Olajuwon: One of NBA's four best pivots

by Mike Kahn

Updated: September 7, 2008, 6:10 PM EST 54 comments

Olajuwon, now 45, was presented into the Hall along with rival center Patrick Ewing, superstar coach Pat Riley, high-scoring Adrian Dantley, Detroit Pistons and Shock owner Bill Davidson, women's basketball pioneer Cathy Rush and gregarious college basketball commentator Dick Vitale on Friday night.

But it was Olajuwon who blossomed into certainly one of the four greatest all-time centers along with Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, putting up a superior career to both Bill Walton and Shaquille O'Neal. The big comparison, of course, came with Ewing. Olajuwon clearly was the more pure athlete and they became rivals first at the collegiate level before titanic struggles in the NBA so it was fitting that they would be inducted together.

Olajuwon was a product of Lagos, Nigeria, and never played the game until he was 17. But at 6-foot-10, he had developed extraordinary hand/eye coordination and footwork as a soccer goalie and playing team handball. So with that size and those skills, he was a natural for basketball. A coach lured him to the court and he ended up playing on a national touring team.

Within months, still 17, he landed on the University of Houston campus, and after a year of adjustment to life in America and learning the game from coach Guy Lewis, Olajuwon became a human highlight film of blocks, steals and rebounds while learning the finesse of offense. It became a dunkfest every night for Lewis' Cougars and the team, along with All-American Clyde Drexler, drew national acclaim as the Phi Slama Jama dunking fraternity.

They went to the Final Four three times with Olajuwon winning the NCAA Tournament's Most Outstanding Player award in 1983. But they did lose in the thrilling championship game to Jim Valvano's North Carolina State Wolfpack on a last-second put-back, and then again in 1984 to Ewing's Georgetown squad.

It was then that the Rockets made Olajuwon the first overall pick of the fabled 1984 draft ahead of Sam Bowie and Michael Jordan. From there Olajuwon became an unstoppable force with the Rockets. He established the "Dream Shake" spins on the baseline on the offensive end, with endless pivots that would end in a jump shot or a patented up-and-under move. Today, Kevin Garnett does his own version on jumpers, but not with the same power, nor at the basket with the same effect.

Olajuwon went on to set Rockets records for points (26,511), rebounds (13,382), blocks (3,740) and steals (2,088). His blocks are the most in NBA history although it is widely considered a mark that Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain exceeded dramatically but were not recorded because blocks didn't become official statistics until the 1973-74 season.

Nonetheless, Olajuwon's impact on the game was inexorable because of his unusual combination of quickness and agility on such a powerful 6-10, 255-pound frame. He was rookie of the year in 1985, combining with 7-4 Ralph Sampson, the rookie of the year the previous season, to foist the "The Twin Towers" moniker on the NBA. They upset the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers in 1986 in the Western Conference finals before losing to the Boston Celtics in the Finals. But Olajuwon was devastating in 20 playoff games, averaging 26.9 points, 11.8 rebounds, 3.5 blocks and 2.0 steals.

In many ways, it was hard to believe the Rockets didn't get back to the Finals until 1994, with the loss to the Sonics in 1987 the biggest upset they suffered. But it was during the 1993-94 and 1994-95 seasons, when the Rockets won back-to-back titles, that he cemented his role in history. During the 1993-94 campaign, Olajuwon won his only Most Valuable Player award, and he then led the Rockets to their first title. In his much-awaited re-match with Ewing, the Rockets overcame a 3-2 deficit to defeat Ewing, Riley and the New York Knicks for the 1994 NBA title.

Perhaps even more impressive was the next season, though. Struggling mightily as a team, the Rockets made a mid-season trade to get Olajuwon's former college teammate Drexler, and limped into the playoffs as the sixth seed. Nonetheless, "The Dream" had a remarkable season, averaging 27.8 points, 10.8 rebounds and 3.4 blocks, but nobody realized that was just a taste of what was to come in the playoffs.

The Rockets struggled to a five-game win over Utah on the road in the first round and pulled out a spectacular one-point victory at Phoenix in Game 7 of the West semifinals. That set up the conference finals against MVP center David Robinson at San Antonio. The special night belonged to Olajuwon, who embarrassed Robinson with 41 points, 16 rebounds and 3 blocks in a one-point win at San Antonio. It set the tone for the Rockets to clinch the series at home in Game 6.

And that brought in the next big challenge for Olajuwon and the Rockets, monstrous rookie of the year center Shaquille O'Neal and the Orlando Magic. The Magic blew Game 1 in overtime, and the Rockets swept the series with Olajuwon winning NBA Finals MVP for the second consecutive year. His performance in the playoffs — 33.0 points, 10.3 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 2.8 blocks — moved coach Rudy Tomjanovich to utter, "Never underestimate the heart of a champion," about his superstar.

A champion bound for the Hall of Fame indeed.