What once was "signing Hakeem to a big contract will hurt our chances to sign our other free agents" has now become "Rice for Anderson, Bullard and possibly Moochie makes us better". Those who once said signing a "38 year old center" would "hinder our development" now say a 34 year old small forward who makes twice as much money "is a great fit". The ones that said that "Hakeem couldn't play in this offense", or that "Hakeem wanted to be the man", or that "Hakeem was a cancer", or that "Hakeem wanted too much money", the ones that assumed Shandon "wanted more touches", now embrace a guy that complained about wanting more touches during the NBA Finals. The ones that said Shandon would "take playing time away from Griffin and Morris", now apparently don't care that a much older guy will take much more time from Griffin and Morris. Those who, when confronted with Rice's declining shooting percentages in the last 3 years, and respond with "but he wasn't utilized properly!", seem to be extremely quick to blame Shandon Anderson and Scottie Pippen for "not being assertive enough" offensively. Those who say "I'm a fan of the Rockets, not Hakeem", seem to cut Rudy and CD a hell of a lot of slack, when Hakeem is the one responsible for the Rockets still being in Houston (think about it). Seems to me that you are a fan of Rudy and CD, not the Rockets.
I have to disagree with the thing about hakeem being responsible for the rockets still being in houston. heck jeff is more responsible for it than hakeem is. the fans voted down a deal in 1999 only 4 years after the rockets 2nd championship. a year later after some good arena changes etc and jeff and other peoples work the arena was approved. hakeem getting one year older and worse made the fans vote for it the 2nd time and not the first? if hakeem is the reason why the rockets are staying than why wasn't it passed the first time? hakeem did something great between 1999 and 2000? it sure wasn't any great arena campaign or anything that he did.. i guess it did indirectly probably pass because some fans that improved it wouldnt' have unless we won those rings but hakeem isn't some savior who single handidly is the reason why the team still is here.. i think losing the oilers probably had more to do with it then dream as well.. people the 2nd time around got scared the team would leave like the oilers did
I am a fan of Rudy and CD, because they are rockets ...... real rockets. Not people who mask their loyalties only to hop on the first train to a more cushy situation (ala Phil Jackson). No, they chose to labor with the team through thick and thin and I suspect they will probably leave basketball with the rockets. I am a rocket fan and I respect those who are loyal to this organization, and no one except calvin murphy, even come close to Rudy and CD's loyalty to the rockets, especially not Olajuwon.
Like others have said, Rudy and CD are die-hard Rockets, something that Olajuwon is not. If you were GM, would you re-sign Shandon Anderson to a 6 year 42 million dollar deal? Would you also re-sign Olajuwon to what he wanted which was like 3 year 21 million dollar deal? If you said yes to both of these, then I'm glad that you're not in charge. I guess you could always root for some other team. The way you go on and on about Olajuwon, it seems to me that you already have.
Okay, I'll bite. Although I personally don't hold all your views, your points are certainly from ONE perspective only. What once was "signing Hakeem to a big contract will hurt our chances to sign our other free agents" has now become "Rice for Anderson, Bullard and possibly Moochie makes us better". Dream hasn't played a full season in 5 years and the other you mention are only role players. GRice has had a good injury history with only one minor injury recently. It has been surgically corrected and isn't the type of injury that affects mobility. Besides, we made the trade cause SA demanded too much. Those who once said signing a "38 year old center" would "hinder our development" now say a 34 year old small forward who makes twice as much money "is a great fit". Difference between 34 and 38 is big in sports. That's the differnce between 12 and 16 during adolescence. Plus I also heard a theory somewhere else on this board that Dream lied about his age so wouldn't be too old at UofH. If that happens to be true then that even exagerates my point. The ones that said that "Hakeem couldn't play in this offense", or that "Hakeem wanted to be the man", or that "Hakeem was a cancer", or that "Hakeem wanted too much money", the ones that assumed Shandon "wanted more touches", now embrace a guy that complained about wanting more touches during the NBA Finals. GRice will get more touches on this team. But time will tell if causes problems here. But standing pat with Shandon wasn't going to get us too far. The ones that said Shandon would "take playing time away from Griffin and Morris", now apparently don't care that a much older guy will take much more time from Griffin and Morris. Shandon never had much to offer. So the allure of Griff was strong as long as SA was in the lineup. Now GRice steps in and provides a solid upgrade. Personally, I've been arguing that somebody taking time away from Griff in the short term is beneficial. That way we can bring Griff along slowly not put too much pressure on him to produce quickly. So when GRice fades away, Griff will be poised to step in. I think this is an ideal situation. Those who, when confronted with Rice's declining