Here's my 2 cents as I chime in on this subject:
Hakeem I don't think got nearly the ink or the pub or the air time that Ewing got because he was on a good team in the biggest market in the country. I think for many younger fans of the time or fans that weren't possibly seriously hardcore at the time, it is possible to come across the idea that Ewing was thought as being a better player than Hakeem simply because they heard people talking about how good he was more often.
But it has always been pretty much common knowledge that Hakeem was the better player. We may not have heard it on television and we may, especially here in the northeast, have heard more and seen more of Ewing, but it's fairly common knowledge that Ewing wasn't nearly as good a player as Hakeem was.
As for Pierce being underrated as compared to Kobe, I think the notion is silly. Kobe is without a doubt one of the two most talented and gifted players in the league. Pierce isn't.
But Pierce matches up well against Kobe and gives him fits. Michael Cooper gave Larry Bird fits. That does not mean that Michael Cooper was a better player than Larry Bird. Wilt Chamberlain may just be the most gifted and athletic basketball player in history. Bill Russell gave him fits. Now maybe it's debatable as to whether Bill was better than Wilt but I feel Wilt was the better player.
But Pierce is a better team player than Kobe. Russell was a better team player than Wilt. Cooper was an extraordinary defensive talent. But in my opinion none of those players were better than the player they gave trouble to.
Same holds here. It is okay to be a Pierce fan and acknowledge that he isn't one of the extreme elite players in the league. Does he give those players troubles in a one on one match up? Sure he does. Pierce is a talented, physical specimen that has a rare combination of size, strength, and talent for his position. These just happen to be attributes that if you roll them all into one player is the type of player that will give Kobe and LeBron problems. Those players can't use there gifts as effectively against Pierce. But against others they are dominant. More dominant than Pierce is over those other players. And more consistently dominant as well.
You can't judge how much better Kobe is than Pierce as an individual player in a head to head battle. Judge them by how good they are against other competition.
Pierce is a way better team player than Kobe will ever be and it is possible that, because of that, they just might end up with the same amount of championships when it is all said and done. A team centered around Kobe might be doomed from the outset because it is centered around a tremendous talent that doesn't work well within a team concept.
That doesn't mean Kobe is a worse player than Pierce, he's just a different player. But he is the more talented player.