That Center should be mentioned on this list!

Robinson never flagged as a defender or rebounder in the postseason to any significant extent, but his scoring volume and efficiency (even if you exclude his years with Duncan) definitely dropped. He flat-out wasn't as good in the playoffs at putting the ball through the hoop as was Olajuwon. In the regular season, they were very much neck-and-neck.

In the playoffs, I take Dream. EVERY time. You didn't lose anything on defense or the glass, but you gain so much with his considerably more advanced and effective offensive game. Robinson attacked the basket like a combo forward, not like a center, and at his size, that was not the optimum way to exploit his physical tools in a playoff situation, which is at least part of why he consistently failed to perform at a dominant level in the playoffs except against weak competition.

That's not to say that he didn't do pretty well, of course. Even against Hakeem in the much-touted 95 series, Robinson did something like 24/12/3 on decent efficiency. He was a great player. But Olajuwon was definitely a far better playoff performer.

That's the point; WS, PER and +/- are subjective ways of interpreting real stats. I'm not saying it's not a worthwhile enterprise to develop these methods, but we shouldn't look at these metrics uncritically; WS and +/- are tied too much to how good a player's teammates are for my taste; PER assumes a linear correlation between minutes (and pace) and production, an assumption I don't share. I don't mind using these metrics to inform the debate, but let's not pretend that they end the debate. You wouldn't be willing to do that with ESPN's Player Rating System, would you?

You had better think again. Per game stats can be interpreted a BUNCH of different ways, and often without reason. That's way stats such as win shares, +/-, and PER are more useful to use; they're simply more informative metrics.

Clearly one of the weakest supporting cast ever for a championship team.
I think that says a lot about Hakeem's worth.

That same year the Spurs were crushed by the Jazz in the 1st round and Robinson was a no show during the series: 20 ppg, 10 rpg, .411 FG. I was a fan of Robinson at the time and it was painful to watch completely collapse against the Jazz mediocre centers. Especially after scoring 71 pts in the last game of the regular season.

With that in mind, Robinson's biggest failing to me is that his GM sucked. Seriously, look at the other starters when he was in his prime: Rodman right as he started going insane (and actually found a way to make rebounding a selfish act), Sean Elliott, who was a legitimate starter but never anyone who should be a #2 scorer (esp. when the other side is bringing Clyde Drexler) on a great team, Avery (a backup PG at best) and Vinny Del Negro, who I suppose people at the time must have (incorrectly we know now) thought had a high basketball IQ because he too was at best an 8th or 9th man from a production perspective. Toss in a washed up Terry Cummings and the wholly replaceable coaching talent of Bob Hill, and the Admiral was pretty much manning the SS Minnow. This cannot be debated.

It's hard even for someone like me who does believe Hakeem was better (basically Robinson's "consistent" WS/3K doesn't override the fact that Hakeem was the dominant force on 2 title teams and almost singlehandedly destroyed Kareem in handing the Lakers their only playoff loss between 1985 and 1988) to believe that if the Admiral had a better late game scorer around him (ala Pierce with Garnett), he couldn't have won the '95 series.

Sorry if this rambled on. Also TRad, you got the comparisons backwards: Robinson had the stats like Wilt. Dream and Russell got the rings.

Great post Jason J, but I think you're straining to be even-handed at the end there; having a "primary scorer mentality" didn't prevent MJ from having 3 different all-time great teams. The same ego that leads to scoring titles applies to winning championships (wanting YOUR team to beat their team is a selfish act).

Kareem and Magic were both strong-willed alpha-males who coexisted well enough to win 5 titles; Shaq and Kobe got along well enough to win 3 titles; so I don't think DRob's lack of fire is in any way a virtue. Bird and Magic were both great clutch performers who were willing and able to carry their teams on their backs (even though they are both known for their passing); Hakeem was that type of personality, Robinson was not.

Through Age 33 (Robinson's last season where you can argue he was the best player on his team): http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/tiny.cgi?id=TbFgv

Robinson has much better advanced stats in the regular season largely because he got to line more and had fewer turnovers - not dramatically so, but enough to make a significant difference in PER and WS. In total production, they are virtually even. Olajuwon's playoff numbers are pretty clearly better. Hakeem's WS is .166 per game. Robinson's is .159 - over a 7 game series that's really no different. However, the point production and PER favor Hakeem pretty dramatically (which is not surprising since scoring is one of the biggest elements in PER).

In terms of play-style I think Hakeem's back to the basket game may have made it easier for his catch and shoot teammates than David's face up first step style (sort of the difference between Duncan and Amare), but they were both spectacular. Robinson was bigger, faster end to end, and a better jumper. Hakeem was quicker laterally, had better balance, and held position better. I actually think they both have a good arguments. I'd rather build a team around Hakeem because he's got that primary scorer mentality. I'd rather have Robinson on a truly great team because he's ego-free. Like the Magic / Larry debate though, it's a no-lose either way.