Collected Wisdom of Hakeem Olajuwon

Pete Chilcutt · Jun 28, 2010

Found this article interviewing Hakeem. Thought I would share.

http://www.newsok.com/collected-wis...3469858?custom_click=pod_headline_nba-thunder

Hakeem Olajuwon won back-to-back NBA titles in 1994-95 with the Houston Rockets and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2008. He was named the league MVP in 1994 and now spends his summers training current NBA players.

Olajuwon's daughter, Abi Olajuwon, played basketball at the University of Oklahoma, and now plays for the WNBA's Chicago Sky.

I attended college in Houston, and when I came out of school, I came out knowing it was close between Portland and Houston who pick No. 1. I was lucky to be able to stay home in Houston. You can't complain about that. When I was in college, I didn't win a national championship, but I made it to the Final Four three times. That was a great accomplishment.

I'm spending my time now working with my foundation that does work in Nigeria. When I'm in town I'm working with NBA players. Some players like to work with me on go-to moves. Today I worked with Rashad Lewis and last week I worked with Dwight Howard. It's a wonderful feeling to be working with someone like Dwight Howard, a guy with tremendous raw talent. The concept is to not just tell them about moves, it's to demonstrate. When he first does it, it's awkward, but then it gets smoother. It's my biggest joy to watch him do that in a game. I enjoy it more than anything to watch them execute on the court.

I'm so proud of Abi — to see her development after playing behind the Paris sisters for three years. Her patience and work ethic was amazing. She's made it to the WNBA on her own merits and that's what's important to her. She's not there because she's my daughter.

I didn't introduce Abi to basketball, she was around it since the beginning. I didn't focus at first on her basketball. I was concentrating on developing her coordination and her footwork. She played a little soccer and also played piano for coordination. But once she began running and playing basketball, I was more seriously thinking "she has the potential.” What's amazing is her passion and love for the game to want to play it at the highest level.

One thing I love to hear is when people tell me she's very respectful and a good person. That's what's more impressive to me than her basketball skills. That's what I've tried to teach her about giving a team effort and working as a team where you have to sacrifice for the team. She has those qualities.

I worry more now because she's in the WNBA. When she was in college she had a good space, now in the WNBA she has to be more careful about her relationships with her teammates and to not be naïve in the world. That's my biggest concern for her.

The women's basketball game has grown tremendously. When you go to a game, you see more fundamentals. I'm impressed by their footwork, how they move the ball as a team and play as a team. When people talk about women in the NBA, it's hard to imagine. I think of how they said a woman would never referee a NBA game, and then it happened. You never know.

The NBA Finals were a classic, especially with Kobe and all the great players there. The championship was not given to them, they worked hard for it. What won that game for the Lakers was home-court advantage. That's why you work so hard during the year to get that advantage. It's well deserved.

The World Cup is interesting to me because it's the one game the U.S. doesn't dominate. But they've made an investment in the last couple years for future generations. Now they are really competing. In a couple of years it will be bigger in the U.S. Future generations are preparing to get better at the game and one day they will be the ones dominating.

Read more: http://www.newsok.com/collected-wis..._click=pod_headline_nba-thunder#ixzz0s7Zvwd5f
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