The following column from the Best of West collection was originally published in the Port Arthur News on June 1, 1995.



Guy Lewis still chuckles at the line of questioning from NBA scouts when it became known that a rough-around-the-edges University of Houston junior named Akeem Olajuwon was going pro a year early.

“They kept asking me if I thought he’d continue to improve,” relates Lewis, whose good fortune it was to have Olajuwon dropped on his doorstep from Lagos, Nigeria, in the fall of 1981. “I kept assuring them that not only would he continue to improve, but the improvement would continue for the next seven or eight years.”

As it turns out, Lewis was a tad conservative. Olajuwon, in his 11th year in the NBA, is still getting better. He has improved to the point where he is the best player in the league, bar none. Nobody else is even close, as has been made painfully obvious by the way the NBA’s current MVP, David Robinson, has been overwhelmed in the Western Conference finals.

“I never cease to be amazed by him,” said Lewis, after Olajuwon erupted for 42 points, nine rebounds, eight assists and five blocked shots in the Rockets’ game five victory Tuesday night. “He’s just a remarkable person, player and story.

“He’s gone from knowing practically nothing about the game as a college freshman to the No. 1 player in the world.”

Olajuwon’s demolition or Robinson and the Spurs was the third time in five games he’s scored more than 40 points this series. He’s averaging 34.6 points against San Antonio and 32.6 in 17 playoff games. He’s done it against double and triple teaming and despite what is arguably the least protection from the officials of any superstar in NBA history.

The true measure of Olajuwon’s greatness, though, is how his presence has elevated a rather ordinary supporting cast to where an NBA title defense is within reach. Not only do his mind-boggling skills make the players around him better, but he is also the guy whose heart has set the tone for a team that won’t die.

No player I’ve ever seen better defines the word warrior.

Lewis, who deserves more credit than he’s received for helping develop and refine a very raw Olajuwon, thinks he knows why his prize pupil can continue to play so hard and so well when required to perform over 40 minutes a game.

“No. 1, of course, he has such a tremendous work ethic,” said the former UH boss. “Equally important, the game is still fun to him. Watch him out there on the floor. He’s happy. He’s having a good time.

“It seems like a lot of the players who grow up here get worn down from a life of having played so much basketball. It’s more of a business to them, a job. That’s not the case for Hakeem. He loves to play basketball.”

Lewis expected Olajuwon to become an outstanding player at the NBA level, particularly in the areas of defense and shot blocking. What has surprised him a bit is the level Hakeem has reached offensively.

“He never led us in scoring,” says the man who won 592 games and took the Cougars to the Final Four five times. “His top scoring average in three years with us was about 15 points (16.8). He was dominant as a shot blocker and rebounder.

“The thing he’s picked up that makes him so unstoppable is the fall-away jumper. They can’t guard it because they have to protect against that quick drop step he makes to the basket.”

Olajuwon’s offensive game, in fact, is so unstoppable one almost feels sorry for Robinson as he tries to defend it. This, remember, is a former Defensive Player of the Year, a man who is always on the first or second All Defensive Team.

Yet Olajuwon, for all but one game, has left him looking like a guy who just missed his bus, with the niftiest package of moves of any big man ever to play the game.

“I would think this series has really been hard on Robinson,” Lewis said. “He gets named MVP, then he has to go out and try to deal with Hakeem. I have all the respect in the world for David Robinson as a player and a person, but he is just not as good as a player or athlete as Hakeem.

“I guess it’s the difference between great and greater. For a guy with the kind of pride Robinson has, it must be tough to accept what Hakeem has done against him.”

Olajuwon, of course, did much the same thing to Patrick Ewing in last year’s NBA Finals. He’ll do the same thing to Shaquille O’Neal if Houston advances and faces Orlando in the finals.

The more I watch the Rockets soaring star, the more I wonder if he might not have even created major problems for the NBA’s all-time defensive great, Bill Russell. Russell, for sure, never had to contend with a player who had Olajuwon’s size, quickness and multiple moves.

“I don’t think there’s any question he ranks with the greatest centers who ever played,” Lewis maintains. “He’s a sure Hall of Famer. When he retires, his stats will be at the top of every category for a center — points, rebounds and blocked shots.

“But I’ll always wonder how much bigger those numbers might be if the officials protected him a little more from the hacking and grabbing and pushing and shoving.”

Olajuwon is not likely to get any sympathy on officiating from the Spurs. San Antonio coach Bob Hill’s quote after game five, however, may give some insight into why officials are reluctant to give him any help.

“I think his performance in some regards broke our spirit,” Hill said. “It seemed like he made every shot he took.”

And to think this is a guy who is still improving.

Sports editor Bob West can be e-mailed at rdwest@usa.net. His Sportsrap radio show airs Mondays at 7:05 p.m. on KLVI (560-AM).