Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan To Radio/Broadcaster Nick Wright What Really Happened With LeBron James Versus The Clippers in The Playoff Run?
Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan To Radio/Broadcaster Nick Wright What Really Happened With LeBron James Versus The Clippers in The Playoff Run?
Solutions Journalism By Ben Edokpayi ©
Powell and Leonard Lead Clippers Over Lakers 125–118 And The Airwaves And Radio Demagogues from Nick Wright to Houston Mitchell Was Abuzz About How Patethic Lebron James Looked on his return from injury. One broadcaster opined that his play was off because he missed a haircut appointment Here is a synopsis from Houston Mitchell and Nick Wright anger at why Russell Westbrook was not tossed for constant trash talking aimed at Lebron.
Howdy, I’m your host, Houston Mitchell. Let’s get right to the news.
From Andrew Greif: The playoff permutations remain vast. The potential matchups remain multiple. But whether in the play-in tournament or a first-round series, the Clippers and Lakers are assured of playing in the postseason.
The question on which each rival’s playoff hopes hinge is who they will be once they get there.
When Clippers coach Tyronn Lue called the rivals’ meeting Wednesday at Crypto.com Arena, with each team holding identical records, the “most meaningful” in the series in years, it was a reference to the significance it held on seeding.
Scheduling conflict, Lebron was hapless, Russell Westbrok taunted Trash talking Westbrook
The Los Angeles Lakers fell to the LA Clippers last night 118–125 and sit in the 7th seed in the Western Conference with two games to go. The Golden State Warriors are a spot ahead in the 6th seed and have two games to play as well. If the Lakers can win one more game than the Warriors down the stretch, then they will move into the 6th seed in the West and avoid the Play-In Tournament. Nick and Damonza debate if the Lakers’ loss to the Clippers was actually good for them in the long run.
Mean while Let’s hear it one more time for the Greatest Center.
How Legends Bill Russell, 88, Oscar Robertson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Influenced Hakeem Olajuwon’s Path To NBA Stardom
Exclusive Report by By Ben Edokpayi ©
When this writer in 1990 met Hakeem Olajuwon at the Forum at an NBA game between the Houston Rockets and Magic Johnson and the Lakers one of the questions was about his heroes in the game. Of course Bill Russell who passed away last month was prominent on his list.
Both players in their heyday were dominant ball handlers, shot blockers and scorers which is why Russell considered Olajuwon as one of the top NBA players of all time in a recent poll. Russell’s list included Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Elgin Baylor, and Oscar Robertson.
As the NBA and basketball aficionados mourn the demise of Russell, considered the greatest center in the history of the game, it is perhaps the right time to recall the path to stardom of another great center Hakeem Olajuwon, who before he arrived in America was inspired by Russell and other NBA legends such as Kareem Abdul Jabber, Walt Frazier and Oscar Robertson.
In 1971, when Jabbar visited Nigeria on a goodwill tour with the Milwaukee Bucks coach, Larry Castillo and Oscar Robertson, Akeem was just a skinny eight year old who at that time only played neighborhood soccer as a pastime.
Decades later it is clear that that tour sans Bill Russell was part of the inspiration for Hakeem to play the game.
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It is worthwhile to say that this writer and Nigeria’s first daughter Louisa Aguiyi-Ironsi, a former co-worker who rose up the ranks at a premier publication were the first journalists to do an investigation on Hakeem’s trajectory from Lagos, Nigeria to the University of Houston and the NBA.
While we tracked his progress from the time he was recruited — in addition to the Los Angeles interview I interviewed Hakeem in Houston and after a game with the Warriors at their arena in Oakland for a feature in the Fairfield Daily Republic, we finally made contact with the Dream soon after he was recruited by the Houston Rockets in the 80’s. In those interviews mainly in the team’s locker room I was privileged to meet and talk with some team mates that included Kenny (The Jet) Smith, Sam Cassell, Vernon Maxwell, Clyde Drexler, Mario Elie, later on Charles Barkley and players on opposing teams such as Magic Johnson and Run TMC.
