Even when the "team" makes stupid decisions? I think a fan should be able to disagree with the players on their favorite team, as well as the way an organization runs their favorite team (type of offense, type of defense, personnel decisions, etc). Also, there are players on my favorite team (The Rockets) that I don't like: Kelvin Cato, Walt Williams, Kenny Thomas. I thought we should've gone after someone other than Pippen. Guess what? I was right. I thought the Matt Maloney contract was a stupid idea. Guess what? I was right. I thought the Kelvin Cato contract was a stupid idea. Guess what? I was right. I think the Moochie Norris contract is a mistake, and we'll just have to wait and see on that one. This doesn't mean I'm always right. But, I think the Rocket's organization has overall dealt with Hakeem Olajuwon improperly. I am supremely disappointed that the Dream will not be playing for Houston next year. But, I am happy that he will be playing in the NBA. I am a Rocket fan.... I guess I have come to realize that I am not the world's biggest Rocket fan, as I had thought for so many years. I have come to realize that I am the world's biggest Olajuwon fan, though. This doesn't mean I'm no longer a Rocket fan..... It just means my favorite player no longer plays for my favorite team.
Dream will average at least 10 and 8 this year and ya'll say he is not worth the money he got. However Dream makes less than Cato and we would be estatic if Cato averaged that this season. Also Dream does alot of intangibles does Cato and Marc Jackson don't do. Like change shots, and draw a double team, steals, and intimidation. Look again at the box score, he also blocked 2 shots. I wish Dream would have stayed for the money the rockets offer him but he will always be the houston rocket in my eyes. I do not blame him for going to a playoff team that wanted him and was going to pay him more money. If one of my employees did that, I would wish him the best of luck. I am both a rockets and a Dream fan and Dream was one of the reasons I love the rockets so much.
I couldn't have said it any better. That is exactly the way I feel. I will fight you for that "World's biggest Olajuwon Fan" title, however.
DREAMer, I did say that was in my opinion. I am sick and tired of hearing how the Rockets screwed Olajuwon when he knew all along he wasn't coming back. He was the reason why I started following the Rockets. If people still want to root for him and the Raptors because of who he is, then that is their right. I just have always felt that you have one team and that other teams are the "enemy or opposition". Other people, of course, see things differently from me. A perfect example is the Tennessee Titans. Living in Tennessee all my life, I never started liking the Titans because they were "Tennessee's team" because I already had a favorite team in the Broncos that I had liked since '83. However, I know a lot of people who say that they have 2 favorite NFL teams: the Titans and (fill in the blank). To each his own---I just don't see it like that. My post was really in response to BTM and not to people who have consistently provided strong arguments for Hakeem (I don't think that ZRB has really made strong cases for him). Let's just say that both sides were responsible and end all of the he said, they said crap and move on with our lives. However, I'm not gonna sit there and listen to crap like it's all the Rockets fault in him leaving when he contributed as much or more than CD and Rudy.
Olajuwan signed for just under 5 mil/year. You gonna tell me the Rockets didn't have that money for him? How they can say that and then go out and give Moochie practically that shows how stupid they are. No other team in the league would give Moochie anywhere near that. Teams around the league would kill to give Hakeem 5 million a year in a time when Calvin Booth and Todd McCulluch are making that and more! Real fans also don't blindly follow a team when they do stupid things. Real fans are man enough to say to their team: YOU SCREWED UP. I'd rather see them keep Hakeem until the end and say goodbye to overpaid Moochie. But instead we got him and soon-to-be Ike Austin Jr. Marc Jackson. YAY.
The money wasn't the issue...it was the length of the contract. He hasn't played anything near a full season in years...why would you pay him 5 mil for 3-4 more years? Look, I don't blame the Rockets or Dream. It was a business deal where the two sides had differing agendas. Therefore, had the Rockets paid him, it probably wouldn't have worked out anyway. "Things always work out for the best." Dream gets his money, in the country where he wanted to play, in a system that will allow him to perform at a higher level. Houston free's up the Dream legacy to allow future stars to step into their new role of team leaders. People, get over it. I wish Dream the best. -krosfyah
Question for BTM: If the Rockets had re-signed Olajuwon, which was highly doubtful because he had made his mind up that he wasn't coming back, for the amount of money and years he wanted, do you think that the Rockets would be a playoff team? I'll leave it as that. One simple question...can't wait for an answer if there's going to be one.
That is all I really want. I know that people aren't going to change their attitudes about how this went down during the summer, but I am sick and tired of people wishing Hakeem the worst of luck, and completely "forgetting" what he did for the franchise.
I have to sit with Manny on this one. I do like and respect Hakeem and I wish him the best, I really do. I won't say that I respect him as much as I used to, but I will say I love the man for what he did for the franchise. He was a sports figure in Houston ever since I was in grade school and I won't forget that. I think a pretty significant group of us agree that Hakeem is no angel and that he did some pretty selfish and underhanded things in the last few seasons as far as his dealings with the Rockets that really did leave a bad taste in people's mouths. (he also has done some rather lousy things earlier in his career too) It was obvious that the marriage wasn't going to go on...and I, for one, felt that it would have been the best if Hakeem had gracefully retired like he had told us he would originally. The Rockets organization always planned for Hakeem to retire, and when he didn't that threw a wrench in the works. At that point, Hakeem was not going to be a key part of our future and the Rockets were certainly not going to be a key part of his. We didn't lose him this summer. He was already lost...and we would have lost more if we tried to hold on to him. I am not wishing Hakeem ill will or anything of the sort, but I believe that many of us by mid-season will be thanking our lucky stars that we didn't blow a 5 million dollar a year multiyear contract on an aging, 39 year old, injury-prone, inconsistent legend on the far downslide end of a spectacular career. Hakeem has not just lost a step...he's lost alot of steps. If he proves me wrong, great....but I'm betting that he's not going to make a whole lot of impact. At the very best, he might be a half-decent replacement for the recently departed Charles Oakley (if he can remember what it's like to be healthy). That's my take.
I think our team will be entertaining enough this year that hopefully we won't be seeing too many more Hakeem threads in the Rockets forum. I wish the best of luck to him in Toronto, I would have liked to see him in Houston this year, but not at the cost of being tied up for 3 years. Though I think the trade with Toronto really sucked, and we should have gotten a lot more out of it, but oh well. If we would have done the trade they offered a year or two ago, people would have been going crazy around here. B
