Hakeem Olajuwon was one of the most decorated post players of all time. His patented “Dream Shake” move is but one of many that Olajuwon had at his disposal. His elite and timeless foot work is why the likes of LeBron James and Kobe Bryant work with Olajuwon on their post games.
The Hall of Famer thinks Kobe Bryant picked up on his tendencies the most, as he said in an interview with Adi Joseph of The Sporting News:
“I’ve worked with a lot of players, but the one who really capitalized on it the most is Kobe Bryant,” the Basketball Hall of Famer said of the 6-6 retiring Lakers legend. “When I watch him play, he’ll go down in the post comfortably, naturally, and he’ll execute it perfectly.”
Here’s the video of Olajuwon working with Kobe a few years ago:
We know that Kobe did his best to emulate Michael Jordan when it came to his game, but we also know that he considers himself a rigorous student of the game. While he might resemble Jordan the most, he always looked to sharpen the subtle nuances of his game by adapting the styles of others, like Olajuwon. Kobe’s post game is second only to Michael in terms of shooting guards, and he did loads of work to make it that way.
If for some reason you’ve never witnessed on the total diversity of Olajuwon’s scoring skills, look no further than this video.
