Being the leader of an NBA team is a demanding position, and, like all leadership roles, there are many ways to approach it. Some are the vocal, in-your-face types, like Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant. Others lead by example and let their play do the talking… Tim Duncan or Shai Gilgeous-Alexander come to mind, here. Hakeem Olajuwon definitely fell in the latter camp.
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The Dream will always remain in the conversation for the best centers of all time thanks to a legendary career that spanned from 1984 to 2002. He led the Houston Rockets to two titles, while his signature Dream Shake move has lived on long after he retired. Olajuwon is still making his presence felt in the NBA, mentoring young bigs like Giannis Antetokounmpo and Victor Wembanyama.
Robert Horry has played with an insane list of all-time greats, including Hakeem on the Rockets; Kobe and Shaquille O’Neal with the Lakers; and Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili with the Spurs. That means he had firsthand experience of multiple leadership styles.
Horry appeared on the latest episode of Byron Scott’s Fast Break. And while that show has an undeniable Lakers bent to it, Horry’s answer was telling when he was asked to describe the leadership qualities of the greats he played with. Horry started with Hakeem, calling him his favorite.
“When they talk about lead by example,” Horry explained. “We all know Dream wasn’t a big talker, but the way he came to work every day. The way he practiced and his approach to games.”
There’s a saying: Look good, play good. Hakeem seemed to be a believer in it, because Horry said you’d never see him show up to the arena in jeans and a t-shirt. “He came with a suit on every time,” he recalled.
“It was the business of basketball, because he was like, ‘The way you conduct yourself and the way you present yourself is how you’re going to come across on the floor,'” added the seven-time NBA champion.
For the first 12 seasons of his career, Hakeem played like he dressed. He never averaged under 20.6 points or 10.8 rebounds per game during that impeccable stretch with the Rockets.
In his career, Olajuwon was an All-NBA selection and an All-Star 12 times each. He won one regular-season MVP, two Finals MVPs, and two Defensive Player of the Year awards.
Horry added that Hakeem was a player whom everyone looked up to. “He was just one of those guys that he didn’t talk much, but when he talked, you better listen,” he remembered.
Horry began his career in Houston in 1992. So it’s fair to say that playing alongside Hakeem for his first four years had an overwhelmingly positive impact on what he would go on to accomplish.
