Sentiment prevailed; now Rockets are stuck By Mark Rosner Austin American-Statesman Friday, January 26, 2001 Before the 1999-2000 NBA season, my colleague Kirk Bohls insisted that the Houston Rockets trade the aging center Hakeem Olajuwon while he still had some market value. I was among the chorus of dissenters, based not on practical reasons but loyalty. Could the Rockets have improved themselves by accepting a generous offer from Toronto? You bet. But, some of us reasoned, how could they dismiss Houston's most beloved sports icon? This is a man who arrived in this country from Nigeria as a callow teen-ager at the University of Houston and later brought the city two NBA titles. He has lived there for half his life. Rockets Coach Rudy Tomjanovich, a loyal and emotional man, considered those issues, too, and couldn't go through with the trade. As it turns out, Tomjanovich probably should have made the deal. Lately Olajuwon, 38, talks about wanting to be traded, or waived, if he can not have a more important role on the Rockets. And the Rockets can no longer accommodate him without hurting their future. The lesson? Maybe pro sports teams have to operate like cold-hearted businesses, after all. The Rockets could have helped their future by trading Olajuwon in '99. That summer, Toronto offered Kevin Willis, Doug Christie and the No. 5 and 12 picks in the 2000 draft. NBA salary-cap restrictions might have prevented the Rockets from receiving that entire bounty, but they could have improved themselves with even part of it. The Rockets might have drafted Shawn Marion, who was selected with the ninth pick by Phoenix, or Jonathan Bender, a talented 20-year-old whom Toronto took at No. 5 and traded to Indiana. Marion already is developing into a top player, and Bender has potential. This season the Rockets can't trade Olajuwon without stalling their rebuilding process. Olajuwon, in the final year of his contract, will be paid $16.5 million. For the Rockets to trade him, they would have to acquire players -- probably several of them -- whose salaries add up to Olajuwon's. Salary-cap rules require that. Another snag is that Houston could only accept players whose contracts expire after the season, because the Rockets need to create salary-cap room to sign free agents this summer. If the Rockets allow themselves to get stuck with a couple of journeymen just to accommodate Olajuwon, it might cost them a chance to sign Chris Webber. Houston thinks it has a chance with Webber, the Sacramento forward who is a candidate for MVP. If the Rockets release Olajuwon, they would still have to pay most of his salary while perhaps helping an opponent that needs him. Maybe Olajuwon and the Rockets can work things out, although a Houston writer who has known him and Tomjanovich for years described them as similarly "prideful, stubborn and driven." The writer suggested Olajuwon has illusions that his skills have not diminished, even though he averages only 10 points and six rebounds per game. To Olajuwon, only nagging injuries have prevented him from dominating games the past several seasons. As for Tomjanovich, it was said that his desire to avoid conflict with players has prevented him from explaining to Olajuwon exactly what his reduced role must be on a team that revolves around guards Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley. It's time for that now. Olajuwon, who missed 12 games with swelling in his right knee, returned Wednesday. He had seven rebounds and three blocks in 18 minutes during a loss to Philadelphia in overtime. Not bad. The Rockets are a marginal playoff contender. They could use what Olajuwon has left to give, even if it is less than he thinks. The Statesman doesn't run many articles on the Rockets, but this one caught my eye today. I think the author sums up the "trade that could have been" very nicely and echoes alot of our collective thoughts on the current Dream-gate. ------------------ I am Jack's utter lack of surprise. www.clutchtown.com
Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda... NEXT! ------------------ If you don't eat your meat, you can't have any pudding!!
Personally, I think this guy is a complete fool. Obviously he doesn't follow the NBA closely, else he'd know that the Rockets have rebuilt (I don't know if I'd even call it rebuilding, it happened so fast) faster than any team in recent memory. It's even more impressive when you consider they didn't have to go to the bottom of the barrel to do it like most teams. More importantly, they did it while giving the man that got them to the top the respect he deserves (Hakeem). This moron from the Un-American Statesman acts like the Rockets are the Little Sisters of the Poor of the NBA, and must make some major trade just to be a legitimate franchise again. Where does Austin get these people? Stick to college, Austin. Thanks for posting this article Sammy, I'll be sure to let the AAS and this fool know what I think of the crap they've been putting out there. [This message has been edited by TheFreak (edited January 28, 2001).]
