Its kind of strange how Dream was in the league for 17 years and he still doesn't have down the concept of why he should stay in great shape in the off season, I guess we shouldn't question him since he's done so much for us and all, I mean according to some people on this board, if he chooses to kick us all in the groin, then we shouldn't do anything but say" huh...Mr. Olajuwon...huh, thank you for the championships...huh sir..(passout)"
Ex-Rockets are fare game in this forum. Especially Hakeem. Go put your Post Police badge back in the drawer. Old School
It's pretty sad that after all the Rocket players had said publicy how much they wanted Olajujuwuan back that he would still have to wait for a phone call. So, the Rockets never called (supposedly). How do we know that they didn't? Maybe Akeem has caller ID and saw Mobley's name and decided not to answer. Or maybe he had his calls screened by that ass, Fegan. If his ego is that big and fragile and needs to be stroked that he would make a decision based on if he "received" a phone call, then I don't think that he is very sane .
Hey folks.... We all know that Hakeem didn't want the Rockets and the Rockets didn't want Hakeem (at least not bad enough). Regardless of the 2 championships Hakeem got our city, Hakeem is not the perfect god that some of us like to make him out to be. I've observed that Hakeem's image was only high and mighty during the 2 championships and a little while afterwards. People praised him for his class and his wonderful character when the rings came in. Kinda funny how he had image problems early in his career and a image problems later in his career (especially lately). The fact is, he's a human being, not a demi-god. On the flip side, Hakeem is a hometown hero no matter what. He went after what he wanted in the end and he's entitled to that. The only thing that will tarnish that image will be the way that he decided to handle his exodus from Houston. I will always admire and remember how Hakeem carried his team, but I will also always be resentful of the way things ended. This news of Hakeem's early performance should not surprise anyone. The Rockets knew that no matter how much Hakeem did for us before that he is little to no good to us now. The Rockets knew that giving a multi-year contract to an injury-prone 39 year old center on the far end of the downslope was not a smart business or team chemistry decision. We would be where we are now (or even farther behind) if we had committed him to our center position and waited 3-4 years to address it with new blood. Anyone who cares about the Rockets winning should understand that, but there are those who feel that we should have turned our plans upside down to keep him. I guess if we screwed our future for the past, it would make things square between Houston and Hakeem, huh? Pure HOGWASH. One last point...the sports world is fickle. Owners are fickle, players are fickle, fans are (as a whole) fickle. It's a fact of life, deal with it. The sports world is almost always about "what have you done for me lately" and sports fans are much the same in any city and any sport. Despite his posturing and sugar-coating, Hakeem turned around and left the Rockets (and I feel he would have done it unless we gave him outrageous amounts of money) because he would not (and could not, even if it was set up for him) be the man anymore on a team still working to make the playoffs. His mind was made up the second he decided not to retire. His mind was made up last season when he demanded a trade and then realized that it would be better for his image to play out the contract. The Rockets and many fans have been no different. Every party still went for their best interests, loyalty be damned in this situation, so no one is at fault. We let the man do what he wants, and we as fans should not feel guilty feeling how we want to feel about him. I, for one, like Hakeem but at the same time, I don't think he's the perfect class act that people make him out to be. The fact that he got this city 2 championships (doing his job) doesn't hide the fact that he made things hard on the Rockets and the fans. If a police officer saves 100 lives (doing his job) but then goes and kills one person even accidentally, he still gets punished. I have lost respect for Hakeem, but I still wish him the best wherever he goes. I for one am happy with the way things ended up. I didn't want Hakeem on the Rockets anymore because I am pretty sure he doesn't have much in the tank anymore, and he'd be bad for team chemistry. I'm sure he's equally happy, because he is now on an Eastern Conference Champion contender that he could be putting over the top (if he doesn't lose his wind first). What's your take?
AxSomebody: That was a great post, man. You pretty much echoed my feelings and hit the nail on the head. I know that I have been one of the stronger Hakeem critics, but nothing will ever take away what he did for the Rockets and I respect that. However, I don't respect how he left. I would rather have him not make the comments like he did about wanting to stay when he knew all along he didn't want to. That is why I have been hammering him .
For 17 years, Dream never came into camp in shape. Damn him, and his out of shape body in October. That out of shape body in October won this city two championships and carried us to the playoffs countless times. Don't bash Hakeem. He is a holy man and there is nothing wrong with his concentrating on what he believes in most over the summer. The summer is HIS time, the preseason is for getting back in shape. When you're as old as Hakeem is, you need to pace yourself. Watch out come playoff time, the Raptors are my prediction to beat the Lakers. The Houston RocketS are still a year or two too young to really predict winning the prize, but The Rocket (he will always be a rocket to me) has a real chance at it. I will root for him, as I expect any real Rocket fans to do. Unless of course the finals wind up being Houston/ Toronto. Who wins championships in October?
Lets see, David Robinson takes less but gets 2yrs 24m, Stocton takes less but gets 2yrs 18mil, the Rockets wanted to Hakeem to take less, 4.1mil? It wa obvious the Rockets didn't want Hakeem. How do you just straight out dis the man by like that? I can't guarantee anything, but had that offer been 2yrs 16mill or 14mill, #34 would still be here and we would be a absolut for homecourt. Guess what, we could have still signed Jackson and Moochie and let the others walk. Would this team had been better with Jackson - Hakeem at the 4-5? I think so. whats done is done, he is still the greatest Rocket and will always be, sorry Steve. Until someone brings us another title he will be the only person to have brought us one. Stop With all the Hatin'
Robinson - 80 games - 2000-2001 Stockton - 82 games - 2000-2001 Hakeem - 58 games - 2000-2001 Robinson - 80 games - 1999-2000 Stockton - 82 games - 1999-2000 Olajuwon - 44 games - 1999-2000 Enough said....
wow, he got 14 mill for 44 games and 16mil for 58 games. and thats not including the games it took him to get "back into playing shape" One would think that 30 mil for 2 blow off seasons and not complaining about it, are pretty respectful. I can't see why any team would want him after the trend he is showing and the money he is asking. 10mil a year? for half the season? and half of those games trying to get back into shape or recovering from and injury? there IS a difference between eristic and Realistic... I'm thankful our GM is realistic.
http://www.nba.com/games/20011011/MINTOR/boxscore.html?nav=ArticleList Gotta love it...Hakeem doubled his numbers from the previous preseason game with 4 points and 8 rebounds over 2 points an 4 rebounds. I am very interested to see how "well" he does in the regular season. My prediction....we're gonna be glad we were rid of him and his contract demands...championships notwithstanding.
