or: Requiem For A Dream A Dream Deferred Time to trade Hakeem, or at least find out what we can get for Houston's greatest team athlete. The Rockets need a starting shooting guard, small forward, and center. "MrB, where's your loyalty? What about all he's done for Houston?" The man will make $16,000,000 this year. Thanks! Where was Hakeem's loyalty when he openly wondered about finishing his career in Vancouver? The Rockets can help him with that now. Dickerson? Harrington? Where is his loyalty when he seems to discuss team problems with the Chronicle instead of with his team? What about his ugly-ass building downtown? "What about the city's reaction?" I'm not Les, but if I were, I would 1) wear lifts in my shoes, and 2) say f--- the city, they don't come to our games anyway and we already have a new arena. We can do what makes sense now. It's already working for (Astros owner) Drayton McClane! We all remember the emotional press conference Rudy T had when he decided he couldn't part w/Olajuwon for Tracy McGrady, Kevin Willis, and/or Doug Christie. This made all the basketball sense in the world, but it wouldn't work because Houston had to pass a public vote to get a new stadium. Trading Hakeem would have been a PR nightmare, but I can guarantee that no vote would have passed for an owner that dared to trade the guy who brought us two championships. We traded Cassell anyway, though. Speaking of Cassell, Glenn Robinson? Ricky Davis? Anthony Mason? "How can we get equal value for a $16 million player?" What $16 million dollar player? We don't have any of those. In this sense "equal value" for Olajuwon would be trading for players who can embrace a new role. Francis and Mobley are the franchise for the forseeable future. Chris Webber is not coming here. Chris said himself it would be "fun to watch them mature". Read between the lines. Chris was fun to watch mature, too, but he didn't win anything during the maturation process. Francis is a very talented hothead, and Mobley...well, I gave Mobley a ball to sign once and he still hasn't passed it back. But, hell, who wouldn't be hesitant to pass to Walt or Shandon when you want to win? "Well, I just can't do it. Ewing (oops) Dream is a symbol of the Rockets" Put his picture in a glass case in the new arena. Stand up and applaud when he comes to town with the Nuggets or whoever. Then sit down and watch your team compete for the first time in a while. MrB ------------------
the ewing case made the entire of city of NYC look foolish for being so disrespectful to someone who helped them out for so long. lets hope houston reacts differently.. ------------------ --TEX
And the Knicks really look like a great success story now that Ewing is gone too........... gee I hope the Rockets can achieve those dizzying heights......... ------------------
Y'all just pounced on my weakest point. I guess the Knicks do miss that one point Pat added to their scoring average... MrB ------------------
Please tell me the relevance of this statement? It sounds as if you have a lot of problems with Dream and that's fine. Please stay on point though and keep the comments to basketball. ------------------
One thing is for sure: We need some more MrBastard!!! You are just not Posting up enough.<font color="dedfdf"> [This message has been edited by heypartner (edited December 06, 2000).]
They killed Kenny....... ------------------ There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."
Ok, that was a stretch. It's somewhat relevant, in the context of what he's done for Houston. Nothing personal. I don't have any problems w/Dream, in the same way I didn't have any problems with my Ford Taurus until the costs of ownership exceeded its actual value. MrB ------------------
On a more serious note... If we do a trade with the Grizz, then I'd want to see Othella back here. Big Country would probably come with that - could be worse - and possibly Dickerson, too. If Hakeem's going to leave, then we might as well get Les's money's worth, right? OK, leave out Reeves. (we don't want him anyway) Capologists, how can we make a Hakeem - Harrington/Dickerson/ +++ work? This would only work if Hakeem was reduced in salary, right? ------------------
Mr. b*stard, By the way i love the name, it tells so much about your personality and loyalty. *Rockets Need a Starting Shooting Guard? Last I checked we have two that could start plus a point that could even start at the 2 *Secondly, the Hakeem to Toronto deal would not have landed us Tracy McGrady. We would have recieved Kevin Willis (wow) and draft picks that would have landed us probably Wally Szcerbiak ( Knowing Rudy's affliction with Sharpshooting 3's ) Upgrade? I think not. *The Building is a business decision and has no relevance here. *Like i've stated in earlier posts, Hakeem has the Highest FG%, rebounds per minute, 2nd in steals, and best defensive post presence and in my opinion the most clutch player on the team. Now I'm sure he spoke out in the wrong way, but I think he's frustrated by the lack of plays run for him. He's not selfish while he's in the game either. Yet he is never in the game in the 4th Quarter...... I think it boils down to Rudy wanting to give experience to the young guys and Hakeem wanting to win every game. Hakeem has always been a competetive guy and if he feels he's playing better than others he wants to be out there on the floor. Look at last night 16 minues 4-8 from the field, 10 points, 7 rebounds 2 steals and a block and only one turnover. Yesterday of course he was sick like Mo and KT so its understandable also with Dallas Small ball line-up. Hakeem wants to Win now, not let people that arent as good get experience at the cost of winning! ------------------
You can't reduce Hakeem's salary. I haven't looked at the salaries, but Reeves would likely have to be packaged in any deal. Main thing to remember, any deal will effect Shandon and Mo. Dickerson would definitely make Shandon go bye-bye. MrB..."ford taurus"...fun stuff!!
