Rockets legend Hakeem Olajuwon would dominate in any era

Some NBA debates are destined to be hypothetical. They revolve around strictly hypothetical questions that can't be answered.

Recently, we came across one such debate. Former Houston Rockets point guard Sam Cassell claimed that Nikola Jokic would "have no chance" against his legendary teammate Hakeem Olajuwon.

This debate can only be settled with the benefit of time travel. Olajuwon still takes to the basketball court - to bestow his vast knowledge to younger players. When it comes to playing competitive, NBA-level basketball, his days are long behind him.

We're less interested in this debate here and more interested in some adjacent thoughts. How would Olajuwon look in 2024? Would he be an MVP-caliber player, or is his game too antiquated?

Would Olajuwon need to space the floor?

Three-point shooting feels like the starting point here.

In Olajuwon's day, big men who shot threes were an anomaly. Today, it's understood that to be a team's first option, you have to space the floor - at least a little bit.

Realistically, Olajuwon's 2023-24 analog isn't Jokic. It's Joel Embiid. Embiid brings Olajuwon to memory with his prodigious footwork around the basket. In 2023-24, Embiid took just 16.3% of his field goals from three-point range.

That volume still dwarfs Olajuwon. The highest percentage of his field goals to ever come from beyond the arch was 1.8%. At that volume, it's not even worth looking at his percentages.

Interestingly, their shot profiles didn't differ too substantially in certain areas. Olajuwon attempted 26.7% of his career field goals between 0-3 feet, and Embiid has attempted 27.2% of his from the same range. Olajuwon attempted 18.4% of his field goals between 3-10 feet, while Embiid lands at 19.7%.

When we get to the 10-16 feet range, something jumps out. Olajuwon attempted 40.9% of his field goals from that range, whereas Embiid took just 12.4% of his from the same area. In other words, we're looking at the three-point revolution in action. If Olajuwon just swapped most of his long twos for threes, he'd have a similar shot profile to Embiid.

A similar trend emerges when looking at play type. NBA.com doesn't track post-up frequency as far back as Olajuwon's prime, but Embiid was second in the NBA with 5.8 post-ups per game in 2023-24. A conservative estimate would hold that Olajuwon posted up nearly three times as frequently.

So, another adjustment could be in order. We wouldn't want to rob Olajuwon of his post-up touches - he's one of the best scorers of all time in those actions. He could lead the league in post touches, but he'd still have to cede some of them to play the pick-and-roll.

With those adjustments, we feel confident that Olajuwon would remain one of the top offensive big men in the league in the modern era. While his offensive style may be outdated, his defensive abilities were ahead of their time.

Olajuwon had a rare gift

The biggest knock on Bam Adebayo is that he's not actually a fantastic rim protector. Adebayo is one of the best defensive big men in the NBA, but his switching ability is his calling card. Adebayo can guard 1-through-5, but he's not one of the league's best when it comes to stopping opponents at the rim.

Imagine if he was. There's 2024 Hakeem Olajuwon. His ability to defend in space was special in the 80s and 90s, but by 2024, we recognize its value. He'd perpetually be in the running for Defensive Player of the Year.

With all due respect to Nikola Jokic, that's not something he'll ever have a chance to do.