How did you feel about the Rockets in the early 90s?

Well, I remember that game 7 vs Seattle in overtime. The refs did a horrible job in it. There were a couple of bad judgement calls in the overtime that were killers against the rockets.

But in that 93 series, the rockets role players were not as good. Brooks was okay, but guys like Garland always missed the big shots, and Carl Herrera really struggled in this series in the games in Seattle. We did not have an Elie or a Cassell to turn to.

 

I actually never got to watch those Rockets play....but I did get to hear them play. I ended up beating the crap out of my radio because the Sonics won. Damn Gary Payton...wait...that's that sonofabitch that made me bash my speakers in...and he did the same this year...maybe I should forget about the early 90's Rox and just focus on getting rid of Gary Payton.

 

It just seemed that way. They were average. Akeem was Akeem. But not a team player. Lets not confuse winning two titles (94 and 95) with the team that played from 88 to 91. They didn't play the same way. It wasn't the same team.

And Akeem wasn't the same player. He was still developing. Yes...he was (Rudy helped him in that).

The Lakers, Pistons, Bulls and Celtics were miles ahead of the Rockets in talent, skill, knowledge and wins. The Rockets NEVER have been a team that could walk on the court and just dominate game after game (60+ win team). That's what we were up against: first class teams. All-American teams. All-Star teams.

The Rockets? Well, they had Akeem and Sleepy Floyd...later added Smith, Horry, Elie and Thrope...but they weren't considred "stars." They were just role players. Individually, Sleepy Floyd was better than any of those role players. But he was traded for depth if I'm not mistaken.

Underachievers? No. Just lack of over-all talent and knowledge of the game. Even Akeem wasn't playing the same level as his competition. Sure, he played great on athletic level. But not on a thinking level. We always got beat by teams playing the team game with thinking stars (Bird and Magic). Not by just athletic prowess.

So, it just seems like we "should have at least played Jordan Bulls." Seems. Don't fool yourself. It seems like that *after the fact* we already won the two rings. They were not the same teams. They were evolving. Even Hakeem evolved from 92 to 95. He was not the same player in 93 that he was in 95. He actually learned a lot of new moves in that short span of time. David Robinson was considered a better center than Akeem in 93 because Akeem hadn't accomplished anything substantial in the play-off since 86. Notice that Akeem wasn't on the 92 Dream Team? There was a reson for that. And it wasn't just all publicity.

Akeem would have done a whole lot better if we had Drelxer from the start. Drelxer was seen as a premiere player over Akeem in the late 80's to early 90s. Especially after Drexler made it to the Finals twice with his Blazers.

How did people see Akeem in terms of popularity and recognition? Duncan and Yao were media darlings from the start; part intrigue and part talent. Akeem was not.

Akeem wasn't the kind of person that liked interviews. It was hard for the American public to get to know him. He was considered an enigma. Plus, he was not going to compete with the Magics, Birds, and Jordans of the NBA. Not on a publicity standpoint. Remember, international players really weren't that common back in the 80s. So, he was mostly a Houston hero. But no where else. Hell, you'd see Bird, Isiah or Jordan jerseys in Houston as much as you'd see Hakeem jerseys. Hakeem jerseys outside of Houston? No way. I did manage to see one Vernon Maxwell jersey in Japan (NBA exhibition game) after the 94 season ended. Yao Ming is more well known in his 1st year than Hakeem was in his 18 year career! No joke!

Duncan could be seen as the best today. Hakeem didn't get that kind of recognition util after the 95 season (13 years into his career).

As far as the 93-94 roster...

Kenny was seen as a solid PG that did not turn the ball over. He was quick and could shoot the 3 pointer. He was also a decent FT shooter even in clutch.

Vernon was the 2nd best player IMO. He was a slasher, a dunker, a 3 point shooter. A decent defender. Quick, quick, quick! Also he was great on the fast break (passes from Thorpe).

Thorpe was a solid PF that could defend and rebound. He could dunk and was very hard to move out of the post. He didn't have an outside shot though. He shot was similar to Cato's (clank). He had a baby hook. But that's about it.

