As much as I would like to see Olajuwon retire a Rocket, I don't think it's possible. You don't see too many people who have burned bridges with an organization like he did come waltzing back in at the veteran's minimum. For God sake's, Hakeem: friggin' retire already, please???
dont you relize he is just sticking around to get more money? the rockets were brilliant in letting him go ,and getting eg..what a great summer..however ruined by destroying our cap with mo and rice and moochie. Chris webber? or mo + rice? duh!!! Does odom have jumping skills? woops wrong thread. I stayed up watching espn highlights.."and the rookie eddie griffin no match for shaq" atleast hakeem would atleast TRY to stop shaq cato look up "ballet" in the yellow pages,youd be good at it..
Darius, Shaq has annihilated Hakeem in recent years. I can't watch when they play each other. BTW, your signature is wrong. No high school big man is better than Tim Duncan.
i'd love to have hafraud imgladyourgone back on the rockets. i know for a fact that he could help us improve our lotto positioning.
Tim Duncan is the best or second best player in the league (he and Shaq are 1 and 2), to think that any high school, or even college player, at this time, is better is lunacy.
Talk about Karma coming back to bite you in the ass. He practically gloats about the Rockets losing 15 in a row now the Raptors have lost 11 in a row. He complained about the Rockets not showing him loyalty and being underpaid now the Raptors are considering buying him out, and it's only about half-way through the first season. He wants more minutes, now he's wearing down and breaking down in Toronto. hehe. . .
The Hakeem apologists are working overtime I see. All I can say is that watching him flounder around under the weight of his enormous ego has brought me great pleasure this season; especially after his hypocritical comments regarding "loyalty". I guess Hakeem's definition of loyalty includes whooping it up in the visitors locker room and then sprinting to the media to tell them how wonderful it would be to play for the Heat THAT season. Yes, that's loyalty in Hakeem's little fantasy world. Hey, ZRB, the Raptors are SOOOOOOO much better with Hakeem, right? Are you gonna join that other ignoramus and tell me about how much he's going to help them in the playoffs? If they make it, that is. The best thing to happen tommorrow night would for there to be absolute dead silence when that hypocritical egomaniac is announced. He's not even worth the energy it would take to boo his ungrateful ass. Man, every time I think about him freezing his gimpy ass off up in Canada, playing for a team who "repsects" him so much that they're looking to pay him millions as long as he WON'T be on their roster, I laugh out loud. And the best part is that a year, 5 years, a decade, a century from now; the Rockets will still be around while Hakeem is off somewhere crying like a little girl that nobody "respects" him. Here's hoping that he gets lit up like a pinball machine tommorrow night.
Trust me, it's making me feel better knowing that Toronto is losing 11 games in a row and you're suffering through Hakeem's final days. Used to be a great player, doesn't fit this team anymore.
Amazing how much credibility a statement by Vescey gets when someone wants it to be true. "Even though I normally write off 99 percent of what Peter Vescey says as baseless rumor, since he said something unfavorable about Hakeem this time, I'll believe it." Dumbasses.
Now there's a brilliant idea. You want to bring him back to retire as a Rocket. But if he doesn't have a good attitude, then cut him, so that he can talk more s#it about the organization? In all likelihood, Olajuwon will not provide much on the court or off the court. The only reason to bring him back is so that bandwagon fans who live in the past might be foolish enough to buy tickets just to see Olajuwon mope at the end of the bench. From a PR standpoint, it's an ok move. From a basketball standpoint, it's asinine. I don't need the Rockets to bring back Olajuwon for me to cheer them on. In fact, it will turn me away from them if they have to resort to bringing back a washed up player.
