In reading one of the threads in this forum, Dreamshake (one of my favorite posters in this forum to read) was talking about how Olajuwon won't "officially" retire so he can continue to milk the Raptors for every dime. This leads me to wonder if this is truly an ethical thing that Hakeem is doing. I mean if the man knows for sure that he is never going to play again, why not go ahead and say it. Continuing to say that there could be a chance that he could play makes me think that hurts his image of being this "saintly" type person. Now before the pro-Olajuwon crowd like ZRB and TheFreak tear me to pieces as a basher, ask yourself why he allowed for the Rockets to retire his jersey? Doesn't that directly imply that he is retired?? It just bugs me to see a person who has this one image do things that contradict that image. Anyway, just wanted to get some others' thoughts on this.
Hakeem is a good guy. Not sure about all the details on that. But the guy deserves what he is making. The Raptors are the one's that took on his contract. Their fault.
Unehtical? No. That's why they call it a contract. Prideful and shrewd? Yes. I guess he's saving for another mansion.
I think it's not Dream who doesn't want to "officially" retire. It's the Raptors who doesn't want. They want to trade his contract to a team who want cap room to get a few quality players in return.
I'm sure that there are many pages in his contract that cover all of the potential situations that could arise, and how they should be dealt with. It is tough to say without knowing what the intentions of the contract are. It definetly makes me curious. The other thing that I believe could be considered unethical about the deal is Hakeem's rumored age. Everyone says that he is older than he claims. That would mean that he was misrepresenting himself to the Raptors, and had they known, they would not have taken the additional risk.
Even if he officially retires, insurance pays him 80% of his contract. That's what he's getting WITHOUT officially retiring too, 80%. He's not getting anything out of it, but the Raptors think they might use his contract in trades.
Wouldn't you want to get paid what you signed up for? I would! Hakeem is doing it just like any other human being working for a company. He was hired to do a job, signed a contract, and is fulfilling the contract. Even if he isn't playing, he wants to get paid. I don't blame the guy. But I still don't give him any slack for leaving us.
So if the contract said,"if Hakeem gets hurt and can't play,the Raptors have the right to terminate the contract and not pay him a dime"... Do you think the Raptors would wait more than 1 or 2 seconds before cutting him loose? Come on,the guy is obviously within his contractual rights. Even if everyone knows he won't be able to play anymore,he has a contractual right to be paid. How does that tarnish his image? When it was signed,he didn't intend to have a career ending injury.
Actually, this is quite common from what I understand. In fact, I think it has been discussed on this forum a few times. A great number of NBA players who "retire" never actually file papers with this league, and rather, just let their contract expire when its up. There are several players in the last few seasons that have done this, although, I can not think of any off the top of my head. Therefore, I am not going to smear Hakeem for something that is obviously common and not frowned upon by the league or the teams.
Someone answer this: Since he is still technically on their roster, is he delaying his entrance to the Hall of Fame? Isn't there a certain amount of years you have to be out of basketball before you can get in???
Not working for your money IS unethical according to Olajuwon's religion. Cut and dried. That is it. That said, I suspect the Raptors and Hakeem worked out some sort of deal where they would keep him unofficially retired for the possibility of trading his contract sometime in the future. I still would have liked Hakeem to volunteer for some sort of staff role, but hey...
you guys remember Bryant "big Country" Reeves? well, he's getting $11 million from the grizzlies this year
Not working for your money is unethical in ANY religion. But I'm glad that you assume that muslims actually follow their religion. BTW, this whole thing is a moot point. Whether he officially retires or not, he gets the money. RIGHT NOW, HE'S GETTING MONEY. IF HE RETIRES, HE STILL GETS MONEY. He's actually being ethical because he's delaying his entry into the Hall of Fame for the sole purpose of helping the Raptors in trade.
What the hell is that fat ass doing? Is he spending time at McDonalds chomping down the 2 for 2 Big Macs? What a reject.
I don't think Mike Tyson is a Muslim, but if you know for sure, then fine. If he is, he doesn't set an example for Muslims, the same way all those Priests don't set the example for Christianity. Please, let's not start a religious debate about ethics in Islam vs ethics in Christianity. Point here is, Hakeem gains nothing from not officially retiring.
