You are having a good year, but we did you a favor by letting you hang around. Should have traded your ass last year when you sucked balls and someone was willing to give up some decent stuff. Now, we could probably get even more for you since you are playing pretty good. You used to be the team, now you are just part of the team. Not happy with 26 minutes? You'll be even less happy when our other two centers both get off the injured list. You used to be worth 14 million, you aren't anymore. You time has come...and gone. I was fired up this year because like I said you have exceeded all my expectations (they were extremely low) this year. This team has a future in the NBA, you do not. Either suck it up or demand a trade. I can't wait to hear all the "we owe Hakeem this and that" posters. Get of his tip.
Freak is a great name for you.... Hakeem has the highest field goal percentage on the Rockets, hit many clutch shots THIS YEAR!!!! And is still the best Offensive Post option, Best Rebounder and Best Post Defender THIS YEAR !! In the Portland Game, he shot 4-6 and had 3 rebounds and only one turnover in 20 minutes, while getting double teamed and even triple teamed on the post! He is doing the Rockets a favor by not demanding the ball every play. Now with those stats and his clutch ability should he have sat out the entire FOURTH QUARTER Hell No!!! I'd be Pissed too, the most clutch guy on our team. Out the Whole Fourth Quarter. ONCE AGAIN...our best rebounder, highest fg% shooter and recieving double teams and the only one that made Damon Stoudamire Change his shots during the game, SITTING OUT THE ENTIRE Fourth Quarter. Now Freak, i'm sure you'd rather see our fun and exciting Two Shakes Isolation Play with guys with horrendous fg%, but I want to win and win now! Hakeem Realizes that and he wants to win and win now too. He shouldn't have to lose this year so others can get experience. Thats bull%&it! Freak you suck....you want exciting....go watch the Clippers..they run and they're young! I'm not a we owe Hakeem anything, he merits more time by his CURRENT playing.... ------------------
You know everyone's right when they state that Hakeem deserves more than asking him to suck our balls, but he should be professional enough to keep something like this in-house. The team as a whole is playing a little better than expected, something like this could just make it worse. I say start looking for a trade. ------------------ "He was under more balls than a midget hooker."-Bobby Hill visit www.swirve.com and, http://www.geocities.com/clutch34_2000 for great Rocket insight by some of your fellow BBS posters!
There isn't going to be a trade. What are the Rockets supposed to do -- "sorry Shandon, we promised you a nice contract in exchange for playing for peanuts, but we decided to trade Hakeem instead". Not only would you be trading Olajuwon (one suicidal PR move), but you'd be going back on your word with Anderson and sending a signal to future possible free agents (another suicidal PR move). Not to mention I don't remember everyone asking the Rockets to look for a trade every time Barkley said something stupid to the media. He would've been on the block every week.
How does trading Hakeem affect Shandon Anderson in any way? As far as I know, the Rockets can resign Shandon with or without Hakeem there via his Bird Rights, which is why he has been taking these menial contracts over the past couple years. Please explain. Maybe I don't understand. I'm not so sure how much weight we should put into PR also. Players do realize this is a business. And anyways if Hakeem were to ask for a trade where he could showcase these skills that he believes he still has, wouldn't the Rockets look bad not to oblige him? The Rockets are not going to a post-up oriented offense. And for the most part, any post ups that do happen should be done by Mo Taylor since we signed him to provide that dimension to the offense anyways. Hakeem will not get as many touches as he would like since he would have to share the majority of the touches with Francis, Mobley, and Taylor (our supposed BIG three). ------------------ Little O
One thing about the Shandon deal, he was paid peanuts to come here and perform, to show what he was capable of. He hasn't done that and will not get the big contract he's looking for. He hasn't lived up to his end of the bargain, so why should we? This has nothing to do with PR. Oh, and I highly doubt that Hakeem is worried much about Cato or Collier coming back from the IR. If anything Hakeem and Cato will be our twin towers as they were before Cato went down. Look for Mo' to be put back on the bench. Anyway, Hakeem has a legitimate point. Our entire offense can not be geared specifically around our guard play if we seriously want to compete for a playoff spot. We have no inside presense at the moment. Give him the ball and let him work. Whether he scores 20 ppg or not is irrelevant. He can make alot of things happen for the other guys on the floor and he knows it. My money is on Hakeem to make this team better by opening up the lanes for our guards if he gets the ball more. The man knows what he is talking about. ------------------ Five to one baby, one and five...no one here gets, out alive.
We don't have Shandon's Bird rights yet. He has to be signed with us for one more season before that kicks in. As for Rocket Freak, he is obviously going overboard. I agree the man is due respect. No question. But RM95 is also correct in stating that Dream knows better than to take this out of the office so to speak. That shows a lack of respect for his teammates, coaches and the organization that gave him everything he ever wanted including two rings and a ton of $$$. ------------------ Mmmmmmm. Sacrelicious.
You know, you're right on the Anderson thing. They should be able to sign him to whatever they want regardless of cap space at the end of next year. My mistake. There still will not be a trade of Hakeem, however, if the Rockets have any interest in making Taylor or any other free agent an offer next year. Not to mention Hakeem will probably get hurt between now and the end of the season and change his mind again. If he wants to play again, the Rockets will probably just renounce him, I would imagine.