Run TMC (Not Run DMC the hip-hop group) was the high-scoring trio of basketball teammates consisting of Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond and Chris Mullin. From 1989, they played together for two seasons with the Golden State Warriors in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Coached by Don Nelson, the Warriors played a fast-paced, run-and-gun style, and Run TMC was the league’s highest-scoring trio in the 1990–91 season, the same season I first interviewed Olajuwon after a game at the Los Angeles Lakers Forum.
As a team I initially anchored the Olajuwon project from Lagos in 1988, while Louisa traveled to Houston to interview him. And what we gathered from that exclusive project was indeed a trail blazing effort that paved the way for the NBA to consider Africa especially Nigeria talents to play Professional basketball in America. For Olajuwon that dream became an early reality with a seamless transition to stardom. At 24 His lifestyle and professional records proclaimed it.
Here is how we described Akeem’s lifestyle in the late 80’s.
“In his Houston, Texas, USA home, he sports the paraphernalia of his millionaire status — a black Mercedes, a red Porsche, two houses, plus a fat bank account. The house he lives in looks like something out of a megabucks Hollywood movie. An imposing brass and wrought iron gate keeps unwanted guests at bay and shuts in a fantastic swimming pool shaped like a basketball court. The third floor of the house also sports a small disco that welcomes you in with “The Dream ‘’ tag in neon sign … With all that plus his commercial endorsements and businesses, he can afford the trappings of millionaire-dom. And as he arrives in Nigeria, his homeland, he comes back a hero and a superstar. Unbeatable is how his MacDonald Hamburger commercial on American television describes him (and the burger.) But “unbeatable” is not the only suitable adjunct used in describing Olajuwon’s athletic prowess; or his home in Houston. Words like “unstoppable” and “awesome” also come in handy. Greg Wright and executive with MCA records in Los Angeles and a basketball buff, is one of those under the spell of Akeem’s awesome play. He told us “Akeem has got some moves nobody’s seen here yet and he’s like a child who’s still growing in the game.”
But how did the Dream arrive America? Akeem’s initial introduction to competitive basketball in 1978 was just a matter of happenstance. At the All Nigeria Teachers Sports Festival in Sokoto late in ’78 Akeem’s school, the Muslim Teacher’s College in Lagos had entered for basketball as one of the events, but Akeem was not in the team then because he was a handball player and not a footballer as the American media often portray. Fortune was to smile on him later when some members of the Muslim Teachers College basketball team led by Akin Orinmoloye, who now plays for the Nigerian Airforce (NAF) team, approached Ganiyu Otenigbagbe their coach then, and broached the idea of introducing Akeem into the school’s team. Otenigbagbe assented and he was not to regret that decision. Akeem was featured as a pivot in his first outing and Oliver Johnson, an American, who is regarded as the “Nestor” of Nigerian basketball was so enthralled by Akeem’s performance in that competition that he yelled excitedly at Otenigbagbe “where did you find this boy?”
A year later, the boy Akeem had blossomed into great ball handler and finisher as he featured for the Lagos State basketball team apart from his regular spot in the handball team in Oluyole ’79 (National Sports Festival) at Ibadan, Oyo State. His performance here was enough to earn him a place in the Nigerian team that featured in the ’79 African Championship in Morocco. In 1980, just two years after he discovered the game, Akeem led the Nigerian team to the African junior championship where he emerged the most valuable player (MVP) of the tournament and this was the break into limelight. Otenigbagbe told this reporter that Akeem developed so fast in the game because he started right. “He didn’t just jump into the game like a street ball player on a neighborhood basketball court. He went through instructors that put him through the basic routines of the game.’’