Nate "the Rocket killer" McMillan

Yes. Lack of depth had a lot to do with it. The funny thing is that Akeem was such a physical match up problem he would keep us in games all by himself. Single team, double team, triple team he could just spin and shoot over players. There was no trick plays, no pump fakes or no deception (no passing and cutting to teammates). I was just bare boned, straight up, physical advantage. Now, this could been seen as a negative as well. Because the Soncis would beat us with teamwork! Remember that word? So, although Akeem could score 40 or 50 points. Our team would lose because Akeem would go one-on-FIVE. Ok, I'm exaggerating. But you get the idea. Akeem was a one-man wrecking ball. But that was a disadvantage as well. And the Soncis would just outplay us on a team scale.

Once Hakeem started to trust his teammates and learn to pass out of the post...well the rest was history. It's just sad that we couldn't have had Drexler earlier. It would have helped Akeem's game so much more. And possibley gave us two more rings.

Akeem would have said that the reason that he didn't pass the ball to his teammates (of the 88-91 era) was because he felt that there was a better chance that the ball would go in the bucket if he took the shot rather than pass it. Well, he was right and wrong.

One: He didn't understand the idea of "making his teammates better." Regardless of their talent. The plays just consisted of just dumping down to Akeem. He took 95% of the shots on the same plays. I mean, if you don't know the concept of passing off a screen or pick and role or back door...well, how in the heck is he going to make his teammates better? He just didn't know how to do that. He just never understood how to pass like Drexler, Jordan, Pippen, Isiah, Kareem, Bird, Magic, Walton, you name it. He was just a physical attacking player. He lacked a lot of the fundamentals that those other players would use against us. And it cost us.

Two: He didn't' have great talent to share the ball with, i.e. Drexler until later.

Rudy actually coaxed Hakeem into believing in his role players: Smith, Horry, Maxwell, Thorpe, and Elie. And I wouldn't call those guys "all-stars" either. They were just good role players. So, Hakeem finally started to understand the concept of "making your teammates better" even if they weren't superstars like Drexler. Then, once Drelxer got there, it only got easier for him (well, we needed him for sure!).


The best Rocket team? The 1995 team. Their record doesn't do them justice. If Drexler had been with the team from the start they would have bested the 57 win mark IMO. That was a better team for sure. Cassell was playing more as well. That was not a six-seed team. They were better than that.

 

What kept the Rockets from beating Seattle in '93 was lack of playoff experience from horry,max and to an extent smith.
The Rockets could have won game 1 in seattle had horry or max gone to the hoop instead of taking the outside shot in the last minute on consecutive breakaways.
And in game 7 kenny had the last shot in regulation to win it but couldn't get it to go down.
Seattle had the good fortune of dana barros of all people coming off the bench to help them beat the rockets.
If we had won game 1 or had kenny made that shot in game 7 the Rockets would have had a chance (if they had beaten phoenix) to play against the bulls.
the Rockets went 2-0 against the bulls that year and in particular embarrased jordan and the bulls in chicago. that's when we started hearing all of those horry/pippen comparisons.

As far as the stupid notion that the Rockets titles seem less impressive because they didn't play the jordanaires all I can say is it's the biggest crock of s*** I've ever heard. I think the bulls and bulls fans should feel grateful that they didn't have to lose to the Rockets in the finals. That way they can keep this air of invincibility to their legacy.

And about those teams like Seattle,Phoenix and Utah of the 90's.
The ones that consistently won between 50-60 games a year, as I recall they went 0-4 in the finals.

 

The Rockets twice surprised me in the early 90's.

Flash back to 1990. Coming off the 8th seed and a first round exit at the hands of the Lakers 3-1 and a .500 season after the 89-90 season, expectations were not that high. The roster of the championship teams was all ready taking form (Thorpe and Maxwell were all ready in the fold with Kenny Smith coming in the following season), but following 5 seasons of Hakeem vs the world due to the lack of surrounding talent on the team kept expectations mild.

