Dear Hakeem: Do you have another motive? Is it just me or does anyone else think that the hold back by Hakeem may be tied to him NOT wanting Webber (or any other highly talented and touted player) here in Houston. This business of holding back negotiations a while, hiring an agent and ignoring management's requests for talks just may have a little secondary gain attached to it. Waht do you think? I have nothing but my own gut feeling that you (Hakeem) do not want "another superstar" in your midst as you tour the country in (yet another) "final" career year. Maybe you just don't want to share the limelight. Who knows..... you are as prideful as any other athlete out there .... maybe moreso than most .... Is this just Business versus Business? If it's Business versus Business, Rockets Management versus Hakeem's Management then let's stop all this pandering and comforting words about Hakeem and his legend. It makes me sick. I know everyone wants what is best for themselves, especially when it comes to bargaining for your occupational worth. I may even understand placing a little higher value on your self when asked about the initial "ballpark figure" for salary negotiations. Sort of raising the bar a bit so that you have some negotiating room. But for the life of me why would you: 1. hire an agent for the first time in your 16 year career(actually the second one, but the first was brief and well over a decade ago). 2. make yourself scarce by leaving the country when critical decisions and key time dates were approaching. 3. place a dollar value and contract length on yourself that is all but impossible to accomadate by your employer. Even if les agreed to pay such a sum, it would would bankrupt the rest of the talent pool We could not sign a lot of our guys. 4. endangering the success of your team and your teamates by being non-committal to any arbitration or negotiation, knowing full well that any delay actually hurts the team as a whole. (And, doing so when other less "Houston Rockets entrenched" (and therefore perceived as less committed and supposedly less revered) teammates go out of their way to be obliging to the team.) Well, what if we drop you? What then? If you (Hakeem) were dropped as an option. We go somewhere else. That is you are renounced and let go without compensation. Not the move of renouncing only to quickly announce a new and mutally beneficial contract. No you are dropped. Dumped. Bye-bye. Sayonara. Adios. Well, I predict that you would be the first one in front of the cameras declaring your complete innocence of cohersion or manipulation. The first to decalre that you "want what is best for the team" and you were "willing to work out a solution" and that the Rockets and the Rocket fans "know my feelings". Yeah right!!!!!!!!! Hakeem, I know you. I know you well. I have watched you since Cougar days. I know what you will do. He will be the first to shake his head and say, he was "shocked" to hear the Rockets did not want to sign him. That he was "hurt" when allegations arose over his demands. I fully expect him to deflect a little blame to his agent like "that was my agent's responsibility", he will ask "why didn't the Rocket's contact me", etc, etc, ad naseum."This is where I wanted to end my career." Yeah right! Personally, old pal .... Do not, ever, ask me to believe that we must rever and praise someone when clearly the lines have been drawn. If the argument is that you have a right, maybe even a duty, to get as much as you can out of the Rockets because this is a business afterall .... well, I can live with that. Then the other side of the coin must be accepted as this: We don't owe you a damn thing. You were paid well for your services. If you want this to be business versus business then listen well. This city loved you and praised you. You got everything you wished for. You got the keys to the city's heart. Moves were made top accomadate you on multiple occasions. You were a great athlete. A superstar. But business being business ..... go somewhere and find another city that will put up with your bulls**t business demands. And, oh yeah grow up. Get a life. You are an aging, center that cannot get into more than 25 consecutive games a season, and haven't played more than 70% of the games in the last several seasons. You aren't worth all that money. Period. $20 Million over Two Years. What the hell have you been smokin' over in Jordan, brother. Sorry, Mr.Businessman H.O. Houston has a team to build. A team to cheer. I have more respect for all the other Rockets who certainly don't get all the praise and headlines you have. The same guys who sat around wondering when their wishes would be realized. The same guys who were asked to wait for you to make up your mind about what team you want to support this year. These are the same guys who are usually not worthy of the praise or mention by the fickle media and fan. And, let's not mention all the money that would be taken out of their pockets if you were signed for that outrageous amount. Hakeem it was sweet. But the key word is "was". Go see someone like Jerry Krause. You'll love his business attitude. It's just like yours. I got no hard feelings. Nothing personal. It's just business. ------------------
oeilpere, I have a couple questions OK. But I'll let other's ask their really long ones first. besides, I wanted to beat Lynus302 to the punch as first responder to a oeilpere thread.
