I lived and went to school at UoH during the Dream days of long ago and so I love and respect his game as much as anyone. However, I do have one observation to make about his play during the preseason and was wondering if anyone else noticed it. Last night against the Wizards, the Dream went for 15 boards, 2 assists and 2 blocks while only shooting the ball 6 times - all this in 24 minutes. This is *precisely* what the Rockets needed from him and yet he acted as though he couldn't play on a team that restricted his involvement in the offense to that extent. So, why can he be happy just rebounding and playing defense for Toronto? Hell, if we had that kind of contribution from the center position, we'd be a lock for the playoffs - which I suppose is the real source of my frustration with it.
No kidding! It seems to me that its really just a matter of respect (probably the most important word in every athletes vocabulary). Not being the first or second offensive option on our team was a lack of respect on our part. When he goes to a new team that really treats him like his rebounding and defense will help them win a championship, it's sacrifice on his part. Of couse it coulda been that big a$$, long term contract he was wanting for his "reduced" role. He's playing great now, and he may even help Toronto go deep in the playoffs (which I hope he does), but I can't help but be thankfull we're not the ones holding the tab when his age and health problems finally take him from the table.
It's just preseason. If it continues and they start losing games, I think Dream will voice his concern about being part of the offense. That is just his confidence in his capabilities and the desire to contribute. Dream is too old and set in his ways to change now, just like me.
The Rockets had been Dreams team for the better part of two decades. When he first arrived this was suppose to be Sampson’s team but it only took a couple of years for Dream to overtake Ralph is the top dog on the Rockets. Even when the Rockets added super stars like Thorpe, Drexler, Barkley and Quitten this was still Dreams team but the day the Rockets acquired Steve Francis and nick named him Franchise that all changed. Dream had to give something up that he was not ready to give up. He not only gave up being the first or even second option on offense but he had to give up his thrown to someone that had never won a championship or even made his first all start appearance. Walking out on the court that he had ruled for so long and watching a new kid take the thrown was a bitter pill to swallow. All of the excitement around the team was now generated because of Steve Francis not him and of course there is only so much our vanity will allow us to except gracefully. In Toronto there was nothing for Dream to give up. That had never been his town and that had never been his team. This was and will be for a long time Vince Carters team. Vince has already been to play offs, won dunking titles and competed for scoring titles as well as been called the next MJ. Dream was leaving a city that has known great centers since the team’s inception and going to a city that has never had a great center. Toronto is excited to have someone on the team that might help Vince take the team to the NBA championship game. Toronto has no memories of the Dreamshake humiliating David Robinson in the WCF. They have no memory of Hakeem schooling Ewing or Shaq in the finals. Every time they see Hakeem block a shot at one end and then get to the other end to put the Dreamshake on Camby or some other victim it will be something that Toronto has never seen before and they will stand in their seats and cheer. The papers will write about what a great addition Dream makes to the team and how well he mixes with Vince while counting down the days to the play offs. In Houston the papers and fans alike not excluding myself would write or talk about how dream looks an extra step slow this year or how he only went 3 for 12 from the floor. We would talk about how many games we thought he would actually play this year and hope that Cato can somehow play up to his potential for when Dream finally falls and cant get up. And that is basically why Dream had to go to Toronto.
http://www1.nba.com/playerfile/hakeem_olajuwon/game_by_game_stats.html Someone posted that yesterday and I think it's a very telling bit of insight. Hakkem is still trying to work his way into the offence. I think he's been careful not to take away from Antonio in the points department but wants to atleast be a presence inside. As the season goes on he'll probably look for his shot more and play himself into shape - which seems to be a trend for him in recent years. I think when it's 'your team' then one might assume that they'll get lots of touches. When it's clear that it's 'someone else's' team then playing specific roles is easier to accept. Hakeem - IMO - needed to reason this to himself intenally and that may be exactly why he didn't want to stay. Also - how often does Hakeen not go to the line even once? He's smart enough to draw some fouls once he's comfortable on the floor with his new teammates. 15 rebounds is nothing to moan at - ut even AD will likely look for more rebounds himself. They'll find a better scoring/rebounding balance since AD won't often score 20 pts (or maybe he will?) and get only 7 rebounds. I think a better ratio will be 8 pts / 10 boards for Dream and 16 pts / 9 boards for AD with both averaging about 2 blocks a game. As one Raptor assistant recently said "We really only need him to play 20 or so playoff games". That may be assuming a lot but when you look at the East there's no reason to think they can't make a run to the ECF against Milwaukee.
Agreed! If Hakeem can accept the lesser role with Toronto, he should be able to contribute alot. By accepting this role, he will probably end up playing less minutes and possibly make it through the entire season with minimal injuries. Of course, at some point, if Antonio Davis or Vince Carter go down with an injury, the Raptors will need to lean on Hakeem heavily. Getting a taste of "being the man" again might return Hakeem to his previous (Rocket) attitude regarding the team not actually belonging to him.
I agree totally with Tom Archer. I guess when the Rocket's paid Hakeem 18 million last year they showed him no respect. Basketball is a team game. When Hakeem was so dominated in the mid 90's he could control a game but with age his role should change. The Rocket organization has nothing to be ashamed of but showing a lot of class when Hakeem left.
agreed. Very good way of explaining it crash. It's too bad that ego and vain played a big part in decision making.
I just feel if the Rockets had respected him from the beginning he would have stayed. I dont blame the Rockets entirely though. He had said for a long time that he was going to retire, and then he suddenly changes his mind about 2 months into the season.
It may just be preseason, but preseason is for helping players fit in. If they're not running plays to see what he can do now, why would they suddenly do it in games that mean something? And it didn't have anything to do with the Rockets "respecting" him, it had to do with Hakeem not willing to take a lesser role, and slightly less money on a team where he used to be an option. He would have rather have gone to Canada, where he has wanted to play for a while, get a longer contract, and a more defined role on an instant title contender. Yeah it's frustrating sometimes seeing him do things we wanted him to do, but it was necessary for both Hakeem and the Rockets to go their separate ways. No disrespect there.
It's ALL about the MONEY! If we would had matched, he'd be here, he can say what he wants, and so can we. He didn't want to make less than Cato, and I kinda see his point, eventhough everyone knew it was a mistake signing Cato to that fat ass contract. He just couldn't see Les' reasoning which was Dream had been paid MAJOR jack for the last few years, when he really wasn't playing that much(for whatever reason). When it came down to it, he figured at this point in his career, $$$ was more(respect?) important. I can't wait till we play them. It will be bitter-sweet. The Wizards aren't the Rox.
Hakeem will be lucky to play in 60 games this year. He will suffer some new injury and all the Olajuwon lovers will be defending his sorry, old body again. Maybe this is being disrespectful, but what about Hakeem wanting all kinds of money and years on a new contract when he hasn't shown that he can stay healthy, and when he is healthy, he has a bad attitude, for the most part? That seems disrespectful in my opinion.