That is why I was pleasantly surprised by the Rockets' performance in the 90-91 season. The Rockets seemed to come out of nowhere to break the 50-win plateau and the NBA agreed as they gave Don Chaney the coach of the year award. As ecstatic as I was, the Rockets still only got the 6th seed and that meant a disappointing finish to the season in a first round sweep at the hands of the showtime Lakers making their last hurrah. Even with the sweep, breaking 50 wins gave a fan hope for the following season.

Well the team came back down to earth in 1991-1992, lowering my expectations for the following season and making the previous 50-win season seem like a fluke. I believe that was the year that the Rockets missed the playoffs altogether hovering around .500. Expectations were at an all time low for me as most rumblings were about Hakeem wanting to play elsewhere. The trades on the table did not seem like they would make the Rockets a better team (I don't remember the players involved, but I do remember that the primary teams were Miami and the L.A. Clippers). And to make things worse, the Rockets blew their lottery pick on some guy I'd never heard of named Robert Horry out of Alabama with Harold Miner still on the board . Things were looking bleak (as usual when you factor in the Oilers and Astros) in H-Town.

Nothing early on in 1992-1993 did anything to raise my expectations. The team was off to a slow early start that lead to the firing of Don Chaney. The Rockets replaced him with some former player in their organization named Rudy Tomjanovich which seemed like the NBA's version of nepotism at the time. Oh well, time to throw all my support by the Oilers right? Wrong. The Rockets were about to provide me my second pleasant surprise of the early 90's as the team immediately responded to Rudy T by going on a long win streak which, by the end of the streak, would have the Rockets in contention for the Midwest Division title (which seemed to all but belong to the San Antonio Spurs and their MVP-caliber David Robinson). The Rockets went on to win the Midwest Division title seemingly out of nowhere. What's more, Hakeem was no longer playing like one of the best players in the league, he was playing like THE best player in the league and the league was noticing. The MVP came down to Dream and Barkley and even though Hakeem's numbers were significantly more impressive than Barkely's, Barkley's Suns were the team to beat in the NBA and he got the award (and as usual, the playoffs taught us that the Bulls were really the team to beat all along). As for the Rockets, they got to the 2nd round of the playoffs for the first time in what seemed like a 100 years after getting a scare from the Larry Brown Clippers (who had put a scare into the Jazz in a 5-game series the year before). They played the Sonics in a fantastically competitive 7-game series that came down to the last shot. While Maxwell's failure to pass the ball to a wide open Hakeem in the post choosing instead an off balance three had me screaming at the TV in overtime of game 7, the Rockets had just taken me on a ride I would have said was impossible entering the season. Playoff success, Hakeem playing like an MVP, expectations were through the roof going into the 1993-1994 season, a year for which any Rockets fan that was on the wagon B.Y.M. (before Yao Ming) brings an immediate smile and recollection of many a great memory. This time there would be no let down.

The Rockets built on their previous season's success jumping out to an NBA tying-record 15-0 start on their way to the second best record in the NBA, a feat that took on extra meaning now that the league was Jordanless. The title was up for grabs and the team with the best record in the league, the Sonics, bowed out early in the first round leaving the Rockets with home court advantage throughout the playoffs. At that time, I really felt that the winner of the Suns-Rockets second round series was going to win it all. Yeah, there were the Riley-Knicks to deal with out east, but I felt both the Suns and Rockets were better teams than New York. I was right, though the road was a little bumpy falling behind 2-0 to the Suns at home. By the end of that emotional 7 game series with the Suns, Clutch City was born and this team seemed to be on its way. The Jazz were hardly a contest (even if their clock starter had the knuckle reflexes of a sloth at the end of one of the tightly contested games). 4-1 Houston! NBA Finals! First time since 86'! Third time in franchise history! And most importantly, this time they were not huge underdogs. They could win this thing. And they did. The Rockets title in 1994 took on so much more meaning as it came on the heels of so many disappointing moments from Houston sports teams. They actually did it. As a fan, the high lasted all summer. And the team wasn't through. They would have a lackuster follow up regular season that would make their back to back title in 1994-1995 even the more sweeter as they took the hard way back to the title beating four teams with 57 wins or more, a feat which may never again be pulled off given the rarity that you even have that many teams with such gaudy records in one conference.

