http://www.nypost.com/seven/06282007/sports/nets/rod_didnt_believe_in_barkley_nets_fred_kerber.htm ROD DIDN'T BELIEVE IN BARKLEY By FRED KERBER June 28, 2007 -- Oops. Back in 1984 while prepping for one of the NBA's legendary drafts, Rod Thorn, then-GM of the Bulls, plotted the order. At No. 3, Thorn wound up with Michael Jordan, but he admits he blew his evaluation of another prominent player. "We had [Hakeem] Olajuwon rated one, Jordan two, [Sam] Perkins three. [Sam] Bowie was the guy that we didn't have ranked as highly because of his injuries. We felt he was a real risk," Thorn acknowledged before admitting his goof. "[Charles] Barkley, to be honest, I was very concerned that Barkley would not be able to rebound and play as he did in college in the pros. "Which was very wrong, by the way," Thorn added, laughing. Barkley, selected fifth by the Sixers, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2006.
I love how all the media sources are comparing the Oden-Durant thing to Bowie-Jordan. Last time I checked, Bowie went #2 not #1. If you do the Hakeem-Jordan comparison like it should be, then Hakeem is the obvious choice. If Jordan hadn't had another Hall of Famer on his team Hakeem would be the one with 6 titles.
Given that the Rockets didn't ever win the West in any of the years that the Bulls won the title, how exactly was that going to happen?
Please lets not go there... I doubt the Bulls would have won 6 titles if they were in the WEST too...
I've said it before and will say it again: if Dream had the services of Pippen or Clyde for his entire career, he would have NO LESS than five rings today.
Ok, I went over the top saying they would've won 6 titles, but you catch my drift. I'm not buying this "Durant is obviously the right choice at #1 because Jordan was much better than Sam Bowie 15 years ago".
but how do you explain their regular season records???? how come they were able to beat the west champs everytime they went to the finals?
same way miami did last year, get to the finals without having to face the same level of competition and then once there go strong. not saying the heat were a bad team i dont think the heat could have made it to the finals if they were out west at all. now not sure about the bulls, even though the east was a whole lot better then i still think the west top to bottom had superior teams and thus making a much tougher road to the finals. no one is debating that those bulls teams were lucky or not good, but maybe they dont get 6 if they played out in the west, but its all moot anyway
all i know is jordan believes hakeem is the best center EVER. that's much respect, considering he went head-2-head w/ some of the best centers to ever play the game. for other what ifs, it's irrelevant. what if our team was in the east last yr? we would have made it to the finals and ppl would call us overrated . who cares, let it go? u handle your cards you're dealt with. im very confident we can do big things next yr in the west.
Where don't you want him to go... reality? The Rockets couldn't the best in the west for those other years which makes it impossible for them to win any other championships than what they did. That's the reality of it... get it?