Hakeem not wanting to share the limelight? I think he shares it enough with Mobes and Steve. Now he will have to share it with Griffin. I hardly doubt this delay is caused by Hakeem not wanting to share the spotlight. I am not saying that Hakeem is not at all to blame. He should be over here in US trying to work out his negotiations. ------------------
He's been home for several days. Just "not available". Okay call it "any more limelight" than he already has competition for. Kinda like Joan Crawford despising betty Davis. ------------------
Great post popeye. I agree with every word you said. I'm getting really sick of some people talking about all that the Rockets "owe to Hakeem" without any mention that loyalty is a two-way street. I think the Rockets should give him one final offer, take it or leave it: one year, 6 million. If he doesn't like it... he should try his luck with the Bulls. Or hop on Shaq's back for one final championship and get paid less. Whatever. Just stop wasting Houston's time. What I find really amusing: ESPN.com ran an article today about how DRobb is being disingenuous at demanding more than 7.5 million. Sorry, but DRobb's 15 and 10 is OODLES better than Hakeem's 12 and 7... and someone is bothered by him finding 7.5 offensive. Ha. ------------------ Clutchcity.net... source for all your Rockets, Astros, political, music, humor, and Gordita news.
You know, I think oeilpere might be right for saying all this. Damn, it seems Dream might be going out the wrong way. Why would you put yourself in the salary bracket that you know the Rockets can't pay? Why not come back for less just because the last two years or so, you have been overpaid? ------------------ Eddie...at the buzzer...YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!!...OH MOTHER!!!! ---2002 NBA Western Conference Finals vs LA Lakers
Oeilpere: Have RT/CD tried physically going to Hakeem's house and having a face to face meeting? Or have they only tried to call him? If Hakeem is turning us away at his doorstep, I say we put pressure on him by getting into talks with our other free agents. Also, what are the ramifications of the Rockets putting a deadline on Hakeem to get him to talk? Saying something like, "We require a contract to be completed by July 17th or else we will renounce Hakeem and start signing other players." ------------------ It's Clutch's City and we're all just living in it...
I'm pretty much in agreement with the letter. It appears that Hakeem is forcing the Rockets' hands. He doesn't want to appear to be the bad guy so he wants the blame to fall on the Rockets, who RENOUNCED HIM (it even sounds bad). Remember this season when Dream was b****ing about playing time and he wanted a trade, and then he was introduced in Houston, and we booed the hell out of him? Hell, he deserved it. I recall people saying "Hey, this is HAKEEM, you cant boo DREAM". People forget what a dick he could be if he wanted to. Does anyone remember Hakeem before his conversion? Remember when he was almost traded outta here? Hakeem has been a great player, and a hero to many a Houstonian, but lets face it, sometimes he has acted like a spoiled little brat. We all thought he matured due to his religious awakening in the early 90s. Perhaps he did. But his spoiled brat attitude may be returning. But this time, he has the veteran experience, the savvy, to play the game outside of the game and get the fans to say "Man, Les Alexander really screwed Hakeem. YOU CANT RENOUNCE A LEGEND". He still hears the cheers that we gave him every time he touched the ball vs. the T-Wolves...but he also hears the boos we gave him after he whined and b****ed and courted a trade to the Heat. He may be playing it so he can be the victim. Too bad, every day this scenario sours my opinion of him. I hope I'm wrong. Maybe its Feagan's influence. Maybe its just the real Hakeem. Either way, it sucks. ------------------
] Hakeem is not in the country, without no email or notification that he'd be gone. Rudy thought he was at home on July 1st.
I don't recall hearing Dream booed in any game. Maybe it was just the 10 or 20 of you from this website. The rest of the Houston fans seem to think highly of Hakeem. Oh, and he had a right to b**** and whine about playing time. Rudy was treating the Dream like a d***. When he got the minutes, he produced, and the Rockets won games! ------------------ Protrolls.com! "I want to be like Olajon." -Sagana Diop has the right idea... Keep the ???? alive! [This message has been edited by ZRB (edited July 10, 2001).]
Personally I think Dream wants to go somewhere else where he can content for a title next year (something we are not able to do). His problem is he doesn't want to be the bad guy and say it's over, instead he makes too high of demand and is waiting for the Rockets to look like the "bad guys". I think just like a good relationship gone bad, that noone (Dream and the organization) wants to hurt each other and aren't exactly sure what to do next. In the end they may end up screwing each other over (Houston waits too long to sign any top FAs and settles for other FAs and all the contendors will use there cap room on others as well) leaving Houston without the players they really needed (C-Web, David, A. David or Dream) and Dream playing for the 4.5 mil exception on an average team (Washington w/ MJ).
Doubt it, since he said recently that the thought of playing with Jordan was intriguing. Not to mention he did fine playing with Drexler, Barkley, and Pippen. Wasn't Leonard Armato Hakeem's agent? I remember he used to have the same agent as Shaq, and Shaq hasn't been in the league for a decade. I believe Hakeem leaves the country every year in the off-season. This is nothing new. So don't pay it. How hard is that? Sounds a little too dramatic to me. So you think the Rockets are worried about Mo, Moochie, and Shandon bolting somewhere else while Hakeem is out of the country? It is financially impossible for the Rockets to repay Hakeem for all he has done for them and the city. Paul Allen and Mark Cuban combined don't even have that kind of money. No amount of salary would ever accomplish this. So let's stop talking about how Hakeem has been overpaid, and loyalty is a two-way street, yadda, yadda, yadda. Again, waaaay too dramatic. This is the off-season. Hakeem is a free agent. He and the Rockets are negotiating. No one can sign anyone until the 18th. This isn't Hoosiers or Remember the Titans.
