rod thorn re:1984 draft: would have picked 1st "hakeem olajuwon, hands down"

thats cuz the dream is tha man!

 

WOW! that gave me goosebumps

 

Was there much discussion back then about whether Jordan or Hakeem should go #1? The knock on Jordan back then was that "yeah, he can dunk on people in college, but he won't be able to do that in the NBA - he'll get his mess handed back to him". lol.

I always remembered Hakeem being the clear-cut #1, but I'm not sure I'm remembering correctly to be honest.

 

I love Hakeem and all... but I don't know why he would say something like that. Did he think he can have 7+ championships with Hakeem? 6 rings, 2 three-peats are kinda hard to beat.

 

that was the era of the big men... hindsight is 20/20. Hakeem was a MONSTER in college too.

 

He's saying that at the time, before knowing what either player would do in their careers, he would have taken Hakeem with the first pick. He's not saying that if he had to do it over he would pick Hakeem over Jordan.

 

This makes a lot more sense.

 

Come on guys, Hakeem's been retired for almost five years now. Do we still need validation on his career?

 

What I recall is Hakeem clearly being the #1 pick. Does anyone remember Jordan being thought of as possibly turning out as good as he turned out to be? I don't.

 

Hakeem or Jordan, make your pick

 

Neither did Portland.

 

I lived in N. Carolina at that time and Michael Jordan was a god the way the media was covering him. I definitely had the sense back then that he was one of the best players to play basketball. It took a little bit longer for the national media to see him in the same light

 

you must be really old then...

 

His response about Hakeem makes sense. You always draft a dominat big man over a shooter. There will always be plenty of shooters but dominant big men come only once in a blue moon. Either way they can both play on my team.

 

how long have you been on this bbs?

dont you know its like a majority of haters, doubters, and YOFers?
its up to us, the defenders of good and justice to shine our light on them.
and tell the people of what is right from wrong. like when the followers of the major religions told their children and their children's children.

We are the desiciples of CLUTCH CITY, the Summit, Rudy T, we must remind the world that our heroes were true and powerful!!

 

In light of this article, it will be interesting to see how the Durant vs. Oden dynamic plays out with this year's draft.

 

hakeem plus phil jackson plus scottie pippen and a nice supporting cast could have won 6 rings too.

 

my brother is about jordan's age. i remember he thought the rockets were stupid for not taking jordan. there were people who thought jordan should have been number one. I believe there were some among nba executives. there is a good bill simmons column on that draft. I remember there were some comments from jack ramsey I believe on the night of the draft and I think he was a jordan guy.

 

true...its sort of a similar question based on the current projected potentials of those two. However, i think oden is first, and i think as a rule if there is a pre-polished freak of a big man he should go first--they gaurentee you a change for the better immeadiately because of their shot blocking, rebounding, and defensive presence...like hakeem averaging 20/10 his first year out. A shooter/ gaurd, even with incredibile upside, wont necessarily have that large an effect.

The flip side of that coin is if the big man isn't that athletic freak with an already complete and polished game, then there's no way you take him before a franchise guard. See: Sam Bowie.