Hakeem Olajuwon Shows Up at Uni of Birmingham Practice, Plays 1 on 1!
It’s not every day in England that an NBA legend walks into your pre-season practice, but that’s exactly what happened at the University of Birmingham on Tuesday when Hakeem Olajuwon walked in.
The 7’0″ Hall of Famer was at the university after his daughter has enrolled there, according to players in the session. He took the time to demonstrate some post moves, and even went 1 on 1 with a player, bringing out some of his legendary moves:
“He wondered in, just to have a look if anyone was playing and almost by fate our practice was being taken,” said University of Birmingham’s Isaac Oliver, who was the player who ended up going 1 on 1 with him.
“He stayed for an hour and a half or maybe slightly more, taking a lot of pictures with us, shooting around, discussing current NBA big man rankings and the different skill sets coming to the forefront of the NBA game.
“He signed my shoes and talked briefly to me about his time after the NBA. A few others spoke to him about the Houston Rockets and Dwight Howard not living up to his standards. He also gave a few invaluable lessons to a couple of our players in the post, mainly focusing on the speed of the basic footwork that made him so lethal.
“Finally, I plucked up the courage to play a few possessions of 1 on 1 with him in the post.
“It was an incredible experience.”
When @DR34M stops by preseason training… What a moment, unreal… @BhamLionsBball @UBSport @unibirmingham pic.twitter.com/IfyQeuYzkJ
— Callum Monteith (@cmonteith096) September 22, 2015
Hakeem Olajuwon spotted with his daughter in Birmingham this afternoon. Rumour has it that his daughter is enrolling at the uni! #TheDream
— Mansoor Ahmed (@IAmAhmedphotos) September 22, 2015
What a great sur[prise to see an NBA legend in our training session (Birmingham Uni Lions Basketball Club) https://t.co/Wbg45xA3CS
— John Hondro (@hondroin) September 22, 2015
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