguished line.
I'll forgive those yahoos who set the Dream's moves to Kool Moe Dee, but dude, I still see Olajuwon ditching David Robinson like he had no business on an NBA court. Congrats to the Dream for a great basketball career and being a successful real estate agent in the Houston area.
With that, here's my Top 10 Greatest NBA Centers of All Time:
1. Bill Russell - 11 championships in 13 seasons. Add to that 2 NCAA titles and an Olympic Gold Medal. And he was playing coach too in the last couple of years. Is there any other ultimate winner out there?
2. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - 5 championships, 6 MVP Awards, and the Skyhook. And as finesse as people made him out to be, Kareem was not. In the same season where Kermit Washington nearly killed Rudy Tomjanovich with The Punch, Abdul-Jabbar started the season with a knockout. He slugged the Milwaukee Bucks' Kent Benson and broke his hand causing him to miss a few weeks that eventually derailed the season (if you ask me it was the Washington-Tomjanovich incident that sent the Lakers' season in a tailspin that year).
3. Wilt Chamberlain - Many would place him at the top of the all-time centers list but I am not many. He may have wrote the record book on records but he certainly should have won more than the two NBA titles he has in his pocket.
4. Shaquille O'Neal - If you're big, fast, and strong, who needs a jumpshot? Now if only he learned from Charles Barkley about off-season conditioning, he could be at number two on this list.
5. Hakeem Olajuwon - Football's loss is basketball's gain. Even as a young buck he led the upstart Rockets against a tough and great Boston Celtics team. While Ralph Sampson was busy picking a fight with a guy half his size, Olajuwon was cutting Robert Parish and Kevin McHale down to size.
6. George Mikan - He's not here because of the obligatory Golden Age representative. He's on this list because he started the first dynasty in pro sports anywhere in the world.
7. Moses Malone - He was the Wilt Chamberlain of his era by strapping teams on his back to the NBA Finals where he won one and lost another.
8. Bill Walton - When he was healthy, he was otherworldly. When he wasn't. he was in a world of pain. But two NBA titles -- one with Portland and one with Boston are testament that he wasn't a one-hit wonder.
9. David Robinson -- I really don't think he should be in the Top 10 notwithstanding his 2 titles. I'd say that those two were more because Tim Duncan was on board. The Big Fundamental showed he is the Big Spur on the league's backside by winning two more when the Admiral was in the stands on retirement. But D-Rob's accomplishments and on court power still make him a force to reckon with. Sorry, Relster!
10. Patrick Ewing - The best jump-shooting center. He'd trade that rep for a trophy. Had the misfortune of playing in the same conference as one Michael Jeffrey Jordan who derailed most of his title aspirations.
Looking for something back then was like a quest for the Holy Grail. Nowadays, you have amazon, ebay, craigslist, and Divisoria.
One of those tapes that I bought was one of those first NBA videos... NBA Superstars where they set the highlight reel of some superstars to popular music. There was Larry Bird taking all sorts of crazy shots to John Cougar Mellencamp's "Small Town," Michael Jordan taking off with an F-14 Tomcat taking off from an aircraft carrier to Berlin's "Take My Breath Away," and Charles Barkley dunking with reckless abandon to Scandal's "The Warrior." My favorite was Dominique Wilkins stupefying everyone with his rim rattlers set to Yanni's "Through the Looking Glass." That was frigging awesome.
There were a few more vids in the tape and one of the least ones I liked was Akeem (minus the "H") Olajuwon twisting opposing centers and forwards into pretzels in sync to Kool Moe Dee's "How Ya Like Me Now." I thought it was cheesy maybe even somewhat lame. But the Dream's game was anything but. Even as a young stud out of Houston, he was an amalgam of Maurice Lucas and Moses Malone inside the lane. His two NBA titles -- as the caretaker of the Larry O'Brien trophy while Michael Jordan was on his baseball sabbatical -- are proof of his greatness.
The Dream will be entering the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame along with another center who was all-world during that time -- Patrick Ewing. I'm not going to even start a debate here as to who was better because the answer if pretty obvious, but Olajuwon was then the latest model in a long line of great centers that Houston seemed to be known for -- Elvin Hayes, Moses Malone, Ralph Sampson (for awhile), then the Dream. Yao Ming is the latest in that long and distinguished line.
I'll forgive those yahoos who set the Dream's moves to Kool Moe Dee, but dude, I still see Olajuwon ditching David Robinson like he had no business on an NBA court. Congrats to the Dream for a great basketball career and being a successful real estate agent in the Houston area.
With that, here's my Top 10 Greatest NBA Centers of All Time:
1. Bill Russell - 11 championships in 13 seasons. Add to that 2 NCAA titles and an Olympic Gold Medal. And he was playing coach too in the last couple of years. Is there any other ultimate winner out there?
2. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - 5 championships, 6 MVP Awards, and the Skyhook. And as finesse as people made him out to be, Kareem was not. In the same season where Kermit Washington nearly killed Rudy Tomjanovich with The Punch, Abdul-Jabbar started the season with a knockout. He slugged the Milwaukee Bucks' Kent Benson and broke his hand causing him to miss a few weeks that eventually derailed the season (if you ask me it was the Washington-Tomjanovich incident that sent the Lakers' season in a tailspin that year).
3. Wilt Chamberlain - Many would place him at the top of the all-time centers list but I am not many. He may have wrote the record book on records but he certainly should have won more than the two NBA titles he has in his pocket.
4. Shaquille O'Neal - If you're big, fast, and strong, who needs a jumpshot? Now if only he learned from Charles Barkley about off-season conditioning, he could be at number two on this list.
5. Hakeem Olajuwon - Football's loss is basketball's gain. Even as a young buck he led the upstart Rockets against a tough and great Boston Celtics team. While Ralph Sampson was busy picking a fight with a guy half his size, Olajuwon was cutting Robert Parish and Kevin McHale down to size.
6. George Mikan - He's not here because of the obligatory Golden Age representative. He's on this list because he started the first dynasty in pro sports anywhere in the world.
7. Moses Malone - He was the Wilt Chamberlain of his era by strapping teams on his back to the NBA Finals where he won one and lost another.
8. Bill Walton - When he was healthy, he was otherworldly. When he wasn't. he was in a world of pain. But two NBA titles -- one with Portland and one with Boston are testament that he wasn't a one-hit wonder.
9. David Robinson -- I really don't think he should be in the Top 10 notwithstanding his 2 titles. I'd say that those two were more because Tim Duncan was on board. The Big Fundamental showed he is the Big Spur on the league's backside by winning two more when the Admiral was in the stands on retirement. But D-Rob's accomplishments and on court power still make him a force to reckon with. Sorry, Relster!
10. Patrick Ewing - The best jump-shooting center. He'd trade that rep for a trophy. Had the misfortune of playing in the same conference as one Michael Jeffrey Jordan who derailed most of his title aspirations.
No comments:
Post a Comment