Hakeem Olajuwon came in with a bag of post moves that the NBA had never seen before. Every time he caught the ball and made his move, Olajuwon left not only his matchups but even the officials dumbfounded with his otherworldly footwork.
In a candid admission, a couple of those NBA referees thought they may have made some wrong traveling calls on Dream back in the day. Even if that were the case, they aren’t sure whether to blame themselves for not knowing the rules by heart or blame Olajuwon for his distinctive post moves.
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The only thing certain about the subject is that even to this day, those referees are still unsure whether Hakeem traveled sometimes or if he was just so good that his post moves looked unreal and illegal.
“The study of his footwork was like none other,” former longtime NBA referee Ed T. Rush told The Ringer of Olajuwon last year. “I mean, we had not seen a big man put himself in that kind of position on the court and do those kinds of things,” Rush says. “Initially, I think when he first came in the league, we got some of those plays wrong, because it just looked like, ‘Wait a minute. That can’t possibly be legal.'”
“If a player is doing something that nobody else can guard,” Don Vaden, another former veteran NBA referee said. “You think, ‘OK, well, he’s got to be doing something illegal.’… He was just a magician with the ball.”
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NBA refs had to study the Rockets’ films because of Hakeem
Nowadays, these referees could now look back and just marvel at Olajuwon’s post moves and footwork. However, that wasn’t how they felt about it back then. Because of Dream, they had to stay in the film room for a significantly longer period of time, carefully studying and scrutinizing Olajuwon’s every step.
“We would look just to make sure,” Rush recalled. “It was pretty amazing.”
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Knowing what they know now, most of them believe that Hakeem didn’t travel.
“It was not illegal,” Bob Delaney, another former veteran NBA referee, concluded.
Hakeem also got Phil confused
Apart from players and referees, some NBA coaches also observed Olajuwon’s post moves. One of them was the legendary Phil Jackson.
Like the officials, Coach Jackson also couldn’t tell whether Olajuwon traveled in some plays or not. Ultimately, Phil also agreed with the notion that Hakeem’s footwork was one-of-a-kind.
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“Hakeem had this move that bordered on walk or travel,” Jackson once said. “McHale had one, too. It’s very hard to duplicate that. It was kind of a shoulder-shrug, shake-and-bake thing that he had where he’d come back in the opposite direction, but he was so quick at it. Kobe has good post-up moves. I’m sure he learned some things about posting up [from Olajuwon], but he didn’t imitate Olajuwon’s move.”
Why Hakeem’s post moves were different
Olajuwon’s smooth and crafty style of play was the result of his soccer background. It was through playing soccer until the age of 15 that Hakeem developed his muscle memory and refined his footwork.
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When he transitioned to basketball between the ages of 15 and 17, Olajuwon didn’t want to play the center position despite being remarkably tall. This also explains a lot about his ability to work his magic by using his feet as he tried to train and play like a point guard.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Oct 6, 2025, where it first appeared in the Old School section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.