Tag: Hakeem Olajuwon

In halftime brawl, Vernon Maxwell recalls wanting to stab Rockets legend Hakeem Olajuwon

In a halftime brawl, former Rockets guard Vernon Maxwell recalls having a plan to stab Hakeem Olajuwon with broken glass before police came in — with guns drawn — to break it up.

Known best as “Mad Max,” retired shooting guard Vernon Maxwell played with the Houston Rockets over parts of six seasons from 1989 to 1995. That run included a starting role on the franchise’s first championship team (1993-94) alongside legendary center Hakeem Olajuwon.

But in the early years, there was apparently at least one night when their partnership could have ended in infamy, and perhaps worse.

In a new appearance on the “No Chill with Gilbert Arenas” podcast, Maxwell recalled a game in Seattle where police barged into Houston’s road locker room ⁠— with guns drawn ⁠— due to a brawl.

NOTE: Transcription and video contain profanity.

According to Maxwell, the incident began when they were walking back to the locker room, and the two exchanged harsh words — with Maxwell wanting more on-court opportunities to shoot. From there, Maxwell says Olajuwon slapped him in the face. The interview continues:

I said, ‘God damn, this [expletive] slapped the [expletive] out of me.’ That [expletive] hit me so hard, man, (he) knocked me out the chair.

I jumped up, grabbed my chair, and throwed it at (that) [expletive], bust the glass in the locker room. Everybody running out. Police come in with the guns drawn, like ‘What the hell goin’ on in here?’

I was like, ‘Damn, they got the guns on me at a professional halftime.’ At a professional game.

Maxwell said he had grabbed a piece of glass and was going to “chase Dream (Olajuwon) and stab the [expletive] out of him,” but between the police presence and the game’s resumption, he didn’t get the chance to.

Fortunately for the Rockets, that duo went on to have better days. In particular, Maxwell credits Olajuwon’s conversion to Islam leading to him becoming a better teammate as the years progressed.

“After that, (Hakeem) became Muslim,” Maxwell recalled. “He was so quiet. So humble. So, (he) wanted me to become Muslim. I couldn’t do it. But, he was a great teammate after that.”

Maxwell jokingly referenced the incident earlier this season after the highly publicized halftime drama involving Christian Wood and Kevin Porter Jr. at Toyota Center on New Year’s Day. “I don’t remember trying to stab anyone, but if I did, it was out of love,” Maxwell tweeted.

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Kevin Durant woke up from getting swept and threw shade at Charles Barkley on Instagram

Was this a response to the “bus driver” comments?

The morning after his Nets were swept out of the Nets by the Celtics, Kevin Durant took to Instagram to throw shade at Charles Barkley.

Perhaps it was surprising for some to see Durant take a shot at the TNT analyst right after his team was eliminated from postseason contention, but the Brooklyn superstar is one of the most logged-on athletes we have ever seen.

Durant is often criticized for playing on a superteam trio of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. Then, this season, the Nets were preseason title favorites because KD was on a superteam trio alongside Kyrie Irving and James Harden.

However, the 2014 NBA MVP wanted to set the record straight: He didn’t start the trend of great players joining great players. Barkley even played alongside Scottie Pippen and Hakeem Olajuwon.

Durant was presumably replying to something Barkley said while on-air earlier this week. Barkley was asked about Durant’s greatness, and he was quick to diminish the accomplishments of the two-time NBA champion.

Barkley called Durant a “bus rider” and that unless you’re “driving” the bus, winning a championship means nothing.

Those are much easier words said by someone who has never won a title, though, as four-time NBA champion Shaquille O’Neal quickly added that Durant won two titles in a row.

Barkley also recently said Durant wasn’t the best player on the Warriors, even comparing his NBA Finals MVP honors to when Andre Iguodala received the same nods.

So it makes sense that Durant took issue with Barkley’s comments.

Durant’s response was particularly interesting because Barkley’s 1998-99 Rockets were also eliminated in the first round of the playoffs (ironically, by Shaq’s Lakers).

Barkley’s Rockets were not exactly in their prime. That season marked Barkley’s second-to-last in the league, and he was 35 years old. According to the advanced metric win shares, it was also the second-worst season of his career.

Olajuwon was 36 years old, and Pippen was 33. So, unfortunately for KD, this wasn’t exactly a one-to-one analogy.

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Every NBA MVPs born outside of the United States

The NBA has had a number of international MVPs. Who are the foreign-born Most Valuable Players in NBA history? From the 90s to today, international stars have been growing in prowess in the Association.

