Seeing him again sure was nice. But what I want to know is, what caused us to trade him? I remember something about him wanting like a four-year deal but we only offered three. Can anyone fill me in on the whole story?
I think we offered him one or two years, can't remember which, while Toronto offered one extra year. It was obvious that he was well past his prime when we offered him the contract, and he did very little his first year in Toronto, and promptly retired after a single season (which, for the slower people, means the contract the Rox offered would take him through the end of his career). In the end, Hakeem thought he had a lot more left in the tank than he really did, and instead of taking the short deal in Houston and earning another one, he went for the extra year in Toronto, showing that the couple extra million was worth more to him than loyalty to the Rox (though to be fair, the Rox didn't treat him very well earlier in his career).
Strange... From the sounds of some fans here, it seemed like the Rockets organization for the bad guys for trading him away.
Loyalty is a two-way street. The Rockets could have given him the extra year based on what he did for them in the past, even if his ability to contribute in the futre was questionable. It is very interesting with these extra years and how you make a decision if a player is going to be productive beyound a certain age. Here are the two worst examples of miscalculation, both involve Texas franchises letting go of a star player over a length of contract disagreement, to see the star go to Phoenix and prove them wrong: 1. Houston Astros offering a three year deal to randy Johnson, Arizona countering with a five-year deal, Astros folding figuring the Unit would be too old at the end of the contratc. 2. Dallas Mavericks letting go of Steve Nash, because he wanted more years on his deal. We all know how these turned out...
Hakeem didnt get paid well during his early years with the rockets, probably was not at the top of the list of highest paid players when he was the MVP winning championships. Who cares about the extra couple of million he wanted and extra year. The organization owed it to him, what did they spend the money on anyways? terrence morris? carlos rodgers? they shouldve let him have that 18th year in Houston plain and simple.
Hakeem thought he had more left in the tank -- he didn't and everyone knew it. The Raptors took a chance and it didn't work out -- doesn't effect at all what he did here in Houston. Hakeem going to Toronto is like Rocky 5 -- IT NEVER HAPPENED.
i remember it being a matter of the rockets chosing to resign a lot of thier key players that summer and not having enough money left to satify hakeem. of course it was a fair offer given his steady decline but hakeem wanted more. to top it off he thought the ball should still run through him on offense, not through steve and cat. though he was probably right, it was time to pass the tourch in the organization. the rockets planned for the future rather than hold on to the past.
oh man, that was a FAMOUS CLUTCHFANS THREAD. http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=12270&highlight=foods
Post championship years, Olajuwon was coming off of a large contract ending in $16.5m. The aging Dream thought he was worth ~$8m...he truly wasn't and that was born out in TOR. The Rockets wanted to re-sign Moochie and Shandon Anderson (to whom they had Bird Rights) and throw the remaining $8m or so at Mo Taylor who had signed a short one year wink-wink Rox deal after his rookie years as a primary but somewhat disgruntled scorer with the Clipps. The Rockets parked Rudy T on Olajuwons front door at 12:01 AM on the first day they were legally allowed to talk to him. Dream neglected to tell them he'd be in Jordan for several weeks.The initial offer was slightly above the MLE...partially their valuation of Dreams' remaining skills and partially to have money for the aforementioned trio. In addition to the $ amount, Olajuwon wanted an extra year which the Rockets balked over. In short, Olajuwon thought he was worth $8m/yr for 3 years...the Rockets thought he was worth ~$6m/yr for 2 years.
To be fair, Randy Johnson had no intentions of signing with Houston and the Astros knew it. They basically made an offer for the sake of making an offer. Unit was heading west no matter what. Dream was on the major decline and just didn't believe it. The Rockets would have loved to have him finish it out in Houston, but not for what he was asking.
Hakeem knew everyone just wanted him to retire a Rocket. At that time, I don't remember anyone being to convinced he could be that much help.
Hakeem's game had been off ever since Charles Barkley joined the team and by the time that this situation came about, the offer of the two years was a gift of the Rockets to Hakeem for past services,more so than what they could expect from his basketball performance. By this time he was on the downward spiral. I am saying this as I saw it. Hakeem was my all time favorite player at that time. Toronto made a big mistake on taking on Hakeem for the three year contract.
like others said- dream wanted more money, can u blame him? something else that reminded me of this was the bagwell-insurance situation last season. Bags had his contract structured so that in the early going it would be light for the sake of the team, and heavy at the end. then in the end, when all that stuff was coming back to claim insurance policies and whatnot on his bum arm, the 'stros tried to get out of it, even tho the whole organization knew that they were the ones who structured it that way. lame. in the larger scheme of things- does it really matter in reguards to Dream? (i know this is a thread just asking why and what, not trying to provoke opinions, but still) Initally I was mad when he left, but then I remembered the rafters, and 2 banners are all i need to silence me. No one should fault dream for what he did. sure, its easy to bicker about 'loyalty' on an online forum, but 110% of people would do the same as dream and get more money. the man brought the first ever professional championships to houston, he has earned the right to do whatever he wanted and not be questioned for it. deal? (I thought we buried this hatchet approximately 4/5 years ago.)
Man i just saw that thread and i enjoyed one funny part of it. Where Sir Jackie Chiles said these are part of our offseason necessities. Re-Sign Moochie and AirBullard. Pick up the Langhi option for another year.
too bad they took down the pictures. that was awesome, a clutchfan taking pics of Dream at Whole Foods AND getting the scoop that he wont be with the Rockets anymore!
IIRC, Dream was having problems with his back and missing a lot of games in the season or two before he went to Toronto. So it wasn't just that he was not putting up the numbers he used to, he wasn't even on the court for 20-30 games.
