Mario Elie played alongside and opposite some of the best big men to ever grace the NBA. Elie was a teammate of Hakeem Olajuwon in Houston, David Robinson and Tim Duncan in San Antonio. His teams also played against Patrick Ewing and Shaquille O'Neal in the 1994 and 1995 NBA Finals, respectively.
Having seen the best centers of the 90s, Elie believes that Olajuwon is one of the best. The three-time NBA champion also says that Dream doesn't get his due as one of basketball's GOAT centers. He took specific exception to those who place O'Neal ahead of Olajuwon in their mythical lists.
" He doesn't get the credit he deserves as being one of the best centers of all time ," Elie said via ESPN .
" I keep hearing people put Shaq in front of him, and that's an insult. Dream was an 85-percent free-throw shooter. Shaq never led the league in blocks or won Defensive Player of the Year ."
Dream dominated Shaq in the 1995 NBA Finals
While Diesel never led the league in blocks or won Defensive Player of the Year honors, Shaq beat Hakeem 17-11 in 28 total games played against each other. During those games, O'Neal put up 24.0 points, 12.1 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 2.2 blocks per game.
Elie sees Olajuwon as better than Shaq because Dream dominated Diesel in the 1995 NBA Finals. In that series, Hakeem averaged 32.8 points, 11.5 rebounds, 5.5 assists, 2.0 steals, and 2.0 blocks per game while winning Finals MVP honors as the Rockets swept O'Neal's Magic.
" It was a great time for centers ," said Mario of the 90s NBA. " But the best of all those guys bar none, including Shaq, Robinson, Ewing, Alonzo, it was Dream ," added Elie. " He was just a little better than those guys ."
Related: "He's gonna be real good" - David Robinson raved about Shaquille O'Neal after their first matchup in the NBA
Seikaly said Olajuwon was better than Shaq
Another 90s player who agrees with Elie that Hakeem was better than Shaquille was former Miami Heat center Rony Seikaly. Dream and Seikaly met 21 times in the NBA, and Olajuwon won their head-to-head matchup 16-5 while stuffing the stats sheet. In 2014, Rony told Bleacher Report that Hakeem was his toughest big-man matchup.
"I think basketball-wise, I think it was Olajuwon," said Seikaly. "He was just so quick. He was my biggest challenge because pretty much as savvy as we are, as much as we know about our opponents and what they want to do and their go-to moves and how they counter off that, Olajuwon was a guy that you just did not know what he was going to do. I don't think he knew what he was going to do. He would shake you around and you were all shook up."
O'Neal may have won more championships than Hakeem, 4 to Olajuwon's 2. He was also the more dominant player on the court. However, when it comes to ability, Olajuwon had a more diverse skill set. Hakeem also racked up more awards and accolades than Shaq, so you can't blame Elie for his take.
Related: "This is a dirty team" - When Hakeem Olajuwon slammed the Utah Jazz during 1997 WCF
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