<i>Tomjanovich upset by comments Coach says he's `heartbroken' after being stung by Hakeem's remarks By JONATHAN FEIGEN Copyright 2001 Houston Chronicle INDIANAPOLIS --Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich said Thursday he was "shocked" and "heartbroken" to see former Rocket Hakeem Olajuwon rip the coach and organization over the way his departure was handled. Olajuwon, who left the Rockets after 17 seasons to sign with the Raptors in the offseason, said in Thursday's Chronicle that the Rockets did not really want to keep him and that their pursuit was only for public relations. He accused them of "disloyalty" and "ignorance" and named Tomjanovich and owner Leslie Alexander. "I'm surprised, shocked in a way," Tomjanovich said Thursday. "I'm disappointed and hurt." Tomjanovich said he became more involved in the free-agent recruiting of Olajuwon than he ever has been so that Olajuwon would understand how much Tomjanovich wanted him to return to the team. He said in their last conversation Olajuwon told him there were no hard feelings and that he was only leaving to improve his chances of winning another NBA championship. But Olajuwon said the Rockets did not want him back. "I was rejected by them," he said. "It was never handled honestly. The Rockets organization would say one thing -- what they thought was the right thing -- to the public. But minds were made up all along. "They wanted me to just go away." Tomjanovich would not say if he felt betrayed by Olajuwon's comments or if he was hurt at the inference Tomjanovich had not been honest in his dealings with Olajuwon. Alexander issued a statement saying he has no hard feelings, but declined to be interviewed. "Everybody is entitled to their opinion and I respect that he has his. But there was a lot of emotion in my last conversation with him," Tomjanovich said. "I was pleading with the guy to give us a chance to work this out. He convinced me that (leaving) was a good thing for him. He was worried about how I felt. He said, `Don't worry about me, I have no hard feelings.' "It seems the opposite now." After weeks of negotiating with the Rockets, Olajuwon signed with the Raptors last summer for $16.7 million over three seasons. "When I talked to (Olajuwon) he said he wanted to play the marketplace and to look at all the teams that expressed interest in him," Tomjanovich said. "I said that it was his privilege, but please do not count us out. He said he wouldn't and I told him how much we wanted him on our team. At the end, I called him and pleaded with him not to leave, that we would find a way to get this thing resolved. "He said, `Coach, I appreciate how you feel.' I told him how important he was to me, to my career, to the city of Houston. I said I couldn't imagine him in another uniform. He said, `Coach, I have an opportunity to go to a team that has a chance to go to the Finals. They're in the East.' He used Dikembe Mutombo (who went to the Finals with the 76ers last season) as an example. He said, `Coach, I want to do this.' " As recently as Saturday, Tomjanovich said he was "blessed" to have coached Olajuwon. "Rudy, Les, the Rockets pretended to say all the right things for the public. But I know better," Olajuwon said Wednesday. "They wanted it to look like I was the one being disloyal, that I wanted to go. They know the disloyalty was in their organization." But Tomjanovich said Olajuwon never expressed any of that in their conversations. "I believed what he said," Tomjanovich said. "He said he wanted to go there. He said, `Coach, I am OK. We had a good relationship. There are no hard feelings. I want to try something new.' I asked if there was anything, anything I could do. To hear that I didn't want him to stay. ... He told me he was speaking from the heart. I had to accept what he said. It made sense. I could understand. "To hear this now is heartbreaking."</i>
I wonder how much of this little tiff is Hakeem's ego talking, as opposed to an ego that was stroked by the Devil (Fegan)?
Rudy = Class Hakeem = Ass Hakeem is one of my favorite Rockets, but he is no longer here and has become a whiny b**** as his skills deteriorate. In fact, think back to when Hakeem FAKED his injury early in his career to demand a trade, he is not as HONORABLE as he pretends to be. Actions speak louder then words. DaDakota
Pippen has driven drunk. Rudy has driven drunk. Hakeem doesn't drink. There are more important things in life that determine if you have class other than how you negotiate basketball business.
No, that's common sense, Kim. Class is showing loyalty and being honest... Which Rudy has done. Ass is hiring Fegan to do your dirty work and then blaming your former friends for it.
To be clear, Rudy was stopped by an over-zealous West U. patrolman who took him in on suspicion of DUI. All charges were dropped. Most believed later that it was just someone trying to make a name for themselves because witnesses stated that Rudy was completely coherent and perfectly lucid at the time.
Dream is right about one thing... Someones decision was already made... HAKEEM THE DREAM OLAJUWON HAS BEEN MY FAVORITE PLAYER FOR YEARS BUT NOW I'M DISSAPPOINTED HE'S MY FAVORITE PLAYER... A MAN OF INTEGRITY AND MANY OTHERS ATTRIBUTES CALLING OUT HIS OLD TEAM... LOST RESPECT FOR HIM... WELL STEVIE FRANCHISE IS MY #1 FAVORITE NOW!!!!!!!
I can't believe this crap. Dream seems bound and determined to remove any and all respect I had for him at one time. Jeff, thank you for posting that. I get seriously tired of people b****ing about Rudy and using that incident as a reason why he should not be coach, or why he is a bad person, or why they wanted one more post on their post count. It's ignorant, and it gets old.
That's what he says, but I'm guessing he drinks and drives everynight...he's got to be drunk to say the crap he's been saying lately.
Seems to me that if Rudy had so much class, he would've said "no comment". But instead, he airs his dirty laundry in public. Guess it's okay when Rudy does it, but not anyone else. Rudy's allowed to be upset, but Hakeem's not. Riiight. Despite Jeff's repeated attempts to tow the company line, Kim's point is made. Hakeem has no class because he gives an honest answer to some questions -- laughable. I'm going to go out on a limb and say Hakeem doesn't know who you are, much less care for your respect.
I'm kind of curious as to what prompted Hakeem's outpouring of "honesty" on this issue in the first place. What does he have to gain by blasting his former team if he's telling the truth? Nothing. What does he have to gain by blasting his former team if he's being disingenious? Justification for his actions... Rudy was just responding to Hakeem's comments. Had he said "No comment", the press would have had a field day at Speculation Land... And CD doesn't strike me as the kind of person who can generate tears spontaneously. It's not that far of a stretch that they were genuinely disappointed with Hakeem's departure... Hakeem is the only one who doesn't appear to be heartbroken by the whole thing.