Everyone who participated in this discussion (posted almost two months ago, mind you) should be finishing off that crow right about now. Delicious, isn't it? Once again the Greatest Rocket In Rocket History runs to the Houston Chronicle with his problems. Where else are the leaks coming from? Is it his brother Afis or Ali or Alec? Who cares. Now he's worthless in a trade and put us in the same impossible position Mr. Pippen put us in a couple of years ago. As we all remember, we ended up trading Pippen for practically no one. We have a disgruntled employee and teams are only going to offer table scraps for a guy we've got to get rid of. The Heat reportedly offered Cedric Ceballos and Dan Majerle. Those guys and 75 cents will get you a Sunday paper. Here is what will happen: Mr. Olajuwon will have this mysterious swollen knee for the remainder of the season. He will be paid for doing little but sulking, just like Matt Maloney and the author of this article. The Rockets will finish just shy of the playoffs and get a courtesy visit from Mr. Webber, who stops in Dallas afterward. He will remain there for good. The Rockets will then settle for Messrs. Taylor and Anderson, continuing to be an underachieving team that is "fun to watch" unless Mr. Francis fractures a wrist slapping a backboard. All while Shaq and Kobe collect rings. MrB ------------------
id like to know how cuban would sign finley and webber and finley isnt leaving..plus why would they need cwebb they have nowitzki..no offense but your logic is faulty..i buy the hakeem thing but imho,cwebb will either stay in sacto or be a rocket next yr..explain ur point of view..the way i see it we have the money..the talent..houston is a bball hotbed..rudyt is a lot better than nelson and is a players coach..our organization is just as good..the bottom line dallas either gets finley or cwebb..and cuban doesnt want to lose finley..they cant afford both ------------------ How Sweet It Is! How Sweet It Is! Gene Peterson on the rockets winning the 1995 championship over the Orlando Magic
also on your statement with resigning mo and shandon wed still be an underachieving team..were not underachieving were extremely young..and i think playing with a dominant pg like steve will entice cwebb will entice him to come but even if he doesnnt mo and shandon arent bad..mo in particular is a lot better than people give him credit for and shandons defense is needed ..also the rockets are still playoff bound this yr and beyond..were on the rise ro greatness not mediocrity.. ------------------ How Sweet It Is! How Sweet It Is! Gene Peterson on the rockets winning the 1995 championship over the Orlando Magic
We don't need a starting shooting guard. Unless I missed some irony somewhere. We need to worry about the frontcourt, right? Shandon likes it here. I think he'll stick around. We might as well see what we can get from Vancouver. Oeilpere said the Grizz turned down an offer or two. It is possible they just want us to sweeten up a deal. But if we have to take on Reeves with Reef, let Big Country be the $10 million player tossed in Miami's direction. Man, this whole thing is just a mess. ------------------
What Article? Who could this be? McLean? oh not. . . IT'S TONY MASSENBERG!! Rocket River ------------------
First of all it would take a minor miracle for Finley to leave Dallas. He loves the Mavs and the Mavs love him. Besides people love playing Mark Cuban and all his little perks. The Mavs could sign Webber putting the Mavs over the cap. Then they could sign Finley (after getting CWebb under contract) to what ever they want since they hold his bird rights. But I don't think CWebb is going to Dallas. I do beleive we have as good a chance as anyone to sign him other than the Kings. ------------------
They can get both my friend. Sign Cwebb first and then resign Finley(bird rights). Lux tax is not a concern to Cuban. As for Dirk he would play small forward. Can you imagine Webber, Finley, and Dirk on the same team? That would be one hell of a team throw in a banger for a center and Nash?! Thats a scary lineup. I will gladly eat crow, but we AINT getting WEBBER! ------------------ "We need to fockass".....Dream back in the day