I know he missed games,but so did Taylor. In fact, he only played 10 more games than Hakeem. He says he wasn't used properly, and I agree with that. How many times in the early season did we see Thomas at center in the end. Stocton played the same amount of minutes as Hakeem, but you best believe that he always played majority of the minutes in the 4th. Look how many games we lost last year because of an offense rebound or something. This is where I think he was misused. Its over now, but to think he won't contribute to Toronto's claim to the east is crazy.
I don't think anybody doubts that Olojawuan can make positive contributions to the Raptors; however, considering the money that he wanted, you would think that he could do better than 8 points and 4 rebounds or 4 points and 8 rebounds or whatever. Yea, the Rockets look pretty dumb right now. They already have someone who is overpaid that produces like that...Kelvin Cato!
Hakeem Olajuwon is no longer a member of the Houston Rockets, he is on the Toronto Raptors. Frankly, I wish him well, but I just don't really care, I'm more interested in the Houston Rockets. Oh, and this is the wrong forum - posts about members of the Toronto Raptors really don't belong in the Rockets forum. Just my opinion.
The whole Hakeem situation reminds me of Webber. Hakeem was mad because he said the rockets didnt "want him". And Webber? Hakeem made uncalled-for comments about the Rockets organization. And Webber? To me there is no difference between Webber and Hakeem's actions, except that Webber's home team caved in and paid the man, while Hakeen left town for the money. People argue the Rockets didn't want him because of the money he was offered was so little?? The man refused to be sponsored by Nike or any big shoe companies, he was sponsored by SPALDING. I don't think money was THAT big of an issue. To me, Hakeem was hurt by Francis and Mobley claiming it to be their team. His pride was hurt, and he left town. I hated his guts until a couple days ago when I looked over the "Olajuwon Tribute" at rockets.com. It recalled all the great moments in the man's life and what he's done that's amazing. Hakeem is and always will be an above average center, but I have lost respect for Hakeem the man in his decision of abandoning the city that's been behind him since the 80's. -LTF
Hakeem haters are not real Rockets fans. I really gotta laugh at all these idiots who diss Hakeem because of a few preseason games. I guess people don't realize he brings so much more to the game than his stats. He's teaching their big men how to be good professionals. He's showing them his moves and nuances of the game that they might never have realized until speaking with him. What better big man to learn from? Unfortunately the Rockets have a big fat white oaf and a dumbass who doesn't want to get better. Hakeem is constantly doubled in the post giving players like Vince or Mo Peterson a chance to hit open jumpers. Hakeem doesn't have a place in the offence yet. So what? He's trying to win a championship there and if that means not shooting a lot, playing great D and teaching his skills, then so be it! The Raptors signing Hakeem is better than any move we've made this season. We're the Boston Bruins of the NBA. We make it look like we wanna win but we really just wanna put butts in the seats. Hakeem haters get bumped. Y'all ain't ****. Hilarious that the Rockets say they didn't have the money yet they have 24 million for Moochie Norris. Why not keep Hakeem and sign Damon Jones for nothing? No offence Moochie but I'd rather have Hakeem until the end. Oh yeah, that was all Dream's fault too.
And I can say the same thing...Hakeem lovers are not Rocket fans..they are fans of Olojujuwan. You Hakeem lovers are missing the boat on several points: 1) He wanted too much money. If he was performing like he did before he hurt his knee in '98 then yea, he deserves to be paid well. However, it was a joke for him to be getting 16 million when he's averaging 50 games played a season. I read somewhere that the Jazz were interested, but his asking price was too high for Larry Miller. Funny how Stockton and Robinson took lower salaries, but Akeem refuses to do so. At his age and with his tendency to get hurt, he was a risky signing for the Rockets for the amount of money and the length of the contract he was looking for. 2) He talked out of both sides of his mouth. For me this is the reason why I've lost all my respect for him. He pouts all year long about not being the focal point of the offense and even demands a trade and his outright release! Yet, he later then says that the Rockets should try to bring everyone back and that they could win the NBA Championship with their team. You know what he was doing, don't you? He was setting CD up and playing the Rockets for chumps. He knew that it would look bad, public relation wise, for the Rockets to let him go, so he pretended to show some interest in staying when he really had no intention of doing that. That type of manipulation is what pisses me off about him, and anyone who wants to see the Rockets make the playoffs this year should be pissed about it, too, IMO. Nothing is gonna take away what he did for the Rockets and the city of Houston and I will always be grateful to him for that. However, the way he "scripted' his exit will always leave me with a bad taste in my mouth. I guess you Olageauan lovers would rather see the Rockets win 30 to 35 games and be a perennial lottery team than to see them compete for a playoff spot. Yea, you are real fans! REAL FANS FOLLOW THE TEAMS NOT THE PLAYERS At least in the opinion of Manny Ramirez
Thank you Manny, I was just about to express the same opinion. Real fans stand by their teams no matter what.