The NBA is an increasingly international game – it makes sense that the league’s MVP award is also increasingly international. Seven times has a foreign-born player won the honor since the inaugural MVP in 1956, including six times in the last twenty years. At the time of this writing – April 2022 – the number looks poised to grow at the conclusion of the 2021-22 season.

This year, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic, representing Greece, Cameroon, and Serbia, have seemingly run away with the award. Players like Jayson Tatum, Devin Booker, or Kevin Durant could come in and muddy the water on the behalf of the Americans, but it’s clear that there are at least three and emphatic MVP candidates born overseas.

Whether from halfway around the world or from just over the border, the international community has produced some of basketballs greatest players, and that trend will only strengthen in years to come. For now, here are the NBA’s foreign-born MVPs.

Two Tampa Bay Buccaneers were named after Shaquille O’Neal… AND Hakeem Olajuwon

Buccaneers guard Shaq Mason and edge-rusher Shaq Barrett were both named for Shaquille O’Neal… and Hakeem Olajuwon. What are the odds?

After losing left guard Ali Marpet to retirement and right guard Alex Cappa to the Bengals in free agency, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were suddenly very short on interior protectors for one Tom Brady. General manager Jason Licht and his staff were able to alleviate this to a point by stealing former Patriots guard Shaq Mason for a fifth-round pick.

Not only does Mason have what it takes to slip right in to protecting Brady — something he did in Foxboro from 2015 through 2019 — but he also has something interesting in common with one of his new teammates. Mason and edge-rusher Shaquil Barrett were named for the same two NBA Hall-of-Famers.

And as it turns out, the name Shaquille became a loot more popular around the time that the 28-year-old Mason and the 29-year-old Barrett were born.

(Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports)

“I liked Shaquille O’Neal and I liked Hakeem Olajuwon,” Barrett’s father Steven told Vice.com in 2016, “so I named my son after both of the centers I really liked. [O’Neal] was a good role model for my son to follow. If my son can accomplish, two percent of what O’Neal accomplished, then I’d certainly be all right with that.”

(Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports)

The name, which means “handsome” in Arabic, first popped on the Social Security Administration’s Top 1,000 baby names in 1991, and things just blossomed from there.

“I was the only one around with the name,” Mason said in that same article. “The first time I met another Shaq was actually Shaquille O’Neal at a Grizzlies game.”

Well, now there are two Shaqs in the same locker room. And when the Buccaneers play the Carolina Panthers, their NFC South division rival, twice in the 2022 season, they’ll run into another one: Carolina safety-backer Shaq Thompson.

“I was the only Shaq growing up until I got to high school, where I met another Shaq,” Thompson said.

Shaquille Green Thompson, however, was not named after both Shaq and Hakeem.

Which NBA players had the most blocks in their career?

Who has swatted the most shots in NBA history? Here are the league’s all-time blocks leaders.

The modern NBA is predicated on offense, with players pulling up from way beyond the 3-point line on a nightly basis. The emphasis on taking the ball to the rim has changed radically, as has the need to protect the rim. As such, the players in NBA history with the most career blocks feel like titans from another era.

The modern game has a few defensive stalwarts such as Giannis Antetokounmpo and Rudy Gobert. They know how to protect the rim at all costs. Still, the modern top dogs on defense don’t hold a candle to the Association’s greatest.

From fingering wagging and intense tempers to safety goggles and mild manners, the men with the most career blocks in NBA history have one thing in common: They know how to lock it down on defense.

Rockets rookie Alperen Sengun has breakout performance versus LeBron James

In a game with frequent head-to-head matchups versus LeBron James, Rockets rookie Alperen Sengun showcased his growth with career-highs in points (21), rebounds (14), and minutes (40).

Houston Rockets head coach Stephen Silas is an astute individual who has been around the NBA long enough to know that winning games has a lot to do with being lucky and having highly skilled athletes.

On Wednesday, the second-year head coach watched his young team pull off a huge 139-130 overtime win over the veteran-laden Los Angeles Lakers. While Silas recognizes that rookie Jalen Green wowed the crowd with big numbers and an array of elite moves down the stretch, it’s possible the game was won through adjustments before it even started.

With usual starting center Christian Wood unavailable for a second straight game due to an illness, Silas was forced to insert rookie center Alperen Sengun into the starting lineup against the Lakers.