shooting percentages in the last 3 years, and respond with "but he wasn't utilized properly!", seem to be extremely quick to blame Shandon Anderson and Scottie Pippen for "not being assertive enough" offensively. They weren't being assertive enough. BUT GRice is going to be in a starting spot in his natural position. That is why he is a good fit. Houston has a chance to showcase his streghts. We couldn't provide that for SA cause he always played out of position. Those who say "I'm a fan of the Rockets, not Hakeem", seem to cut Rudy and CD a hell of a lot of slack, when Hakeem is the one responsible for the Rockets still being in Houston (think about it). Seems to me that you are a fan of Rudy and CD, not the Rockets. Don't remember anybody saying this. Everybody is a big (no, huge) fan of Hakeem. But being a fan and signing him to a long term contract when chances are he'll get hurt is just NOT smart. -krosfyah
Shandon has been quoted saying he did not think he fitted in, which I *gasp* assume means he was going to leave anyways. You are also wrong in stating that Rice will hinder our young players development bcause he'll be logging more minutes than Shandon did. When being interviewed about the Rice trade on 610, Dawson said " If given Shandon's minutes..... That would lead one to believe that he will recieve no more minutes than Shandon would have if he had stayed, and if given the choice between the two, I'd take Rice every time. Like others have said before, "better is relative." What kind of players murdered the Rockets last year? Tall 3's ala Marion and Marshall. I'd rather have a 6'8-6'9 Glen Rice guarding them than a 6'5-6'6 Shandon. You can point out the lack of foot speed Rice possesses, but the new rules should at least cover up this defiency in his game enough to where it's not a glaring weakness in our overall team defense. People seem to think that the Rockets are bringing in too many "stars", but Rice is a role player at this point, our core is already set, and the purpose of bringing him in was to put us in a better position to make the playoffs. Making the playoffs is a good thing, wouldn't you agree? People are optimistic about Rice's chances because Compaq is a shooter's arena, ideally he's a consistent Walt, and he fits the attacking the zone style the Rockets plan on playing. Who would we have spent the cap space on next summer? Grunwald and Kiki have both made it VERY clear that they're going to resign Clark and LaFrentz. Alvin Gentry, and Clippers players alike, have made it known the longterm success of their team could hinge on the play of Olowakandi. In other words, if you thought we were going to be able to get our future center next offseason, you were dreaming. Just platoon the center spot with rugged, 6 foul a game players. If you can assume that Rice is malcontent, why can't others assume that Dream was set on leaving Houston regardless of what we offered him, because there's not much evidence that leads one to believe the contrary.
Let's not just be contrarians with bad attitudes just for the sake of it. Sometimes I wonder, Freak, if you post these things when you return home after driving around Houston in a car with no air conditioning. Just pissed off and need to vent.
If the Rockets had outright signed Rice for this kind of money, after lowballing Hakeem, I would no longer be a fan. But they got Rice simply because they didn't want to lose Shandon for nothing. I can understand that.
Thanks for the sentiments, rocket fan. I would just like to say that I don't consider myself at all responsible for the success of the arena campaign. IMO, there are two major reasons it passed: 1. Enron Field's demonstration that downtown was a viable option and improved the city's image. 2. Nearly across-the-board support for the arena deal including repblicans, democrats, rich, poor, minorities, caucasions, suburbanites, urbanites, the business community, sports fans, and non-sports fans. In fact, the over-emphasis of the Rockets in the first arena campaign (threats of leaving, complaints over lost money, etc) was one of the primary reasons it failed. The perception of the Rockets working behind the scenes without the involvement of the entire community killed the deal before it even got started. If you compared the two campaigns to cars, the 1999 campaign would be a beat up Pinto and the 2000 campaign a shiny new Lexus. It was a night and day difference. With all due respect to Hakeem and his tremendous impact on the Rockets and the city of Houston, his success on the floor had a negligible impact on the team remaining in Houston.
Also, does anyone here think that we overrate Shandon's defense ? Not necessarily a shot at him, but he isn't exactly on alot of all-defensive teams. I assume he's a good one-on-one defender, but does he play the passing lanes as well as Cat ? Also, he's a full 2 inches shorter than Glen, would that make him easier to post up ? Glen is no Garnett in the blocks, I know, but those two inches could make a difference. I would rather have Rice for 3 years then SA for 6. I think the Knicks overpayed him, imo. I think Rice's game is much more suited for this offense. Rice doesn't have to cut to score. He can take people off the dribble, something that Shandon wasn't exactly great at. Also, Rice doesn't seem like the type of guy that would moan about planting himself on the 3 point line andwaiting for the kick out or for the ball to swing around. I'm playing a little devil's advocate to Freak here, but I like the move.
