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Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Arcadia Game

Posted by Tariq al Haydar










The 2008 Naismith Hall of Fame class has been announced. Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing, Adrian Dantley (finally!), Pat Riley, Dick Vitale, coach Cathy Rush and owner William Davidson are all now part of the hoops Valhalla.

Remember the days when Dominique Wilkins was shut out of the Hall? That injustice (later rectified) inspired Lang Whitaker to start the SLAM Hall of Fame on the old SLAM website. I wrote the induction for Hakeem Olajuwon, which I thought I'd reproduce here. Enjoy:



"Hakeem" is an Arabic word which means 'wise one'. Early in his career, Olajuwon was merely "Akeem"; a talented but temperamental youngster. Akeem came close to the promised land once, but was crushed by the Celtics. Later, Olajuwon became self-controlled. Hakeem rolled to the Summit twice, in '94 and '95. They say that Barkley, Malone, Stockton, Ewing and Payton never won any rings because they had to beat Jordan. That may be true, but they all had a two-year window to win it when Money was in the minors. The truth is... Hakeem was in control; Just ask David Robinson.

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tariq!!!!! How can i join this party or was this site made to avoid me? why am i even asking that, of course it was!!!! Whatever, i will just be a reader here i guess. Sincerely,
Pretty Kitty (BET)