Well done TheFreak, and I had just wrote something to annoy you for not annoying oeilpere. But, do you have a point! looks like yadda, yadda, yadda deconstruction logic to me. My 2 cents conspiracy theory My read on all this is that Dream is helping us sucker Mo' into a Middle Class. "Please Mo', we need to get a center for you. Dream is being such a business man. Please sign the Middle Class, then we'll give Dream $12m for 1 yr and try again for new center next summer. We'll max you out when you get Full Bird, promise we will." GO HAKEEEM!! We can use this to bluff Mo' !!! [This message has been edited by crispee (edited July 10, 2001).]
Hakeem rescheduled his annual trip so that it would hinder the Rockets offseason plans ie:resigning the other free agents on the team, and going after a center who can play consistently and not run out of gas after 25 games. ------------------ Is it Rachmaninov or Rachmaninoff?
For the record: Hakeem is in Houston. has been back for several days. Rt did in fact call him at one minute after midnight on July first and was told he was out of the country. he was in the Middle east(actually Jordan at the time) on the tail end of a pilgrimage that he takes every year. My point was, why did RT and the organization have to find out from his housestaff and his brother? Who is playing games here. Beatification of an athlete is one of themost degrading and deplorable things we as humans can do. Sainthood should be earned by something other than peforming an athletic drill. Being able to place a round ball in a round hoop suspended above the floor is a skill and to some (with Hakeem being amoung that very few) practiced to an artform. But give me a frigging break. Hakeem has earned accolades throughout his career. He also earned angry disapproval on more than one occasion. Stop attempting to cloud the argument for one with the other. They are not mutually exclusive. Hakeem is a man. My tirade at him in the letter above is aimed at his poor decision making. He has placed his business wishes in front of us and you have countered with an emotional plea to raise him to athletic sainthood in reply. He's was a great athlete, but his business wants him to be paid as if he still is a great athlete. He is not. But then neither is Bob Cousy or Magic Johnson. Neither is Charles Barkley or Rudy Tomjanovich. We would no longer pay Rudy or Bob or Charles 10 million dollars a year then why should we pay Hakeem? ------------------
I think that note bears repeating. ------------------ How the hell should I know why God would allow the Holocaust. I don't even know how the electric can opener works. - from Hannah and Her Sisters
I know there are Dream fans that feel the guy can do no wrong, I understand that. But the guy has been acting weird for months and people are just blowing it off. He asks for a bigger role PUBLICLY, and it is OK'ed. Nevermind the fact that any other player who did that would be blasted. That was clue number 1 that something was up with Olajuwon. Then he asks to be traded or waived, in the middle of the season. Nevermind that a team player would play out the rest of his huge contract for the year and become a free agent and go else where. Then he rips Rudy indirectly saying that Pat Riley is a "big man" coach, even though Riley never won a championship with Ewing or Zo, and Rudy won 2 rings with Dream. I guess you can count Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, but that was more of Magic's team then anything. Then Dream "suddenly" starts playing well when he couldn't get traded or waived. Playing for a contract are we? Now the guy can't be contacted, even though it's strange that Dream was contacted a few years ago when the Dream to Toronto deal was alive. It's strange that he popped up when the rumored extension didn't occur. Now I'm not calling Dream a bad guy, but I'm calling a spade a spade. The guy is making it hard for the Rockets to re-sign him. Why, I haven't a clue. But it is obvious that something is up! ------------------ "Instruments are like women: After a while, you want to make love to another." - Nicolas Godin of the musical duo Air [This message has been edited by RocksMillenium (edited July 10, 2001).]
Following the un-successful third run for a title, despite (or more accurately, because of) the arrival of Barkley, some questioned Olajuwon's motivation, or lack thereof. In that instance, it was about how history would remember the careers of two players: Olajuwon and Barkley. University (Are you paying attention?) Blue ------------------
Freaky: " ... It is financially impossible for the Rockets to repay Hakeem for all he has done for them and the city. Paul Allen and Mark Cuban combined don't even have that kind of money. No amount of salary would ever accomplish this. ..." You didn't actually write this after calling my post ["dramatic" did you? ------------------
Actually that's not true. The Rockets didn't win a championship in 1996 because they had a PG but didn't have a PF. then in 1997 they didn't win a championship because they finally had a PF but didn't have a PG because of tough luck (Brent Price's injury, Derek Harper being impatient and signing with Dallas, Barkley's attempting wooing of Gary Payton collapsing at the last second due to Seattle's monster offer), so anything could have happened. ------------------ "Instruments are like women: After a while, you want to make love to another." - Nicolas Godin of the musical duo Air
