Carroll Dawson wasn't GM until May of 1996 though -- technically the GM of the team was Bob Weinhauer (really was VP of Basketball Operations). Rudy T and CD did get involved though.
Worked conveniently into the great storyline was the bit of redemption for the old UH Cougar crew and the city of Houston. Olajuwon and Drexler BACK together? Getting the glory that previously eluded them earlier? Icing on the championship cake
This was a great move by the organization. I hope come Thursday the organization can make another one.
It was the Redeem Team before the Redeem Team if you think about it. Olajuwon and Drexler winning the NBA championship, in Houston no less, completely made up for Phi Slamma Jamma's shortcomings over a decade previously. Could not have been scripted better.
ahhhhhh man, I can never forget the guy on the firetruck on Richmond with the crazy "Show yo Titi for Clutch City!" sign. Good times...
Excerpt from Clyde's book, "Clyde the Glide": <UL><I>February 14, 1995 was a big day in my life. Not because it was Valentine's Day, but because I was given a fresh start with a new team. I was tipped off a few days ahead of time that the Blazers were working on a trade with Houston. I spoke to Paul Allen about it. He didn't really want to do it. He said there really wasn't anybody other than Hakeem Olajuwon they wanted back for me, and to trade me for anybody else wouldn't be smart on his part. "I am only going to do this because I want you to be happy," Paul told me. I hated to leave Portland. The fans were so awesome to my teammates and me. Honestly, Portland has some of the best fans in the game. They really love their Blazers. I enjoyed my teammates. P.J. was working hard as a coach. But I knew that it was not going to be a championship-caliber team. They were trying to start over, trying to get rid of all the veterans. That is the nature of sports, but I was only 32 years old. I knew what I could still do. The front office was intent on breaking us up because they thought we had run out of gas, and that hurt. Maybe Paul had been spoiled a little bit by our early successes. We had some great teams that weren't quite good enough to win it all, and now it was over. I have always appreciated the trade to Houston. Paul did that one for me. And I appreciated Bob taking care of it like he did. When he told me he was in negotiations with Houston, I strongly suggested that he make it happen. I was gung-ho for that trade. The coach, Rudy Tomjanovich, and his assistant coach, Carroll Dawson, both called me. And finally, Bob and Houston's vice president of basketball operations, Bob Weinhauer, announced the trade. The Rockets were getting me. The Blazers were getting Houston's starting power forward, Otis Thorpe, and a first-round draft choice. The Blazers also agreed to pay about $7 million of the $9.75 million balloon payment on the final year of my contract for 1995-96. Now I was going to the team I had grown up watching, the team that had won the NBA championship the previous season.</I></UL>
They played out of their minds when it counted in the playoffs. Chucky Brown and Pete Chilcutt, our PF's, that was until Rudy put Horry at the 4 and Elie at the 3 starting game five of the WC Semis vs. the Spurs. With that starting lineup we went 6-0 and won the title again. Everyone saw the big mismatch in the finals being agt the power forward position...and they were right, it was a mismatch. Horry killed Ho Grant in every aspect of that series. Good times...
That's it! Let's trade Mcgrady for clyde drexler! Sure, clyde s a little rusty, but if Brett Favre can play again, why not the glide? And since he's back, Hakeem can return, he still lives in Houston I believe. Then will be a serious contender in 2010! Imagine that lineup: Yao/Landry Dream/Scola/Hayes Battier/Ariza Clyde/Budinger Brooks/Lowry
I would like to be "stuck" in some more of that "mud," the Rockets had just won a championship the previous season. I thought OT got screwed, but to see Clyde and Dream united, that was something.
This moved shocked me as well, but I was thrilled to say the least -- Drex proved almost immediately that he still had plenty left in the tank. Drex and Dream reunited -- move of the decade in the NBA.
Thorpe got indeed screwed and a big F U because people forget easily how important OT was. The guy was incredibly strong and kept Barkley, Malone and Oakley in check. The problem in 94-95 was Kenny & Vernon's egos and some other players who figured they should get theirs. It was also a big F U to Maxwell so two players got screwed while we didn't even do that bad. Injuries played a part and the way to handle with defending a championship. In hindsight it's nice to get Drexler his ring and a 2nd championship but I rather have stuck with OT and maybe if the Rockets didn't want to commit to Vernon to trade him for another SG. Kenny could've been replaced with Sam and the future would've been bright again.
Man it was BRUTAL after the trade with Dream going down with anemia and us seemingly having a CBA tryout every 1 month with other injuries and the NBA's worst arena incident until Ron Ron's Malice at the Palace. Sam Mack? Who the heck is Chucky Brown? That regular season really forced the defending champs to confront themselves and to look forward. Clyde was leading a one man army during the regular season, and with Dream out everyone got an opportunity to push themselves in the offense. If the BBS were up then as it is now, there'd be 50 threads calling for Rudy's resignation and a daily trade proposal to dump a broken Dream for the next year's first rounder and Harold "Baby Jordan" Miner.
QFT. Allen really could have done Drexler wrong and sent him to the Clippers for Danny Manning at the time.
Or, they get the SG upgrade in Drexler, then could trade Maxwell for a PF upgrade to replenish the Thorpe loss**. But we forget how much an erratic shooter Maxwell was. Trevor Ariza bad with the occassional hot streak. We didnt care as much for advanced stats then, but when we heard Bill say "The Rockets have gone ICE COLD from the field, Calvin?" we knew Maxwell would figure into that. What better than a Hall of Fame guard to help remedy that? Plus not like they gutted the young core like the Barkley trade. They exchanged a couple 32 year olds. I know what you're saying, itd be messed up having to deal hard working Luis Scola to get a quality player back because of what McGrady, Yao and others DIDNT do. But its just part of the business. **Edit: just looked. Oddly enough, in the 95 offseason Maxwell was waived and the Rockets later sign PF/C center Mark Bryant who was with the Blazers. So you can say the big trade ended up like Thorpe/draft pick/Maxwell for Drexler/Tracy Murray/Mark Bryant.