Dayum Freak! I thought this thread was dead 2 days ago. I personally didn't think the article was negative about the Rockets rebuilding effort (and, re-reading it again, still don't). We ARE a marginal playoff contender - we're in 11th place (out of 14 teams) in the West, 4 games out of the playoffs. The odds of us jumping 3 teams to make the playoffs aren't bad, but they're less than 50% right now. My gripe with the article is that the only source quoted is an unnamed Houston writer. Its really not a story at all, and is probably just filling the obligatory "Rockets article a month" space in the AAS. But who am I to stop you from writing to complain? Give em hell, man. ------------------ I am Jack's utter lack of surprise. www.clutchtown.com
I think that the article was pretty accurate. There could have been a great deal for Olajuwon back then. I'm not sure how the team would be right at this moment or how it would be in the future (maybe Marion and Bender will face each other in the finals in 3 years????) but it isn't speculation to say we could have gotten a lot for Olajuwon back then. Stumbling into Francis was about as big of a miracle as they come in the world of NBA signings. "Maybe pro sports teams have to operate like cold-hearted businesses, after all." ---- That is a legitimate question.......although I think the answer is NO. When was the last time you heard a player's union rep say something about "loyalty"? One: Houston did the right thing by keeping Hakeem. If he wanted a trade that was good for the team then he should have been given that, but he didn't. Two: Hakeem should not have requested a waiver. He is getting paid a huge amount of money by Les and needs to honor his contract like a man. Besides, its not like he would be getting waived in a last effort to win a championship and validate his career.
Sammy, I thought this thread needed to be resurrected. Yep, looks like I may have overreacted a little. LOL. I just get tired of hearing that we could have had Willis, Christie, and the 5th and 12th picks by trading Olajuwon, but instead we keep Olajuwon and get Steve Francis, Shandon Anderson, and Maurice Taylor. I see us as better off all around, while others still like to harp on the 'aborted' deal. I guess if Hakeem's recent comments actually bothered me, perhaps I'd think differently. Oh well.
I can understand that people are saying now that they were against the deal for loyalty decisions but dont make the argument that basketball wise our team would not have been better w/o it b/c thats pure bs. I love how people are making a blanket assumption that the Steve Francis deal would not have been done with this deal in place. I view that as false b/c Rudy was drooling over Francis (talking afterwards on the radio about how he could be one of the greatest all time at his position). Thus, Toronto trade or not, the Rockets would still have pulled the trigger on the Francis deal. Also, Michael Murphy's story about the Rockets looking to trade down from 5 to 8 is very legit imho b/c at the time, the Cavs wanted Wally Szczerbiak badly. Thus, the Rockets main building blocks today had they made the deal would have been, Francis, Mobley, Marion and Taylor with role players in Christie, Willis, Walt, Cato. Also, it is very possible the Rockets could have dealt Kevin Willis and gotten something else like the Raptors did in trading him for Keon Clark. Essentially, the team would probably not have Shandon Anderson but would have Shawn Marion and Doug Christie in his place which is far better and could potentially have a Keon Clark in the frontcourt which is a huge acquistion as well. This scenario does not even include the 12th pick which could have been a slew of different players. The Rockets clearly passed this deal from a LOYALTY standpoint not a BASKETBALL standpoint. ------------------ Check out the Best Source for Draft Info Draftsource.net
I agree MMAnal... It's silly to say that, TEAM-WISE, that trade would not have been a beneficial move for the Rockets. But we've moved on, and the future STILL looks bright. ------------------ "There are three kinds of lies: Lies, Damned Lies, and STATISTICS..." - Mark Twain -
Freak, what about Phoenix, who dropped to 40-42 after dumping Barkley and quickly became an elite team the next season. ------------------ RealGM Rockets Draft Obligations Summary Gafford Art Artisan
Phoenix did it a little differently, trading away its commodity (Barkley) while he still had something left. That gave them them trading pieces which helped them bring in Jason Kidd (Dallas got the better of that deal). Then with Barkley and KJ off the cap they were able to bring in a big name free agent (Gugs, after getting snubbed by McDyess and Pip). Phoenix basically followed the Portland model (which has allowed that team to continually "rebuild" on the fly for almost 20 years). LA also rebuilt very quickly, but they did it by bringing in the BIG free agent. Houston has rebuilt its team using the draft, a smart trade for a rookie (trading away young, drafted players to get him), and cheap free agent signings in Shandon, Mo, and Moochie. I would say that the fastest rebuilding job ever was the Spurs, when they turned around the team by drafting Duncan. But we all know they tanked to get him, and the Admiral was stashed on the IR to make sure they kept losing with Dominique Wilkins and co. ------------------ I am Jack's utter lack of surprise. www.clutchtown.com
NBAtalk said we had a shot at McGrady at the time. I know thats false. But if its true Rudy should kick himself in the ass. ------------------ President of the Steve Francis, Jamal Crawford,Larry Hughes, and Charles Woodson fan club.
Amen Freak. There's no way we have what we have now if we do that trade. While I wouldn't mind trading Dream now, it looks as if it was very beneficial to abort that trade. ------------------ "Knickerbocker Please!" visit www.swirve.com, coming January 20th, the top 10 films of 2000! http://www.geocities.com/clutch34_2000 for great Rocket insight by some of your fellow BBS posters!