But if Guy Lewis, the coach of the Houston Cougars at that time really realized the potential of this young man when he first set foot at Houston’s Inter-Continental Airport in 1981, then he would have sent a chauffeured limousine to pick up Akeem, rather than a cab.
The young man had arrived in Houston to enroll in a four year undergraduate programme in business administration at the University of Houston, Texas where he also debuted for the college basketball team, the Cougars.
In our interview Olajuwon recalls that the first year at the university saw him studying more than playing basketball. In his second year, much as he liked the game, he did not initially get as much playing time as he would have wished. Olajuwon did not really break into the big league until April 1983, when he played for the Cougars against North Carolina State University in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship tournament in New Mexico. The Cougars lost closely 52–54, but Olajuwon was selected as the tournament’s most outstanding player. He was the first person from a non-winning team to earn the MVP award in the NCAA playoffs in almost two decades and he and Michael Jordan of North Carolina State University, now of the Chicago Bulls, topped the ratings as college basketball’s best players.
At 20, Olajuwon told I and Louisa that he was already faced with the prospect of becoming a pro, but the choice of a career in basketball over a university degree was a hard one to make. Two considerations made his mind up for him. First, Olajuwon says, was that he was that he had been billed by basketball experts to be the NBA’s number one university draft choice for 1984. He adds that the Houston Rockets was to pick their new players first. Olajuwon says that this was an opportunity to stay in Houston, the town that was to become his second home. Second, was the realization that turning a professional basketball player did not mean the end of the primary mission which brought him to the United States — education. “The American system of education allows you to take courses at your own pace. One could complete an undergraduate program even if it took 10 years.”
That is how Olajuwon thus agreed to an initial six-year contract of over $6 million and so began his journey to millionairedom. The contract received a new boost at the beginning of the 1986/87 season when the Rockets management increased Akeem’s contract to $20 million. As they say the rest is history, a career that featured NBA titles, All Star Games and many other important accolades and interactions with his hero Bill Russell.
At the time of Russell’s death Hakeem was reportedly in Jordan. However I think he was as shocked as the rest of the NBA and his team the Houston Rockets who released this statement “Rest In Peace to a true legend of the game.” In addition Olajuwon’s teammate on the Rocket said “ This is a teary-eyed Sunday knowing that we lost a legendary human being @RealBillRussell His dedication to civil-rights, human-rights and the sport of basketball puts him beyond legendary status. That smile will be missed.”
“Bill Russell was the greatest champion in all of team sports,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. “The countless accolades that he earned for his storied career with the Boston Celtics — including a record 11 championships and five MVP awards — only begin to tell the story of Bill’s immense impact on our league and broader society.”
Here is the full statement from Adam Silver on the demise of Bill Russell, the greatest influence on Hakeem “The Dream” Olajuwon.
Bill stood for something much bigger than sports: the values of equality, respect and inclusion that he stamped into the DNA of our league. At the height of his athletic career, Bill advocated vigorously for civil rights and social justice, a legacy he passed down to generations of NBA players who followed in his footsteps. Through the taunts, threats and unthinkable adversity, Bill rose above it all and remained true to his belief that everyone deserves to be treated with dignity. For nearly 35 years since Bill completed his trailblazing career as the league’s first Black head coach, we were fortunate to see him at every major NBA event, including the NBA Finals, where he presented the Bill Russell Trophy to the Finals MVP.
I cherished my friendship with Bill and was thrilled when he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. I often called him basketball’s Babe Ruth for how he transcended time. Bill was the ultimate winner and consummate teammate, and his influence on the NBA will be felt forever. We send our deepest condolences to his wife, Jeannine, his family and his many friends.
Meanwhile, Post retirement Olajuwon now enjoys his NBA fortune shuttling between homes and businesses between Houston and the Kingdom of Jordan.
Reporter Ben Edokpayi was with Hakeem Olajuwon in Oakland after a 1993 Locker room interview for the Daily Republic. That game featured the Rockets and Golden State Warriors.
