When you look into the history of basketball, there are players that simply transcended and helped the game grow into what it is now. And there are players that were so dominant in their time, they inspire future legends.
Moses Malone fit all of that criteria, he mentored Charles Barkley and Hakeem Olajuwon also credits Malone for his game.
“I would never have accomplished what I did if I did not play against Moses at Fonde,” Olajuwon said before his own Hall of Fame induction in 2008. “I knew the rules. I knew the basics of the game and what you were supposed to do. But he is the one that taught me how to do it.
“With Moses there were no rests, no breaks. He was working every time down the court — scoring, rebounding or just making you feel his body. He would laugh when he slammed into you. If you tried to take a breath, he went by you or over you. There was no stop….
“I usually couldn’t go through Moses, because he was just so strong,” Olajuwon said. “So I had to learn to use speed and agility to go around him. That’s how I built my game.”
When you play against the legends, you start to figure out how to get better. When a player beats you, it’s up to you to evolve. Hakeem did that and it was all because of The Chairman of the Boards.
