Will Purdue (NBA Analyst) Comments About Hakeem and Rockets 2 ChampionShip Teams

I would have said yeah - that's a distinct possibility. It would have been on the lower end of what I had hoped for, but inside expectations. And after the first 10 games - I didn't really see Wells or any of the new additions making the difference we had expected - and I knew we were no better then the year before but healthy.

So no - this season didn't suck. What sucked was the OFF-SEASON prior to this past season.

What will suck is THIS OFF-Season, because I know we won't get better. But I enjoyed watching Yao develop. Good season.

We're a good team, not a great one. If you keep that in mind, you won't feel disappointed.

If you want us to be a great team, well, it's not going to happen next season, so just relax, enjoy, and if we have another first round exit - don't get pissed off too much, just remember we need a great off-season before we can have a great season.

 

Max took it personal when he went up against MJ.He without a doubt defended Jordan better than anyone in the league.Of course it helps when you have that great interior defense backing you up.

Chicago had no answer for our inside game.Not just Dream,but all of it.

No doubt we would have taken them down in the finals if we could have gotten out of the West.

But alas the NBA is about matchups and it wasn't to be.(Damn those Sonics!!!)

Still,if we had the chance to take care of business against the Bulls,history reads quite a bit different....about our Rockets,and about Dream......

 

then Hakeem would definitely be a top 3 center!!!!

 

I'll basically just post a comment I made on a youtube video last month to silence some hater. With a guy agreeing with me

 

while that falling out of bounds shot against the warriors was awesome, there's actually another maxwell shot where he hits a turnaround from about 28-30 feet to force overtime. i think it was against the heat but i could be wrong. and then he had 3 or 4 shots against the spurs.

 

Put your money on the Psycho every time-no fear- hero or zero!!!!

 

One of the handfull of times we agree. We were so close this season to at least getting past the 1st round. For this group of players I really wish for them they could have played Golden State-regardless of the outcome...

You are right about Yao- he has exceeded my expectations in every way. What a high character individual!

I think we get a little better this next season- but still below the elite teams. I'm anxious to seewhat happens in Pahoenix- if Sarver starts economizing to get below the cap- we might move into the #3 position of power behind San Antonio and Dallas....

 

I'd love to see that 15 minute DVD.

 

No Bull? Rockets say they still would have won like Mike

By FRAN BLINEBURY
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/3221857.html

Ten years later and it's still there, hanging over their legacy.

In the two years when the Rockets won their back-to-back championships, Michael Jordan was off pursuing a baseball career and then making his first NBA comeback.

The critics contend that those championship banners would not be flying in Houston and the Chicago Bulls might have won eight titles in a row.

The Rockets themselves would have loved to have proven everybody wrong.

"There should be no doubt or label of fluke on our championships," said Hakeem Olajuwon. "As for Michael Jordan, a lot of people don't know and never looked up our matchups with Chicago during that time. If you check the records, you'll see that we beat them on a consistent basis when Michael was playing and winning his first three championships.

"(Vernon) Maxwell guarded Michael and gave him problems. In '95, we would have had Mario Elie on him. They didn't have anyone who could contain me. Chicago was never a problem for us. We always looked forward to playing them. A lot of people don't realize that."

The Rockets, in fact, had a 5-1 record vs. Jordan and the Bulls from 1991 through 1993, the span of Chicago's first "three-peat."

After a loss on his home floor at Chicago Stadium in 1993, Jordan said, "We have no answer for the big guy. It's a good thing they won't ever make it to the (NBA) Finals, because I don't think we could beat them."

Head coach Rudy Tomjanovich is philosophical.

"It's one of those things, a good sports debate," he said. "But we don't have to apologize to anybody. I've actually talked to Michael about that topic several times. He's always told me he thought those would have been some helluva playoff series."

Elie is defiant.

"That's the one thing that still sticks with me and bothers me, not getting to play Chicago in the Finals," he said. "Hey, it's not our fault that Jordan wasn't there. We're not the ones who told him to go try baseball.

"We had a team that lined up against anybody and could beat anybody out there. I always wanted the challenge of going against 'the greatest' in the Finals. If there's a gap, that's it. That we didn't get to play them. But there's nobody that can tell me we couldn't play with them.

"Hey, that's my biggest regret about that John Stockton shot that went in for Utah in '97. I was ready to play Chicago that year. With Dream, Clyde (Drexler) and Charles (Barkley), we'd have beaten them then, too."

 

Was there DVDs back in the early 90s? I'm thinking he meant VHS tapes as I not so sure DVDs had become mainstream yet. But then, it's the NBA and they would have access to technology your average household can only dream of.

 

you can't teach creativity.

yao will never be close to hakeem's greatness.

 

Will Purdue will hold yao to 45% field goal percentage for sure!

 

You judge a season based on the fact did we live up to our potential this past year? The answer is - we went beyond my expectations. I never thought we were a contender. So no, I'm not disappointed. I was disappointed in 1997 - because we had the talent to make it to the finals and didn't.

Dallas should be disappointed. They went to the finals last year, wone 60 some all games, and lost to the 8th seed. Yeah, that's sucks.

And I look at a season overall - playoffs and regular season. We didn't have a great regular season to be honest - we lost most of the games against playoff teams and beat up on the weak. Not impressive or anything to be proud about.

Was that a failure? Maybe - but I didn't expect more so I don't see it as a failure....i see it as us fulfilling the potential we had for this year. Let's see what happens this offseason, and I'll tell you what I expect out of this team next year.

 

Hey. For one time I totally agree with you. I do however think if we would have taken a few lumps in the early season to try and develope a bench the season could have been a little different, but not much. Most good teams start with a bigger rotation to see what they have and then narrow it down as they go. We seemed to not look real hard at least from my point of view.

 

cool, Yao is so predictable, during the series Okur was telling Craig Sager that he knew all of his tendencies