First of all for those of you enjoying The Dream's troubles right now. Getting a kick out of his play. He can't help this team? Maybe he's not a starter anymore, but what the hell do we have to offer as legit options. Kevin Willis? He started out good, but now I can't stand to see him on the court. Collier? Give me a f#*king break. He's been with us for almost two years now and hasn't logged enough minutes for a week's worth of games. Yeah he's our future. Griff is not our center of the future either and if he is he has a few years to fill that role. I'm happy with Cato's play, but he won't go 48 min and who knows if he'll keep this up. Dream would be a good backup. As for his play in toronto. From what I've seen, he never gets the ball and isn't that bad on defense. Anyone who watched the game against the sixers the other day should've noticed that whenever Iverson got on a fast break, Dream was right behind him. Of course he didn't get the block, but to have a center who will get on AI's tail on a fastbreak could come in handy. Is Cato gonna give that effort? Then Dream did a lot of things that aren't measured in stats. He got steals and caused the opposition to lose the ball on a number of occasions. I'm not saying Dream is an all-star, but if he straightens things up with the organization he could help. If he played one year here for vet min. I could see him playing 15-20 min to give Cato a breather.
If we were a team with Finals aspirations, then yes we should get a vet like Olajuwon to take us over the hump. But, we're a young team in need of an indentity. Bringing Olajuwon back will slow down the Rockets "finding themselves out". I really don't see Olajuwon being willing to be a backup. His ego is much too large to accept that role. Especially on a team he bashed not too long ago. This whole argument is futile because Olajuwon has burned bridges with the Rockets organization.
Don't worry, Hakeem will turn it around and make a splash in the playoffs. I don't have a doubt in my mind. What pisses me off is that Vince Carter is robbing his team of a title. Why is he such a wuss? Taking tons of 3's, not going to the line often. Too soft to be a champion.
I was actually talking about him knocking the ball out of the offensive player's hands. It was usually Vince or one of the guards who got control of the ball and credit for the steal. Sorry for not being more specific.
How ignorant. Steve goes to the line 7.8 times a game, good for 5th in the league buddy. Vince Carter? Air Canada? The player the Raptors rely on most? 5.2 per game, good for 22nd. For a second there, you didn't think it gets worse, but it does. Field Goals attempted? Vince Carter: 22.2 per game (3rd in league) Steve Francis: 16.7 per game (32nd in league) Wait, there's more: 3-pt attempts? Carter: 5.6 per game (8th in league) Francis: Not in the top 50, couldn't find him on the list So it's clear, Carter tends to sit outside with the little boys, while Francis goes inside where the big boys play. Please, get your facts straight. Don't compare our franchise to Carter. Do you honestly think Steve can't put better numbers than Carter if he took 22 shots a game?
It is this simple: We need another big man. If Hakeem was willing to do a short term deal, then that would fix our problems there in the short term. He would not be a long term answer (I thought I mentioned that?). Long term, Stevie's the "Answer". We will need someone else of similar calibre to actually go anywhere, though... But in the short term, Hakeem would fit. How in the hell can you argue against a Cato/Hakeem split at center - considering that there are no other prospects for that position at the moment? Short of tanking, that is. Are you a proponent of tanking? I am not. You can talk about "team identity" while proposing a tank strategy. You imply that the next year or two is meaningless as far as the W-L column goes. This is totally inconsistent. I want to win as many games as possible now. Screw tanking. If we drop our pick, then that is the price to be paid in helping this team to realize that it can actually win. Add a 5 - especially one that's a known product - and we win more games, plain and simple. You would deny us more wins - even if we don't get to the playoffs - just to get a pick? And likely one who would fulfill the role that the player you'd deny would? This is totally inconsistent, and highly illogical... Your logic is basically "Tank, and get us a long-term prospect at either the 3 or the 5", right? But you also rant on about how important it is for this team to find its "identity" (whatever that means). If "Identity" means Learning How to Lose - and that's what it will mean if we continue to lose - then I get you. I want them to develop a different "Identity" - Learning How to Win. That can only be accomplished by actually winning in the short term. Not by losing/pissing the season away. There's a reason it takes many teams 10 years to rebuild. Most of them fall into the "Learned how to Lose" paradigm for 5-7 years. I'd like to skip that. We'd have nothing to lose by grabbing a Hakeem - on the cheap - who is coming from a disappointing Raps season. We could only gain by it, in both the short and long term.
