solidly below that? Look at his career numbers. He had a bit of a dry spell in terms of team success in the early nineties, but look at his numbers. Look at his defensive numbers. Look at his rebounding numbers.

93-96 was the apex of his prime, which *should* be the peak of his powers, but it's not as though he was anything less than All-NBA level for any of those other years. I mean... he made All-NBA First team in 87,88,and 89; and then again in 93 94 and 97. The only other players to capture it during that period of his career was Robinson 4 times and Ewing once. He made second team in two of those seasons, plus second team in 86 in his second year.

He was clearly the best center of his era, and that's not a slight to Robinson or Ewing.

Was Shaq better than Hakeem? That's certainly debatable. Shaq probably wins that argument. But Hakeem had already been one of THE very best players in the league for years before the Rockets ascended to their first championship...

>(although Robinson has better PER and win-share numbers). The
>problem lies ion the fact that people think that he was 93-96
>Dream for the majority of his career, and in reality, he was
>solidly below that.
>
>It's funny how we dismiss phenomenal years from T-Mac and let
>his post-injury years taint his legacy, but seeming only
>remember Olajuwon's best years.