I agree with that all of these are what-ifs and there's no way to tell how things might've played out. Jordan having a Dream might not have developed the dominance he later did and Dream having Jordan might not have developed the versatility that made him one of the greatest centers. Drexler having to split time with Jordan might not have been as great either. Just for fun though its interesting to speculate what the starting lineup would've been. My guess is it would've been this. Point Guard - Jon Lucas Shooting Guard - Michael Jordan Small Forward - Clyde Drexler Power Forward - Jim Petersen or more likely someone else who wasn't on the mid 80's Rockets. Center - Akeem Olajuwon Rodney McCray who started for the Rox in the mid-80's at small forward was a pretty good player himself but with Clyde Drexler and Robert Reid I'm guessing he would've been traded for a power forward as Petersen wasn't good enough to start. If McCray wasn't traded having both Jordan and Drexler might also meant that Lewis Lloyd would've been traded for a power forward.
i honestly would rather have had a full career of a healthy sampson and a drug-free lloyd, wiggans, and lucas. that team, without question, would have won multiple championships. that's the punch in the gut right there.
^ I agree. I remember watching Sampson go down in that game against the Celtics and thinking "ohhhh sh^t!" IMO Sampson could've revolutionized the big man's game.
How the present so equals that scenario. A surplus of guards on the team, needing to potentially deal one away for a good power forward (except none now even half as good as those mentioned)
Some really good posts here and I'm grateful. The only thing I haven't seen is more of Dream's perspective from that time. Ralph was a much more accomplished player until the '86 playoffs arrived. And even then you could have traded Ralph for any player in the NBA. Yes, anybody. But Dream insinuates that he knew Sampson would break down (spindley legs?) and he believed that he was the more effective player. And that was in his book when he was being uncharateristically being far less than magnanimous. He was still a cougar, and far less than the lion he'd become, and he had the perfect supporting cast around him. And I'll start an argument here (hey it's off-season ): Sampson was actually faster down the court than Dream was. Dude could run. It's nit-picking because Dream was the quickest big man in NBA history, but Sampson was that special. I don't give a damn about Jordan, Dream got his and Clyde definitely earned his. So the tragedy is Ralph, Lucas, Lloyd and Wiggins didn't. Along with Rodney and Peterson, all of those guys could fly. I have a VHS tape from '85 against the Lakers (in LA) and that crowd was oohing and aahhing so much that you could believe "Showtime" was obselete. Sad, sad, sad.
^ Dream might be looking back with hindsight. Sampson was a phenomal player in college and his first few years as a pro. From what I remember from those days he adn Dream got a long pretty well but Sampson had a reputation for being cold so maybe there was some behind the scenes tensions between the two.
now that would have been absurd, but we can never say that each player would have developed as they did. It would have been nice though.
The Pacers are the luckiest team in this scenario. If Portland had drafted Jordan, that Tom Owens deal would be remembered as the worst in NBA history.
well we still got 2 championships and we did get clyde, so all was not lost...look at the bright side guys....
I still would have preferred keeping the bird-in-the-hand reality of that 1986 team together without the injury and drugs implosion. That was a dynasty team that already existed, but never was...
I'm from 85 and this is the first time i hear this. of course i wasnt a die-hard rockets fan until 99, yes i missed the championsip years. but at least you know i wasnt a bandwagon fan.
Not me. 84 has to be the best draft ever: Dream MJ Perkins Barkley Alvin Robertson OT Kevin Willis Michael Cage John Stockton Vern Fleming Jerome Kersey (2nd round) Jim Peterson (3rd round) Yommy Basket (3rd Round) That's 4 HOFers at 4 different positions and 3 of those 4 are in the argument as best ever at their position. Meanwhile, Robertson, OT, and Willis made the All-Star team at least once. Heck, even Bowie was an 11/7.5 guy over 10 seasons while Tony Campbell and Jay Humphries were 11 ppg guys.
This is just crazy. Playing with better teammates only makes you a better player and makes the game so much easier. Jordan driving the lane with a Center like Olajuwon/Shaq/Duncan to dish to sees a lot less congested lanes than Jordan driving with a lowpost option like Perdue/Wennington/etc. Olajuwon is harder to triple team without the ball like the Sonics in the mid 90's when there's a guy like MJ who'll make you pay for that. Hakeem and MJ are probably the 2 best defenders of all time at their positions too. That team would be able to shut down your best lowpost and wing option. Any team with Hakeem and MJ would basically win the title every year in the 90's and maybe late 80's as well.
Hakeem, Jordan, and Drexler are all first ballot HOFers. While scoring stats might have taken a hit, there is no doubt they would still be all-time greats no matter who their teammates were. The Pistons probably wouldn't have won any champioinships if this happened. Celtics probably still would have won in 86 (?) and the Lakers would probably still have been the team to beat in the West through 1987. Rockets would have then won the next 11 up until 1998.