I like Cat and Francis but we won't win consistently until one of our "go to" guys shoots close to 50 percent. There is no one on our team that can do that except Dream so that is why he deserves his touches. I think he deserves to take 10-15 shots a game. He was in the top 10 in FG% for most of this season. If you look at all the teams that have made it to the finals in the last 20 years they all had this type of player. Lakers (Kareem, Worthy, Magic) Celtics (Bird, McHale, Parish) Sixers (Moses) Portland (Clyde, Robinson) Pistons(Thomas, Lambeer) Bulls (Jordan) Lakers (Shaq) Spurs (Duncan, Robinson) Suns (Barkley) Sonics (Kemp) Knicks (Ewing) Jazz (Malone, Stockton) All these teams had their main offensive threats shoot close to 50 percent or more. Francis and Cat aren't close to that so that is why we are inconsistent. We can't depend on our perimeter guys to win games consistently because they are inconsistent. Look at the Lakers, they were better last year even though Kobe is better this year. That is because Shaq makes more than half of his shots except from the free throw line and he isn't getting his touches. The Lakers aren't even the best in the West right now. That title belongs to the Kings who have Webber. Scorers don't win titles, FG% and defense does and Hakeem has the highest FG% and plays the best defense on our team which deserves our respect. ------------------
Pimp, it is Anderson's option. Hydra, didn't Washington's #1 pick last year go to someone else? If so, they have to keep their pick this year. They might have other #1s they could give us -- another team's pick or their own for '02 or beyond. ------------------ RealGM Rockets Draft Obligations Summary http://www.gaffordstudios.cjb.net/
Jeff, Hakeem didn't get paid as much as many players that weren't as good as him so there were lots of other teams who definately would have given im the money. The Rockets didn't give Hakeem 2 championship rings, in fact it was Hakeem ho made the Rockets champions, without Hakeem you and I both know there would be no rings for anybody in Houston, they probably would have never even made it to the playoffs. ------------------
That's nice. Let's just run Hakeem out of town because he wants to be more involved and vented his frustration in public. Whether we like it or not, Dream has the best FG% of the top 10 guys on the team and leads the team in rebounding while getting fewer minutes than 5 other players. He's also the leading shot blocker and 2nd in steals (1.35) only to Steve (1.82) who plays 12 more minutes a night. If anyone on the team has a right to complain about how they're being used it's Dream who has the stats to back it up. And it's only going to get worse, with Cato scheduled to come back on the 16th against Denver and Collier after that. Maybe that's why Dream is speaking up now. Guys like Taylor and Anderson might be thinking the same thing as Olajuwan, but only Dream has a legitimate complaint. Who knows if Dream had already discussed this with Rudy and CD with no results? Maybe he felt the court of public opinion was his only recourse. I only fault him for saying at the beginning of the season that Rudy could use him however he wanted this season and then to complain about it when he does. ------------------
It's a shame but it's painfully obvious, you're just a fan and not a student of the game. If I'm wrong, please prove it by saying something a bit more profound than what you said in your post. I don't mean to offend you but to be honest your post was. Maybe that was the point. ------------------
Rockbox, you hit it right on the head, and thanks for the reference to the players of teams over the past 20 seasons. Just take a look at the position a majority of the players played. Inside players or players who had what they call a GOTO shot. Dream has several. ------------------
The fact is that Olajuwon's salary was comenserate with other salaries when he signed it. Before the end of that contract (which included the championship years), players like Garnett and Howard were getting $100 million. It wasn't the Rockets fault that Olajuwon's contract wasn't up yet. When it did come up, they paid him handsomely. The Rockets gave as much as Hakeem did in the championship years. They made the right personell decisions. They coached well. There were other players actually playing on the floor. Yes, Olajuwon was thier best player and a huge reason why they won. But, he needed help from the organization and his teammates to make it happen. ------------------ Mmmmmmm. Sacrelicious.
This thread "sucks balls". It doesn't deserve the time that I've given to reading it. The $14 mil is back pay. Give me a break - Dream earned his salary this year, years ago. He deserves it. Next year we get something back: cap room, and the opportunity to pursue a free agent (and the opportunity to sign our own free agents, Shandon and Mo, who might never have come here if this cap space wasn't going to open up). Dream's true market value (if healthy) is probably $6 to $7 mil: I know a team like Phoenix or Miami (if Zo doesn't come back healthy) would pay that much next season for his services, if they could afford it. Nothing we could (realistically) trade Hakeem for would be as valuable as the cap space we'll have this offseason and the PR boost in not trading him away. ------------------ I don't want to achieve immortality through my work... I want to achieve immortality by not dying. - Woody Allen
I know this is a controversial idea, but how about trading Hakeem for Juwan Howard and a first round pick (and possibly a second round pick). This would give us players under long term contracts at four positions. We then draft a SF next year. Howard is much maligned but he can rebound a lot better than Mo' Money. He is averaging 15 ppg and 8 rpg. The Wiz should have a good pick and we could even try to trade up with all of the picks we are due. We sign Shandon after next season using his bird rights and we are good to go. ------------------ Don't come in Bullard's house!
