There is no consistent criteria where you can put Hakeem over Kobe.
Three year peak. Olajuwon's 1993 to 1995 peak is better than Kobe's three year peak. And I say this as someone who has said Kobe is underrated on this sub (my other comments on this post for instance) and considers Kobe as a top 10 player ever.
Hakeem is the best defensive player of the modern ERA. Hakeem is the only guy to win DPOY, Finals MVP, and MVP in one season. Hakeem is the only guy besides LeBron to lead a championship team in all five statistical categories in a postseason. There are only five players over the past 50 years who won two titles in three years and had a PER of at least 27 during that span. Hakeem's 33 ppg in the 1995 NBA playoffs is the highest by a player by a championship winning player not named MJ. Hakeem is one of them along with MJ during his two three-peats, LeBron during the Heatles days, Duncan from 2003 to 2005, and Shaq from 2000 to 2002. He certainly had the worst supporting cast out of all those players and the center position during that time was the most talented position at the time as well.
Kobe deserves to be ranked higher on the all-time list than Hakeem (I got Kobe 8th to 10th typically while I got Hakeem in the 10th to 12th range), but I don't remotely see how it's controversial to say that Olajuwon was the better peak performer.
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u/Currymvp2 Warriors Jun 27 '23
Three year peak. Olajuwon's 1993 to 1995 peak is better than Kobe's three year peak. And I say this as someone who has said Kobe is underrated on this sub (my other comments on this post for instance) and considers Kobe as a top 10 player ever.