Were Dream's teammates the reason he won 2 championships?

Dream did think so. Remember that he had his teamates help him lift his MVP trophy?


oops

 

yes and no.

Dream was reason #1. He was the best player in the game at that point.

But there were lots of rotations that ran with Hakeem rather disappointingly. is that a word? His supporting cast had to knock down big shots. They had to play key defensive stretches. Dream made it easier on everyone...but no one wins a championship by themselves.

 

You know, I hear that alot, even from former Rocket players and coaches, but...

In 1990, the Rockets had 6 players in average double-figure PPG - and Dream, Max, Kenny, and OT averaged at least 17PPG.

I think it's safe to say the Rocket starters didn't suck that year.

My opinion is that it was team defense, chemistry and running the offense through Hakeem that won them the championships.

Those were two of Dream's best assist seasons, not because of trust, but because of the offense running through him. You can see Kenny's assist numbers drop starting in 92-93, with the championships representing two of his lowest season averages. Kenny didn't forget how to pass, it was a change in offense. He averaged 7 APG the two years prior to Rudy taking over.

 

80's Lakers:
Kareem (hall of famer)
Worthy (hall of famer)

80's Celtics:
McHale (hall of famer)
Parish (hall of famer)
D.Johnson (hall of famer)

80's Pistons:
Dumars (hall of famer)
Rodman (should be hall of famer)

Yeah...Dream's supporting cast is right up there buddy.

 

Why are you changing your opinion now? I thought you said they were right up their with the Celtic and Laker Dynastys.

Hakeem with a different supporting cast beat those showtime lakers and gave the celtics a run for their money.
Had it not been for the collapse of the to-be 80's Rockets dynasty, we would not even be having this discussion.
The only all-star on Dream's team was Drexler for the second run (and OT had ONE all-star appearance). Most championship teams have atleast two all-stars on them.

I dont mean to be confronting, but I still do not understand the argument, Yes Dream had good teammates, and they were a part of the championship, but Dream was more important.

I have facts on my side of the argument and you have assumptions.

 

Any chance Clutch could create some kind of an auto-ban feature for people who post 3 consecutive times in the same thread with no responses.

 

The 94 Rockets supporting cast was right up there with the Lakers and Celtics?! That's comedy.

Name me a weaker supporting cast to ever win a title?

The starting backcourt of that team was Kenny Smith, one of the worst defensive PG's in league history, and Mad Max, a volatile, erratic 2 who shot 38% in his best years. Easily one of the worst championship backcourts ever up there with 99 spurs.

Without Hakeem, those 93-94 rockets win 30-35 games max.

Let's not forget Hakeem won the MVP, DPOY, and FMVP that year. One of the if not the greatest individual season's ever by an NBA player.

The supporting cast wasn't brutal per se, but it was weak per NBA champion standards. Champion teams typically have a much stronger backcourt and a 2nd star better than Otis Thorpe, who was a very solid player, but not a great 2nd banana like a Kobe Bryant, Clyde Drexler, Kevin Mchale, Magic Johnson, etc.

Also, Cassell may have developed into a very good PG but he wasn't great back then, just a nice sparkplug off the bench.

What was unique about that cast was how ridiculously clutch the role players all were (Elie, Cassell, Horry esp). One of the most clutch supporting casts ever, but not on par overall with most title teams.

Hakeem was more responsible for those titles than Kareem was for LA, Shaq for LA, Bird for Boston, etc. There was never a 2nd guy to take over if Hakeem was having an off night, esp in 93-94. If he wasn't goin for 27-30 and 10-12 boards and throwing back shots from guards abusing K. Smith off the dribble, Houston loses.

Look at the NBA Finals in 94 where Smith-Max were just destroyed by Starks-Harper making Hakeem have to literally destroy Ewing for HOU to win. All the load was on his shoulders. If he allows Ewing to neutralize him or only slightly outplays him, Rockets lose in 4 or 5.

Hakeem had a lot more help in 95 than 94 so you really have to qualify this by picking a year. The 95 team was on par with some of those other teams you mention because of Clyde and how awesome Horry was that year.

 

No way does that cast win with Barkley. Your statement basically implies than Hakeem 94-95 was no better than Bark which is asinine. Barkley never sniffed the level Hakeem was at in his prime.

Barkley had freakin KJ, Majerle, Ceballos, Ainge, AC Green and couldnt win a title!!! If you swap our supporting casts with the Suns, we'd have swept PHO in 94-95 instead of beating them in 7 each year.

Jordan is debatable. They woudlnt go for 6 titles. Probably win a few though.

You can't tell me you wouldn't trade Horry/Thorpe/K. Smith, Max for Pippen, Horace Grant, and BJ Armstrong/Paxson. That's an absolute no brainer lopsided trade. Hakeem and Pippen would have formed a ridiculous defensive combination. Slap Pippen on your team's best wing player and have Hakeem erasing mistakes inside? That team would be a defensive juggernaut, esp with Grant as well.

 

Tinman,

You would not give up OT and Horry, for Grant and more importantly a Pippen in his prime.

Are you kidding me? I know there is a lot of hate for Quitten, but
I dont even have to make an argument for that one.

 

Ok, your post shows that there is a fine line between basketball knowledge and homerism.

OT and Horry better defensively, Really??

Do you not remember Pippen in the same year carried those Bulls w/o Jordan to the Conf Finals to fall to the Knicks.

And I noticed how in your defense argument you had to throw Dream in there, I thought this was about OT and Horry.

And you think Pippen, Barkley and Dream were in their primes?

My goodness their are so many flaws in your argument.

 

So is Roger Clemens in his prime, merely because of what the Astros are paying him this year? Lol. Pippen was in his mid 30's and coming off back problems when the Rockets signed him. His prime was 92-94.

Try looking at Maxwell's #'s for that series vs. Starks. Max shot in the low 30's and was outscored by Starks by a whopping margin. Hitting one big shot doesnt mean you had a great 7 game series.

Derek Harper did to Kenny Smith in 94 what Hakeem did to DRob in 95. The backcourt was soundly outplayed and any attempt to argue that is completely disingenuous.

Regarding the Bulls supporting cast, when Jordan retired in 1994, the Bulls won 55 games. In 93 with Jordan they won 57. So there was a 2 win regular season dropoff from the year before.

I know you've made some ridiculously weak arguments in this thread, but I doubt even you would suggest that if you take Hakeem off the 94 Rockets we win 55 games instead of 57. That just tells you how great the Bulls supporting cast was. Pippen in 94 was an MVP candidate. Horry was a nice role player who overall wasn't even close to Pippen talentwise.

 

i fully agree