Would the Houston Rockets exist if Steve Patterson didn't resign Hakeem in 1993?

Charlie Thomas didn’t fire him
Les did (well documented)
Patterson’s last tenures weren’t great in college

You don’t have to like him to respect the great moves he did and the time he spent with the organization

Les not only took credit for the title later the took the trophies to Florida

Tilman wouldn’t do that

 

Yeah there was a chance Dream was going to be traded but it didn’t happen and logic and a big contract magically cured everyone’s problems

Then Charlie Thomas sold the team
Les Fired Patterson
His team won the title with the majority of players he drafted or and his coach he promoted after he fired don chaney

Yeah I gave Steve Patterson props when I saw him
Cause I know what he did

 

@Rasheed @Jontro
Steve Patterson!

Paper: HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Date: SUN 12/19/1993
Section: Sports
Page: 12
Edition: 2 STAR

Steve Patterson proud of Rockets

By EDDIE SEFKO
Staff

You've heard about the guy who spent all day washing and waxing his new set of wheels, forgetting that it was a rental car?

Steve Patterson knows the feeling well. Patterson isn't around to see the finished product that he and his father spent the better part of two decades building, accessorizing and polishing. Patterson was fired as the Rockets' general manager after Leslie Alexander took over as owner.

But it must be noted that the potentially ugly Hakeem Olajuwon contract dispute had been resolved and key acquisitions Mario Elie and Sam Cassell had been reeled in while Patterson called the shots for the Rockets.

He poured the foundation, erected the beams and girders and did everything but slap on the final coat of paint on this palatial mansion of a season the Rockets are having.

"I'm real proud of the job Rudy and the staff and players have done," Patterson says. "Obviously, the guys I worked with for a long time over there are like family members. Between Ray (his father) and I, we put 20 years toward building something, and we want to see it do well.

"It's the best team in the league, and that's very gratifying."

Patterson is immersed in the business of bringing a minor-league hockey franchise to Houston, work he says is progressing nicely. Assuming lease negotiations come to fruition with The Summit, the Houston hockey team will start play next fall.

But the legacy of Patterson is this season's Rockets. He took his share of abuse for the way he handled certain things on the basketball and business sides of the organization. But for performance, how can anybody knock the job that has led to this fantastic ride through the first quarter of the NBA season?

Even so, Patterson knows how these things work. General managers get fired. That's one of the clauses in the contract when they are hired.

Though he, his father, former owner Charlie Thomas and Tomjanovich made most of the crucial decisions about how this team would be built, but Patterson says he doesn't feel the need to call this his team.

"I don't think that's the case," he says. "It's the city of Houston's team. Players come and go, general managers come and go, and owners come and go. But a lot of the fans have been with this team for years and years. It's great to see them have a team they can be proud of.

"I thought we'd have a good year. We got most of the problems cleaned up. The guys we acquired were tough-minded, good defensive players in terms of Cassell and Elie.

"Those were big acquisitions in terms of the mental health of the ballclub. And I think it's best that Sleepy (Floyd) got a chance to go somewhere else.

"It's tough for a guy who had been an All-Star to go what he went through. He conducted himself well, but it wasn't like having a guy who really wants to be here."

The Rockets have a team of players and coaches who want to be part of whatever it is that waits out there for this team. It could be a title.

Now the Rockets have a whole team of players and coaches who very much want to be part of whatever it is that is waiting out there for this team. It could be a championship.

As Patterson said, it is the best team in the NBA.

It brings up an interesting question: If the Rockets go on and win a title, would Patterson (and Thomas) deserve a championship ring?

"I don't know. I really hadn't thought about it," Patterson said. "I guess not since I'm not with the team anymore."

Not with the team anymore, indeed. But its architect nonetheless.

 

Dream wiped the floor with Jordan’s bulls lying in surrender every time they played.

What everyone forgets is that we played them every year in the regular season and the matchup problem was Hakeem not the other way around

 

Matt Maloney
Plus bear hugging Karl Malone

 

Barkley played his butt off for us and newbs never got that experience
He wanted a title

And for Les to screw him like that was wrong