The red ‘R’ on his Houston Rockets fleece shines off the front of Hakeem Olajuwon’s colossal frame.

He walks into a sports hall at Solihull Sixth Form College, a quiet space off to the side of the main campus. Here, in this leafy area of the West Midlands, hundreds of teenagers are laughing and joking in a nearby canteen, unaware of the company nextdoor.

Olajuwon

It’s where one of the greatest players in NBA history is getting comfortable. It’s good not being noticed, he says.

Calling Birmingham home for almost two and a half years, it’s a place Olajuwon can be normal. “People say, ‘you’re pretty tall, you could be a good painter.’”

An artist in his own right, red and white tennis shoes prop up the base of his 6 ft 10 in frame, baggy grey jogging trousers giving him an air of freedom and mobility.

He is here with Director of Basketball for the City of Birmingham Basketball Club Robert Palmer, who empties a bag of orange and black Spalding basketballs usually kept for the under-18 programme.

“I haven’t shot the ball in a while”, Olajuwon says.

A man who won the MVP award, defensive player of the year and Finals MVP all in the same season is living in England’s second city.

“My favourite thing about it is the people. They’re very friendly”, he says.

Three years ago, his daughter was accepted into the University of Birmingham. The family may soon be ready to leave again but they are conditioned to travel, Olajuwon frequently visiting Houston to work with the Rockets and less frequently, stand next to Simone Biles at Texans games.

He has spent a lot of time working with the juniors at the local basketball club, which was founded by Palmer in 2003, and as the latter wanders back outside to re-park Olajuwon’s car – hastily placed in order to get out of the rain – he now has a chance to play himself.

Immediately, it’s clear being out of practice means something different for a Hall of Famer.

Olajuwon’s hands reign over the ball as he dribbles to the nearest basket, which is in front of a wall propping up two five-a-side goal frames.

Now 54, Olajuwon is a fit and able man. As we begin our film, I place the ball on the floor in front of him, rewinding to his soccer roots. He is asked to show the tricks that led to the dream shake in basketball, a combination of fakes, dribble moves and shots that when combined produced one of the deadliest post games in NBA history. “I always wanted to play like a little guy. I know that the big guy’s game is banging and pushing with very little movement.

“If I can play like a guard, I have the advantage.”

Fifteen years after retirement, the array of moves is something to behold.

“I love basketball”, he says.

He can’t help but indulge himself during a game of H-O-R-S-E, attempting one of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s vintage sky hooks. Of course he swishes it through with ease. Is it a more effective weapon than the dream shake?

“For Kareem, of course. For me it’s the dream shake.” He laughs again, never taking himself seriously.

Perhaps others did not, for Olajuwon might be one of the most underrated big men of his or any other time.

“When I started playing basketball in Nigeria, my coaches saw my talent and made me feel very welcome. They told me how important the big man was in the game, so I thought ‘wow, this is my sport’.

At university, Olajuwon didn’t want to have a position, so he played the style he thought he could flourish in. That’s what got him to the NBA. What got him to the US, however, was a different kind of story.

Accustomed to tropical weather, Olajuwon packed his traditional African dress, some shirts and headed to New York for a visit to St. John’s, where he stepped into winter without a second layer.

Christopher Pond, a coach on the Central African team, had organised the visits for Olajuwon having seen him play in a tournament in Africa. Olajuwon paid for his flight and was soon connecting to Houston, feeling right at home thanks to the warm and humid weather.

He had left for Houston a week ahead of schedule so no one was there to collect him. Getting in touch with University of Houston coach Guy Lewis by phone, he was told to get a taxi from the airport. Undeterred, he eventually arrived and stepped into the office. At that moment, Lewis believed what he had been told by coaches in Africa some 7,000 miles away: Hakeem Olajuwon is an extremely tall human being.

The excitement for the unknown was suddenly mutual.

Olajuwon’s first meal in the US came after his first practice that same day. “It was my first time trying pizza. I wasn’t used to it.” From 1982 to 1984 the Phi Slama Jama fraternity including Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler took off, a high-flying, transition-centric team that gained national recognition. Even before this, Olajuwon had a helping hand from a legendary NBA center to catapult his college career.

“The assistant at my university told me that in the summer Moses Malone comes down to the local gym, and I could play against him. Beyond excited, my only thought was, ‘really?’

“Moses was there and I was introduced to him. He was happy to see me and my physique, which was very skinny but my height impressed him. He was very gentle when I first met him, but as soon as we started playing, he was not gentle at all.”

It was Olajuwon’s first introduction to American basketball.

“My teammates were pushing me to hold my ground. It gave me that competitive spirit to accept the challenge and defend your position, no matter who you are playing against.

“He really taught me how to hold my ground, realise your advantage over an opponent and capitalise on it.”

This insight into the game would exceed personal expectation for any college player, but Olajuwon also made it to two national title games, one against the Jim Valvano coached North Carolina State and another against Patrick Ewing’s Georgetown.

He lost both, but would get his revenge against Ewing in the 1994 NBA Finals. That was a decade away. Olajuwon spent 17 seasons with the Houston Rockets.

“I never played a season when I didn’t believe we could win a championship.”

That’s belief for you.

David Stern’s first ever pick as commissioner was the final time a coin flip decided the number one pick. It was 1984 and the Rockets won the toss. Stern called out Olajuwon’s name, two spots ahead of Michael Jordan.

In a class that also saw John Stockton and Charles Barkley enter the league, Olajuwon maintains that era was the golden age of basketball.

Playing beyond his years, the young man went through the champion Lakers in the conference finals before setting up a date with arguably the greatest team of all time, the ‘86 Boston Celtics. LA’s coach Pat Riley admitted afterward that they ‘tried everything’ to stop Olajuwon but couldn’t find a solution.

“Sometimes I remember five guys being on me”, Olajuwon laughs all these years later.