<b>What once was "signing Hakeem to a big contract will hurt our chances to sign our other free agents" has now become "Rice for Anderson, Bullard and possibly Moochie makes us better". </b> Rice isn't going to cost us Moochie, Fegan may cost us Moochie. As for Rice costing us Bullard, maybe, maybe no. But Rice is REPLACING Bullard, not forcing him out. Big difference. <b>Those who once said signing a "38 year old center" would "hinder our development" now say a 34 year old small forward who makes twice as much money "is a great fit". </b> Dream barely plays 55 games a year. He wants to be the main offense, and he pouted. He actually asked to be cut or waived during the season! <b>The ones that said that "Hakeem couldn't play in this offense", or that "Hakeem wanted to be the man", or that "Hakeem was a cancer", or that "Hakeem wanted too much money", the ones that assumed Shandon "wanted more touches", now embrace a guy that complained about wanting more touches during the NBA Finals. </b> He might have complained, and I don't have a problem with Dream asking for a bigger role, but did Rice ask to be benched during Finals, or waived or cut from the team during the Finals!? <b>The ones that said Shandon would "take playing time away from Griffin and Morris", now apparently don't care that a much older guy will take much more time from Griffin and Morris. </b> I don't remember anyone complaining about Shandon taking minutes from anyone. People were concerned about how Shandon would fit on this team, and how he would accept a reduced role. Something he didn't want any part of and he endorsed a trade. <b>Those who, when confronted with Rice's declining shooting percentages in the last 3 years, and respond with "but he wasn't utilized properly!", seem to be extremely quick to blame Shandon Anderson and Scottie Pippen for "not being assertive enough" offensively. </b> Funny how you conveniently forget his 3pt shooting percentage has GONE UP! Again, I find it funny that you defend Shandon and Pippen the only guys who NEVER tried to fit into the offense. They claimed all they did was stand around. Pippen's numbers then proceeded to GO DOWN after he went to Portland! And Shandon is going to come off the bench in New York. And this is Houston's fault!? <b>Those who say "I'm a fan of the Rockets, not Hakeem", seem to cut Rudy and CD a hell of a lot of slack, when Hakeem is the one responsible for the Rockets still being in Houston (think about it). Seems to me that you are a fan of Rudy and CD, not the Rockets.</b> That's right Freak, when I sit down and look at basketball I cheer on Rudy and CD, I don't cheer on the Rockets team. As for Dream being responsible for the Rockets still being in Houston, actually it was the combined effort of the good people of Houston who went out and promoted, and advertised, and begged people to vote to get the Rockets a new arena. It's ridiculous to short change them and say it was all Dream who made this happen. I respect Dream, and I appreciate what Dream has done, but he isn't god. Everything good that happens to the Rockets isn't all because of Dream.
Jeff you know if it wasnt for you, Rockets would be in St.Louis or somewhere. Seriously you were a big part. GO JEFF.
Freak's right. Lemme just hop into my time machine, and I'll go tell Dream all about it... Dream is GONE, Freak, and he is not coming back. Learn to live with it. (why am I even contributing to another Hakeem thread?)
RocksMilenium... So Rice is replacing Bullard? In that case, he forced out Shandon...He can't be replacing both, and if both are gone due to his inclusion, than he had to force at least one of them out...
jeff.. yeah i agree totally.. and i know you are a humble guy that sure isnt' going to claim he is the reason the team stayed, but i was just trying to get across the point that the first year's vote didnt' have a great campaign or anything... just relying on hakeem's fame sure didn't get the thing passed. it took a great campaign in 2000. i know hakeem has done a lot for the city but i just dont' like him to be credited with every little thing in rockets history. the people of houston i think showed the first year that they werent just going to pass the vote because they like hakeem.. it took a better deal and a better campaign the next year to get it passed. .. also i think in 2000 you played a part as well as many other fans. .. the fans letting the sports authority etc know that they expected a good deal to be worked out helped get an acceptable deal on the ballot.. i would see maybe crediting hakeem if he had some some great campaigning or something but he wasn't really activiely campaigning at all. you did more than he did but just because hakeem was a great player in the past we shouldn't assume he is the only reason the rockets are still here.. the voters arent' that stupid.. they showed that they werent' going to vote for anything accept a good deal.. i guess pretty soon hakeem is going to be credited with the only reason basketball is in canada still. my point in all t his is basketball lived in houston with rudy t and calvin for years and can still survive here.. he isn't the sole reason the team is here still
