I grew up on the '94 and '95 championship teams, watched every game I could those seasons and saw many games in person, and I would still take Jordan over Hakeem if I could do it over. You don't think Jordan would have become just as special to Houston if he played here his entire career instead of Chicago? It's not a loyalty question... you hand me a time machine and I'm standing there in 1984, there is no loyalty. Nothing has been established... Hakeem has never been a Rocket, Jordan has never been a Bull--it's purely about who is the better player.
If nothing has been established, then how would you know to pick Jordan? Hakeem was the consensus #1 pick that year, I believe.
everyone was aware of jordan's talent but the conventional wisdom, then and now, is all things be equal, you go for the big. hell, nobody, i mean nobody, couldn't have foreseen what mj became. dream is one of the greatest players ever, not a bad consolation prize.
this x10000. no one saw jordan becoming jordan. no one. and hakeem absolutely validated being taken with the #1 pick.
Agree with those of you saying Dream was the right pick at the time, but knowing what you know now.... can you imagine what MJ would have done for the city of Houston? Can you imagine a statue of Michael Jordan outside of the Toyota Center right now? Would be epic.
I wish we could assume that MJ wins 6 titles in Houston, but really, it's impossible to see. For all we know, MJ never sniffs a title in Houston as Dream and Clyde dominate the west for 12+ years together in Portland.
It's almost as if that was the only reason the question was asked...... Anyway, I think it's a testament to Hakeem's greatness that you never really hear anyone making fun of the Rockets for passing on the guy that would eventually become the greatest player of all time. Can you imagine if we had taken Drexler instead of McCray the year before?
Why didn't we? That was teh stoopidz. P.S. Did UH fans b**** and moan and swear off the Rockets forever in protest?
Believe it or not, it wasn't that prevalent IIRC. Going to the Finals the next year kind of eased the sting a little bit. At the time, we were actually okay with it because we thought that Twin Tower team was destined to win multiple championships. But then came the drug suspensions (Lucas, Lloyd, Wiggins) and Sampson's injuries and that was basically the beginning of the end. Can you imagine if CF existed when Drexler was passed over? It would have been the VY debate 20-fold.
I don't think Jordan's Rockets (if you could call them that, when he'd be the 4th best player at best) would have beat the Showtime Lakers in 1986. I'm very doubtful that a team that started Kenny Smith, Michael Jordan, Mario Elie, Otis Thorpe, and Carl Harrera could have won a championship.
I agree. What center do we draft in 1988 that puts us over the top? Rony Seikaly? Will Perdue? Eric Leckner?? The Trialblazers would've steamrolled people had we passed on Dream.
Thanks for dropping NBA knowledge on people here Donny. That Drexler team went to the finals twice, you put Dream on that team, with RICK ADELMAN as the coach, then good grief. I absolutely respect Jordan, but hate the nuthuggers. As any Rocket fan of that decade knows what happened when they faced us. jordan has admitted many times how the Rockets were a bad matchup for the Bulls cause of Dream. Back in the day during Clutchfans or Clutchcity.net, the majority of the fans here love Hakeem, I would say 100%. Now, not so much. Very obvious who is from Houston or grew up watching the Rockets and who doesn't. we should move this to the GARM. This should be about RG3.
how do you know that would happen? and why do you say 8 championships? jordan only won 6? people are dumb thinking if we swap jordan with hakeem, rockets would have won more championships. but ok, this thread is about Luck vs RGIII. both already had their pro days. both looked great, I think right now both will be great, and both could be #1 pick.
It's an insult to compare Luck to Oden. Luck is a sure thing to become a franchise QB. RG3 will depend on a lot of variables, and his development. Luck already calls his own plays since his sophomore year. Who does that besides Peyton Manning? That in itself puts him in another level.
RG3 seems to be a smarter Michael Vick. Dunno if he has the pure elusiveness of Vick but they are similar. They both have cannon arms. They both can make plays with their legs. They both have injury risks. But RG3 is taller than Vick (Vick definitely has problems seeing over his line sometimes). And he seems more inclined to stay in the pocket. He also seems to be in general an extremely smart guy
