If you could redraft, would you take Michael Jordan over Hakeem?

I love Hakeem....love him...but we already had Ralph.....and knowing what we know now.....I would take Jordan.

DD

 

so you don't think hakeem would have won more championships if his 80's team wasn't dismantled by drugs and injuries?

 

Im ok with one of those two, I have no regrets of drafting Hakeem, but if the rockets would have drafted MJ I dont mind.

 

Hakeem's the man but if drafting another player gets you 6 rings instead of 2, you always go for that.

 

Yes but we had Clyde and Charles Barkley plus Robert Horry and Sam Cassel

 

Hakeem is maybe the greatest center of all time but MJ is THE GREATEST player of all time.

 

with the hindsight of what they did in their careers... ofcourse you pick MJ

without it....you have to pick the center position...first...

 

Putting it all together from all the stories . . .

If Houston drafts Drexler, do you think we still get #1 for Olajuwon?

If Houston drafts Jordan instead of Olajuwon, does Jordan still get 6, Olajuwon 2? How much does the coach/supporting cast impact on getting 2 or 6?

If Houston drafts Olajuwon, makes the trade Sampson for Jordan, what kinda of team do you think that makes? Do we win 8?

Time travel is tricky. If you affect something, the consequences are unknown, same for the benefits.

 

Yes, next question. Jordan was the greatest to ever touch a basketball Hakeem was great and I love him but its not even close.

 

Give me Hakeem. You need more surrounding talent to win with a SG as opposed to a C, and their career paths showed that. MJ in Houston might be similar to Kobe, out every first round and crying for help.

 

i got hooked into watching the NBA and am a rockets fan because i saw hakeem olajuwon play. if the rockets had taken michael, then i probably wouldve been a fan of whatever team that would have drafted hakeem.

 

MJ would be taken no. 1 because the simplest solution is you will get more than 2 champions

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gXynW-4JBo&NR=1
Just look at how jordan destroyed rocket's defense at the age of 35 and came out with 40points (18-31 shooting), 4 boards, 3 assists and 3 steals.

100% for sure I'd pick MJ his airness, the GOAT over anyone alse. yeah I'm a JOF.

 

In retrospect, yes, of course I would take Jordan.

However, if you ask me if I would take Jordan over Hakeem had I not known what Jordan would become, then no, I would not.

 

Really...so you think our management would have surrounded him with the likes of Pippen, Grant, Rodman, Kukoc and a bunch of shooters? Mj wasn't winning titles until he had help...help that was clearly better than what Hakeem had the majority of the time. Jordan has never carried a team without another star to a championship.

 

I know I will get trashed on this board.

Hakeem is by many is not even considered the best center in his own era. People on this board think its laughable to pick Shaq over Dream....but I'm not one of them...I think it is with good reason.

When the two met in the finals, Shaq hadn't reached his peak yet. Hakeem was probably at the apex of his career. And Hakeem got the better of that match up, but he didn't dominate or embrass Shaq, like he did David Robinson. And if you look Shaq's best years in the playoffs...most were in LA. Hakeem may have been the greatest defender bar none of all time and more skill set than other great centers...but if you are looking for who was better winner....it was clearly Shaq.

Shaq didn't always have the greatest supporting cast world, esp. before the Magic got to finals, but he has had his teams in the playoffs every year, except 1 his rookie year only because they lost out to veteren Indiana team with same amount of wins.....after that he dominate opponents in regular season...winning over 50 games every year all the way up until 02 -03. Even with the 00 Laker teams, you could see how weak they Lakers were w/o Shaq and just Kobe, not very good. We've even seen how bad Miami is when no Shaq is around. Even though, he doesn't have the best work ethic in the world and is lazy at times, I would go out a limb and take Shaq over Hakeem if they were in same draft for his body of work.

 

Now if it was Jordan and Dream?

I still think I would probably pick Dream as the safe pick....Center>Shooting Guard

With that being said, M.J. if put on Houston would still be cream of the crop and the only shooting guard being mentioned as the greatest NBA player ever (he's not Dominque Wilkins). For starters, he was in his third year in the league lighting up the Celtics and his fourth started to lead his teams to nearly 50 wins regularly without a great supporting cast. And here's another kicker this was in tough and excrutiating Eastern Conference with the likes of Celtics, Pistons, Hawks, Cavs, Bucks, and Knicks. While the West had the Lakers, that was it. Maybe the Rockets on an odd year. Then lesser teams that just ran up and down court like the Suns, Nuggets, Mavs, and Jazz. M.J. would've gotten past most of those West coast teams (not deal with the battering brusing from the Bad Boys), but would've bowed out to Lakers until his team got a little better. I think Dream would be in the same situation M.J. was in Chicago, they would still be finding themselves going out against Pistons and Celtics....being about even with likes the Hawks, Cavs, Knicks. Remember, Olajuwon would be like the only all-star on team. And I don't see him making in breakthrus against the Bad Boys and Bird and Co. He might have had some 40 or 50 pt games and 15 + rebs and 5 blks, but they wouldn't the series against those guys.

I don't believe using the 95 Bulls team is good matchup to Houston, because the Bulls, if MJ. doesn't make this totally unexpected comeback with 17 games to play after being out nearly two years. Play the way that he did was fantastic enough...tells you how great he was. He carried 7th seeded team falling out of the playoff picture to almost 50 wins and 2nd round lost to probably the 2nd best team in league that year who wasn't that much better than was.

95-96 or the 92-93 is probably a better measure.

 

Man o man o man.

I hope this thread doesn't get picked up by any other fan boards.

 

thanks for telling us how many rings shaq has compared to dream.
Hakeem is the better player

shaq had a better cast than olajuwon ever did.

 

Why are people quick to dismiss rings?

If you look at the players with most rings....I pretty sure most will say that those are the greatest players of All Time. Russell, Jordan, Magic, Kareem, Duncan, Shaq, and Bird. What's so hard to believe about that?

There teams probably wouldn't have as succesful with other players in their position from the same period.


Let's be honest, Shaq has accomplished more Hakeem regardless of their teams. The Magic were only juggernaut team with Shaq, and where barely in the playoffs without him...while the Lakers in 90s were pretty good w/o him, the ones in Kobe era are an indication that they are an average team.

Could Shaq get 93-95 Rockets out of the west? Hard to say, but I don't see why he couldn't. I think he would've equally trashed David Robinson, like Dream did...lead Houston past Spurs....while Dream probably would've lead the Magic until finals.

With that being said, you have to even look at the way the players were being guarded...most teams never talk about doubling or tripling teaming Olajuwon, while with Shaq that is almost requirement...esp in his LA days.

I am gonna even point to numbers which say Shaq is slightly better than Dream. esp. in winning pct and scoring....compare the worst seasons of both players and the same ages...most will see that Shaq is slightly better.