Cavs' Lucas shows interest in Olajuwon By BRIAN McTAGGART Copyright 2001 Houston Chronicle Add the Cleveland Cavaliers to the growing list of teams interested in the services of Hakeem Olajuwon. Cavaliers head coach and former Rockets player John Lucas has expressed an interest in signing the free-agent center, telling the Cleveland Plain-Dealer he'd like to add the 12-time All-Star to his roster. But other than the fact Lucas is a former teammate of Olajuwon, Cleveland seems to be a less-than-perfect fit for the future Hall of Famer. The Cavaliers are in the midst of major rebuilding and have just $2 million of wiggle room under the salary cap. What makes Olajuwon's wearing a Cavaliers uniform even more of a long shot is that Cleveland is already stocked at center with first-round draft picks Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Chris Mihm, DeSange Diop and Michael Doleac, who was traded from Orlando on draft day this year. "I have interest because he could come here and help our young guys," Lucas told the Plain-Dealer. "He'd be a valuable piece to our team if we could get that done." Lucas played with the Rockets from 1984-86 during Olajuwon's first two seasons in the NBA and was named the Cavaliers' coach in June. Lucas couldn't be reached for comment Monday, and Dan Fegan, Olajuwon's agent, did not return phone calls. The Cavaliers join the Indiana Pacers, Toronto Raptors, Utah Jazz, Miami Heat and New York Knicks as suitors competing with the Rockets for Olajuwon. Representatives from the Knicks will be in town today to meet with Olajuwon, who has already had meetings with officials from the Pacers and Raptors. Toronto has reportedly offered Olajuwon a two-year deal worth $9 million. The Knicks, who used their mid-level cap exception on former Cavaliers forward Clarence Weatherspoon, would need to work a sign-and-trade deal with the Rockets if they want to acquire Olajuwon. But they seem to have little to offer the Rockets in return. Rockets general manager Carroll Dawson reiterated Monday that re-signing Olajuwon, one of the club's five free agents, remains the team's No. 1 priority. "The only thing we've been trying to do is get the Dream thing solved, and nothing can happen until then," Dawson said. "I've been spending most of my time trying to find more money; that would be (priority) No. 1. "There's a lot of people coming in visiting him that need our help to get him, and I've been talking to them. But I keep telling them our first order of business is to sign him ourselves, and we'll talk to them later if that doesn't work out." That quote seems to scream out that the Rockets need to try and fit things under the cap. Uh, please Mr. Krause, I'm sorry I called you fat. We want to help you. Kelvin Cato fits well into your offensive scheme ------------------ "I always thought Hakeem was the better offensive player and DRob the better defender." Spurever Shaq would probably agree.
That statement about getting more money might just be more PR crap letting fans know the Rockets Org. tried to bring Dream back. At this point, I am not sure what to believe of what I hear, so I am just going to wait and see what happens. ------------------ Life is a **** sandwich. The more bread you have, the less **** you have to take. You can Run from the bet, you can Rave at the bet...but you just can't hide.
I don't care who's in the right or wrong... Dream needs to make a decision one way or the other... Is he waiting til Sept. when MJ announces one way or the other Here's what it comes down to: Houston renounces his rights and they are the bad guys Dream signs outright with another team and he's the bad guy Houston sign and trades him to another team, Rockets the bad guys Dream resigns with Houston for 10mil, Dream the bad guy Dream signs for less, hmmmm........Houston Rockets and Dream are the good guys.... Good guys finish last.... so I don't expect either Houston or Dream will be good guys...... I expect us to lose Dream.... No way I give Dream 10 mil... ------------------