 

Hakeem wasn't on that team because at that time, he was not an American citizen. Had he been, he most certainly would have been on that team.

 

Was he in the nigerian team? Do they even have a team?

 

I'm not sure when he got the 6 year citzenship...but...Robinson and Ewing where 1st and 2nd ALL-NBA team in 1991 and Hakeem was on the 3rd ALL-NBA team. The following year of 92, Hakeem wasn't on any ALL-NBA team (injury debacle?). Being placed on an All-NBA team had an impact of who was selected for the Dream Team 92. So, all I'm saying that that was not a time of recognition for Hakeem.

In 93 Hakeem made 1st team...later...

National recognition didn't occur until after the 95 championship when they *considered* him to be named with other great centers (Wilt, Kareem, Russell, Walton...). Before that, it was blasphemy to say that. After beating Robinson and Ewing in the playoffs/finals, he established himself over those two players. Before that, he didn't garner that many accolades. For good reason too. He hadn't won anything since 86. He was kinda hiding in the weeds until the 94 and 95 teams achieved two rings.

 

I went through a weird and wonderful period with the Rockets at that time.

I had originally been very frustrated by the Sampson deal, as I was really, really hoping for the Detroit move ( Dumars, etc.) SO for a while I was p*ssed.

But then, I swear to God, I came up with a plan to reshape the Rockets, and it involved getting Kenny Smith and Otis Thorpe, both fo whom I though were underrated. I also thought we needed a Pippen like defender/all arounder, without the offensive need. ( I didn't call Horry, though. I think I was a little dissapointed when we drafed him, as he played 5 in college, I thought he'd have a hrd time adjusting to the perim.) And within a year or two we made all these moves, almost exactly as I;d envisioned. It was really strange; and when we won, it felt sort of surreal.

But in the between period, I thought that Hakeem was suffering through what many great talents without support go through: good enough to keep you from imrpving through the lottery, but not good enough to win alone. I was worried we were on a treadmill to nowhere when I came up with my Thorpe, Smith etc. plan. I dindn't think we were underachieving, but I had to put up with a lot or razzing from my Dad, who said that the best center SHOULD make a team one of the top contenders. When Hakeem got some help, and went nuts for a few years, my Dad admitted he was one of the 3 best 5's he'd seen ( He's since taken it back)...

God, those were great days for a while.

 

That's why I feel that Drexler would have changed the legacy of Hakeem if they would have played together from the start (1983 - 1995).

I mean, imagine Shaq trying to lead the Lakers w/out Kobe. Or Kareem trying to lead the Lakers w/out Magic. It could have been done (Hakeem squeaked one by himself in 94). But it just makes it that much harder. So, instead of Hakeem getting one by himself and one w/Drexler. They could have both gotten 3 or 4 rings. They just happen to meet up at the end of their careers.

Gotta love that "team concept."

 

IMO, Phi Slamma Jamma pro style would have netted us 4 or 5 rings, easy. Drexler would have been as good as Jordan, all around probably better, and we'd have beaten the Bulls in most finals.

 

True...very possible. It would have been very interesting what we could have done in the 87-95 era with a Hakeem/Drexler duo. But I digress on Drexler being better than Jordan. Hakeem would have been our leader. Jordan had that role on the Bulls.

But a Hakeem/Drexler team had enough power to compete on the highest level. A real 60+ win team would have been very possible.

 

Yeah. All that one has to do to learn just how good Hakeem was in 93-94' is look at the Rockets championship roster. Like the poster above noted, it was Hakeem, Thorpe, Horry, Smith, and Maxwell and while many of these supporting cast members contributed, this was not the quality of your typical championship team starting line-up. And what's more? The 6th man on that team was Carl freakin' Herrera. Nuff' said. Hakeem was simply unbelievable during a four year stretch between 1992 and 1996.

