If you could redraft, would you take Michael Jordan over Hakeem?

hell yeaaa

 

I'd have taken Sam Bowie.

 

MJ in a nanosecond 100 times out of 100. You're talking about the greatest player who ever played the game.

 

Hakeem revolutionized the Center position and probably the PF position as well.

The leadership of MJ is second to none and he had that VY knack of winning. Few players have that. You dont know how they do it, but they just find a way to win and thats what makes them more special than individual skills.

 

Exactly.

The extent to which Pippen, Rodman, and Grant's contributions are minimized is just flat-out dumb. And let's not forget Kukoc, one of the most diverse 6th-men ever, and Ron Harper, who was a 20-a-game scorer before he came to the Bulls.

First off, Grant WAS a "legit big man who can score." Second, Rodman was one of the best rebounders ever. EVER. Not to mention a great defender. And they had Kukoc's scoring coming off the bench when they had Rodman. Third, Jordan DID come out of retirement in 1995. Then the Bulls got thrashed in the playoffs because they had neither Grant nor Rodman. The Bulls could never have won ANYTHING without one of those two, period. And don't give me the BS "Jordan was rusty" argument. The Bulls were nothing but an also-ran without an all-star level power forward. They never proved otherwise.

Fourth, what's this stuff about Jordan being the only perimeter player ever to win "without a legit big man that can score"? So I guess when Rick Barry won the title practically by himself in 1975, you argue that Clifford Ray's 9.4 points (their highest-scoring big man) was the difference? Great. Only problem is, Longley was averaging 11.4 in 1998. Dear god man, learn about basketball before 1980 before you make sweeping statements like that.

Might the Bulls have gone farther in 1995 if you had replaced Jordan with Hakeem? I'm thinkin' yeah. Hakeem all the way.

 

Hakeem. The worst thing I can imagine is Hakeem leading the Bulls to 10 or more championships while the Rockets had Dominique 1.5 in Jordan.

 

Winner.

 

I remember reading a story (probably from this very website!) about how that could have happened.

 

Truth. It's worth pointing out that before the Bulls got Pippen and Grant Jordan was considered a loser - the guy who owned the highlight reels but couldn't get it done when it counted in the playoffs (everyone says he had that 63 point game against Boston...but the Bulls lost that game). It's not just about one player or the other; it's a matter of team management and getting the right overall team assembled. The Bulls had more good management during Jordan's career while the Rockets were trying to help out Hakeem with...Dave Jamerson?

 

The 1992-93 Bulls won 57 games and won the championship with Jordan. The 1993-94 Bulls won 55 games and lost 4-3 in the Eastern Conference Semis to the Knicks without Jordan.

I would venture to guess that Hakeem would have made a lot more of a difference than two wins on that Bulls team.

 

Don't forget if jordan did not take almost 2 years off (his comeback year wasn't a full season) the bulls would have 8 titles, and the rockets wouldn't have won any. I know some people hate to hear that, but that is the truth from a non homer viewpoint cause jordan was too good an no one would have been able to stop the bulls from an 8 peat.

 

according to my man tinman MJ took a team of scrubs to 6 championships, while Hakeem had 5 future HoFs on his team

 

Dream. No doubt. Sure, Jordan might have been better... most people would say so. Nevertheless, I became a Rockets fan while watching Dream's Rockets and I would not trade the feeling that I got when watching him play for anything.

 

Jordan had his chance in 1995, but his defense had fallen to the point that Penny Hardaway ate him alive. And don't bring any rust excuses until you go back and watch the games. He was as good as he'd ever been offensively. It's just that he couldn't keep up with the best athletes anymore on the defensive end. The Bulls management recognized it and took a flyer on a malcontent defensive specialist to cover Jordan's weakness.

 

Nope, he would have 2 NBA Final losses. The Rockets were the only team Jordan feared and rightly so.

 

Again, Jordan would not have won those titles without either Ho Grant or Rodman by his side. Jordan's ability to "carry" a team is waaaay overstated. There's a reason the Bulls didn't get any farther without Grant than they did without Jordan.

 

We don't know what would've happened had we taken Jordan instead of Hakeem. You assume that we would've been as good as the Bulls were. But the Bulls had 2 of the 50 greatest players of all time AND a Hall of Fame head coach in Phil Jackson. Would Jordan have become as great as he was under Rudy T? Who knows? I don't think you can just assume that he would've tho.

And can we stop with the "if Jordan had been playing we wouldn't have won the two titles" statements? Its getting old. We haven't played a playoff series against the Bulls. The playoffs are a completely different animal than the regular season. Who knows who would win between the Bulls and Rockets in the finals and I think its unfair to assume the Rockets would've lost.

 

That is just homer talk. Ask this question to any non biased observer and they would choose jordan over hakeem every time and say the bulls would have kept winning titles if he didn't go play baseball.

 

I definally would have draft Jordan over Dream but I would have accepted the deal from Portland for the 2nd pic for Ralph Sampson. Then I would have drafted Jordan with that pick.

 

Really? Then why don't you explain why the Bulls got trashed in the 1995 playoffs, if Jordan can so easily win without a star 4?