That move looked like a win-win situation for Los Angeles, which played LeBron James at center when these two teams last met in late December. James finished that game with a triple-double, and it led to a nine-point Los Angeles victory. It marked the first time that the future Hall of Famer had started at that position in his entire basketball career.

However, what Lakers head coach Frank Vogel and the rest of his staff may not have factored in before Wednesday’s game was how much more advanced Sengun has become since their last meeting.

In that December loss, Sengun came off the bench and only played a total of 15 minutes, scoring 10 points. He was much more effective in his seventh start of the season with career-highs in points (21), rebounds (14), and minutes played (40) — all while matched up individually with one of the greatest players in the sport’s history.

“First of all, it’s a big honor for me,” Sengun said about playing against James. “It’s a big memory, a big moment. I was excited before the game because I knew I was going to play against him, I knew I was going to match up with him. All these years, I watched him since I was a kid.”

Sengun, 19, used an array of low-post moves that he learned during private workouts with Hall of Fame center and Rockets legend Hakeem Olajuwon, which helped keep Los Angeles defenders off-balance. The ability to retain that type of knowledge and put it into action has made Silas notice how far his rookie center has grown this season.

“On the offensive end, when teams are smaller, he can take advantage,” Silas said. “He has the shoulders, and he has the hips, and he has the feet and the soft touch to score in the paint. And the rebounding was huge.”

The former Turkish League MVP also recognizes his improvement. Although the Rockets’ season will be over in less than a month, he knows that every minute he is on the court is an opportunity to get better.

“Since the beginning of the season I have been working a lot,” Sengun said postgame. “I feel that I am improving. I have improved a lot, and I have worked on my offense and defense throughout the season.”

On defense, Sengun managed to largely stay out of foul trouble — an issue that plagued him earlier this season — despite playing 40 minutes.

Houston (17-49) returns to action Friday at Toyota Center for a matchup versus in-state rival Dallas (40-26). Tipoff is at 7:00 p.m. CST.

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Where ESPN ranks Rockets greats among NBA’s Top 75 players of all-time

The official NBA 75 list of the league’s greatest all-time players includes 11 former Rockets. Here’s where ESPN ranks them, historically.

Founded in 1967 in San Diego before moving to Houston in 1971, the Rockets are clearly one of the NBA’s flagship franchises. With 2,286 wins and 2,074 losses, the team’s .529 winning clip entering the 2021-22 season ranks eighth among the league’s 30 active clubs, and they are one of only 11 teams with multiple championships (1994, 1995).

As such, it wasn’t a surprise to see Houston well represented with more than 10 former players on the historic NBA 75 list. The NBA 75 is the league’s official 75th anniversary team, honoring the 75 greatest players in league history as selected by a panel of media and current and former players, coaches, general managers and team executives. (Because of a tie in voting, there were ultimately 76 players named.)

Many of those 76 players were honored on Sunday, Feb. 20, as part of a celebration at the 2022 NBA All-Star Game in Cleveland.

What the league office did not do, however, is rank those 76 all-time greats in comparison to each other. An independent ESPN panel recently took that additional step, and here’s where the 11 players with Houston ties ended up. Scroll on for further statistics, career data, and analysis.

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ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins delivers glowing praise of Sixers star Joel Embiid

Now if he can maintain that dominance in the Sixers’ final 24 games of the season, Embiid will have to worry about finding a suit to wear to his MVP ceremony. 

Philadelphia 76ers big man Joel Embiis is one of the more elite players in the game today. The 7-foot big man is one of the top players in the league regardless of position and it is easy to see why he is considered one of the best.

Embiid is leading the league in scoring at 29.6 points and 11.2 rebounds along with averaging a career-high 4.5 assists. The big man is having himself another MVP-caliber season as he has thrown the Sixers on his back and put them in a position to earn home-court advantage in the playoffs despite the recent Ben Simmons saga.

Former NBA center turned ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins had some high praise for Sixers big man Joel Embiid on Friday’s edition of “NBA Today”:

Carry the (expletive) on, as Perk would say!

The 2008 NBA champion has built himself quite a personality, on both television and Twitter. Perkins’ most recent addition to his public profile is giving inside information about the league on television. In relatively recent weeks, he was the first person to deliver the public message that James Harden wanted to join the Sixers.

While Perk is known to provide the occasional laugh with the deliveries of his takes, there have been a number of examples of his being correct in retrospect.

It’s difficult to say he’s right or wrong in opining that Embiid is the best player in the NBA. But, his explanation that Embiid is the joining of Hakeem Olajuwon and Kevin Durant provokes fascination.

