Kenny Smith perfectly explains the greatness of Hakeem Olajuwon |Draymond Green Show

What's something that people don't know about Hakeem that made him special? Like obviously we all know the footwork was incredible, but what was something that he did on the basketball court that was more of an underrated thing that people don't quite give credit for that was actually one of the things that really made him great? Before I go to basketball, I've been blessed to play with great people and be around great mentors. That's why I wrote the book, honestly. He's the most honorable man I've ever met in my life. Most honorable, Dre. Like if Hakeem, like right now, if I was stuck on a highway and they gave me a cell phone, they said, you got three people to call to come get you. I'm calling Hakeem. He's going to be one of the three. He's always going to do exactly what he's going to, what he says, what he's going to do. He never variants from what he says. He's so honorable in what his word is. Like we all, we had a saying in New York, word is bond, word is bond. Your word is bond. Like, no, his word is bond. It will, it is a hundred percent of what it is. He means it all the time. Always the most honorable dude I've ever been around. So on a basketball court, you're going to trust it. Yo Kenny, I'm going to be there. I'm coming. Don't worry. If he, he's going to be there. He said it. He's going to be there. He's going to be there. So the most underrated thing was his word. The second most underrated as a physical standpoint was he would be unbelievable in today's game because he could switch one to five. And so he could God come off the pick and you got the one, Oh, he's moving his feet. And if you throw the law, he's going back to still try to contest the law. I had, I've never seen a player that could double in the pick and roll and get back to his man on the road and still block the shot. He was the most unique athlete in terms of instinct. Like he just knew when to leave. He knew when to stay. He knew when to come. I know you're a great defensive player. And that's why I kind of watch certain things that you do on the pick and roll. And it's very, okay. Imagine if you were six 10 and your athleticism was Blake Griffin. That was a key. Now, how many people are scoring? I mean, that's him. Jesus. He's you on the defensive end at six 10 with Blake Griffin's young athleticism. That's who he is. That's impressive. You know, I heard something about Hakeem that I think is even more impressive than anything he's done, but I heard Hakeem owns like half of Houston. I heard he's a real estate guru and I don't know if that's true or not, but if that is true and he's a real estate guru like that, the fact that he is that you don't hear anything from him, you don't see anything like, and so the fact I've corporation is real. And the crazy thing is he started it in college. Really? He, he was living in a town home in college. He gets drafted by Houston. Yes. And his first purchase, he bought the condo that he and then it just, so on and so on. Then he moved, got out and it just, but it's, he is the most underrated wealthy man in the NBA underrated his, his wealth of not only that, but just his business savvy. And, you know, to have to, to have that kind of mindset, he's always had, I've never walked in a room or to his house or to anything and said, man, what is this dude doing around the key? Never that his company that he keeps you like, man, can I know you? Can I get to know who you are? Can I figure out how to be next to you? His company was impeccable. Like I said, the most honorable person I ever met. That's impressive. And speaking of Hakeem, obviously dominated with his back to the basket. Do you think that style will ever come back into the NBA with the way the NBA has transitioned to more like 80% of centers in the NBA, maybe even more can't play with their back to the basket today? Yeah, he would, he would kill us era only because Dre, he was actually the king of the mid range shot too. So like he, his whole thing was, I'm going to face you and, and like do inside pivots and do guard moves as a big, we, so he and I, Vernon Maxwell and all we sometimes we shoot out the practice and we, he would just do all card moves. He's like, okay, it's the same moves on the box, up and unders and step throughs out front, you know, crossover head fake. It's the same stuff. I'm gonna do all your moves. Let's go, let's go. And he does, but then when was underrated, he never would take them, but you know, I shot a lot of threes. So he would always get into three shooting contests and he made five out of eight threes from each spot, like easily. But in the game, he's like, I said, dream, why don't you shoot threes? Cause you know, he's like, why are we going to shoot threes? I only have to play three times a year. Patrick Ewing, David Robinson, and well, and Shaq, that's it. Everyone else I killed. He's like, so he's like, no one else can call me in the rest of them. That's it. I move out. He said, the only time I move off the block is against those three guys. Cause no one else could call me, but he could shoot the three. He led the league and steals one year. So defensively was incredible defensive player of the year MVP. His mid range game was crazy. His, his picking role lob to the rim would have been Blake Griffin. Like, and he would have shot the three. He would have been like, I'm trying to think of a, he would have been able to finish like Clint could tell a compeller on the, on the loss. Cause he read the, he knows when to leave. He would have been defensively six, 10 U and he would have probably been who takes that mid range jumper now at the five on a pick and pop range. J Joel, he's an athletic Joel and B me and Sam could sell. Cause Sam, you know, that's my guy. He always puts me on the phone when he was on the bus with all his 76s and he, and they have this argument about how dream couldn't book God, Joel, come on, Kenny, come on now. Tell him Kenny, he's an athletic Joel to me like Joel is athletic, but he's not, he's more brute strength. Yeah. But he, they play a lot of like, a lot of like that mid range shot. He kind of backs you in, but I just think he's a much better defender than Joel. That's it. He's just a much better defender and strong enough. He had to be strong enough. Right? He guards shack. Yeah. Yeah. Shaq. I've never seen anyone not be outpowered by Shaq, but him. And I don't know if it was because it was footwork, his strength, or just his tenacity. Like Dre, like you'd like him. He's got a lot of that in you. Like before he went to the bout Muslim, like it was like teams were fearful, not only of him as a defender, but they were a little bit scared of his physicality, you know, and how he would treat you if you showed any type of weakness. So I had dog, I had him burning Maxwell. I was talking so much. I was so happy that I had them dogs around me, those two dudes. Oh my God. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. My favorite teammate of all time is probably Chuckie Brown, just because we fall from New York. We have, but Vernon Maxwell and Sam could sell and Mario Ellie. We should just sit on the bus and do this all day. Uh, Dre, just, just what we're doing. So when I'm in, when I'm, when I'm on TV, when I first got on, they used to be like, man, you should pay us. You just say stuff. So those are my guys, man.