 

It did seem that Hakeem in the early 90s was the best kept secret in the NBA but I clearly remember watching games in which the announcers always remarked on his dominance. Also, I recall Julius Erving during a halftime of an NBC televised game proclaiming Hakeem as the best player in the NBA and the first guy he would start with in building a team (this was at least 2 to 3 years before their first NBA championship) and the other announcers were surprised he didn't mention MJ.

Why was Hakeem so slighted? Many of the reasons already mentioned previously are right on. Plus he had an accent that was hard to understand. Hell, while all the kids were buying Reeboks and Nikes, Hakeem was peddling Etonics! The shoe deal tells the story. But, even in the early 90s, and you can include the late 80s as well, he was already dominating in the NBA, no doubt.

 

JBIIRockets and I had many discussions about this with the comparisons of Duncan and Hakeem. The reason Duncan won it earlier is because he matured MUCH quickly that Hakeem did. If Hakeem found his religion around the late 80's/early 90's, the Rockets could have easily won more than 2 titles. Once Hakeem matured, he trusted his teammates to a far extent which led to the 2 titles.

In the early 90's itself, the team was a damn good team on their behave, but the others were better. Sleepy Floyd, Buck Johnson, and Matt Bullard were probably their best role players. Once we brought in Cassell, Elie, and Horry in, that improved our team a whole lot more. Buckaroo and Sleepy were waived in which Buck went to Washington and Sleepy went to SA.

I still remember when they won i think 13 in a row during the 90-91 season when Hakeem came back from the eye injury. I have the Bulls game on tape where they won their 12th? game and won their 13th game vs. Atlanta. We were able to beat the Bulls with ease. Great memories there.

As for '93, I really do believe the refs screwed us that year. It first started with the last game of the season where Robinson's tipin SHOULD HAVE NOT counted in which SA got the eventual win and Seattle had the better record than the Rockets to get home court advantage vs. the Rockets in the second round. If we beat Seattle, I think we had a STRONG chance to beating the Suns and eventually the Bulls. But thats again one of the "what if" scenarios everybody brings up.

 

from DavidS:

I don't mean to nitpick here, I always enjoy your posts. I've just seen this particular point referenced twice recently.

Dream was not a U.S. citizen when the original Dream Team was put together. I don't disagree with your premise though, it's likely Robinson and Ewing would have been selected anyway. But I, at that time though Olajuwon to be the superior player to Ewing.

Dream's game definiteley improved in the early nineties, and when he became a citizen he was on the first Olympic team for which he was eligible ('96).

 

True. I wasn't sure when he got his citizenship...and Robinson and Ewing were 1st and 2nd all-nba. Akeem that year wasn't even 3rd team. This had a lot to do with "team success." Or lack thereof. But one thing that I want some posters (Nikos) to realize is how different Akeem was seen as back in 88-92 era. Robinson and Ewing were just more successful in a team scale. You know, how a few years ago Hill, McGrady, Iverson and Carter were the talk of the league (play-offs), but not as much now? Well, it was kinda similar. Akeem was struggling with his team (personal and publicly) but Ewing and Robinson were the darlings of the league. Akeem, as a teammate was difficult to play with (internal conflicts; no chemistry). Also, the "Charley Thomas incident (former owner)" and the "fake injury" incident all made him seem like a selfish player.

That was a tough time for Akeem. To be quite frank, IMO, it was Akeem's rededication to his religion that started to turn the tide. Seems like after he did that (stopped trying to control everything) and good things started to happen for him in 93. He blossomed in 95. It was like night and day. He was on top of the world after beating Ewing, Robinson and Shaq in a two year span (93-95).

After that...
He was on ESPN exposés, Sporting News articles, a *real* Sports Illustrated cover, Interviews with Roy Firestone, Ammad Rashad (he disliked the Rockets in the past, but changed his opinion). David Aldrige and Bill Walton FINALLY gave Hakeem his due. That was a shock! None of this happened to Hakeem until after his 2nd championship (the first one was seen as a fluke). He became a legend.

 

this thread is an essay contest... haha

 

Hakeem wasn't on the Dream Team because he did not have the American citizenship at that time, as simple as that. I believe he got it in 1995 that's why he was on Dream Team III