Embiid has proven that he’s unafraid of dabbling in new moves, most recently attempting a pair of James Harden-Esque step-back jumpers just a few days after the video surfaced of him watching his new teammate perform the space-creating trick in practice.

But he pays homage to more than just a select few legends. Embiid will show flashes of Michael Jordan in his footwork, Dirk Nowitzki in his fade-aways, Shaquille O’Neal in his power at the rim, along with Olajuwon and Durant. As he’s embraced bringing the ball up the floor this season, Embiid even recently pulled out a Chris Paul trick, faking a pass while maintaining his dribble in transition before finishing a layup through contact.

Studying those greats has certainly played to Embiid’s advantage over the last few seasons. After missing out on the MVP award in 2021 due to an availability deficit, Embiid has responded by playing 46 of Philadelphia’s 58 games this season.

Beyond that, Embiid is shooting better than 52% on 2s and nearly 37% on threes. Perhaps most impressive of all is his true shooting percentage, which indicates how efficient of a scorer he is by accounting for free throws. Embiid’s true shooting percentage sits at 61, while the league average is 56 this season.

Beyond the scoring efficiency, Embiid is enjoying career-best assist and turnover percentages, so his playmaking has made significant strides.

On the other end of the court, Embiid is in the top 30 percentile of NBA bigs in block, steal, foul, and defensive rebounding percentages.

Now if he can maintain that dominance in the Sixers’ final 24 games of the season, Embiid will have to worry about finding a suit to wear to his MVP ceremony.

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Rockets release extended video of Hakeem Olajuwon, Alperen Sengun workouts

Fresh off the best game of his young NBA career, the Rockets released an extended video of rookie center Alperen Sengun working with Hakeem Olajuwon on post moves.

Fresh off the most successful night (19 points, 14 rebounds) of his young NBA career, fans now have a chance to see what could be fueling some of the growth by Houston Rockets rookie Alperen Sengun.

In late January, the Rockets released a photo collage and an edited video of about one minute in length of Sengun working out with Rockets legend, two-time NBA champion, and Hall of Famer Hakeem Olajuwon. The 19-year-old gave rave reviews to Olajuwon’s teaching on post moves.

On Thursday, the team released more than seven minutes of workout footage, which can be seen in the embedded video below. For the No. 16 overall pick from the first round of the 2021 NBA draft, Olajuwon is as good a resource for post technique as he could possibly hope to find.

For the 2021-22 season as a whole, the Turkish big man is averaging 8.8 points (48.3% FG), 4.8 rebounds, and 2.5 assists in 18.8 minutes. Sengun will look to keep his momentum going, perhaps with lessons from “The Dream” in mind, when Houston concludes its pre-All Star break schedule on Thursday night at the Los Angeles Clippers.

Sengun will then take part in Friday’s Rising Stars tournament at All-Star Weekend featuring the NBA’s top rookies and sophomores.

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Rockets rookie Alperen Sengun gives rave reviews to Hakeem Olajuwon’s teaching

Alperen Sengun has started to work with Rockets legend Hakeem Olajuwon on post moves, and the rookie big man says it is already helping.

Alperen Sengun has started to work with Rockets legend Hakeem Olajuwon on post moves, and the rookie big man — taken at No. 16 overall in the first round of the 2021 NBA draft — says it is already helping.

In comments from Monday’s home practice at Toyota Center in Houston, Sengun told reporters (via a translator):

He taught me the post-up moves, and he taught me the spin moves. I use spin moves a lot in the game, but he told me how I can improve it, how I can do it better.

He told me I need to keep working on it and improve it. I started to work on the moves that he showed me in the practice. I’m trying those moves in the practice and also in the game. When I receive the ball, I am keeping all that he told me in that practice. I’m thinking about those moves in the game, in those positions.

“He was legend on that topic,” Sengun said of the Hall of Famer, former MVP, and two-time NBA champion. “He was unstoppable because he can shoot, and he was driving, and he has spin moves.”

“That’s why he was unstoppable,” the 19-year-old concluded. “I also believe that I will be unstoppable if I start to play like him, start to shoot like him, if I can play on the inside and outside.”

Sengun, who started Sunday’s game due to Eric Gordon’s injury absence, could have another chance to start on Tuesday in New Orleans. As of Monday, Gordon remained sidelined by his left heel injury.

For the 2021-22 season as a whole, the Turkish big man is averaging 8.8 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 2.4 assists in 18.4 minutes per game.

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