Yes, Jeff, take your "logic" and sensibilities and begone. This is a thread for non sequiturs about Glen Rice and Kelvin Cato!
Did you watch the game last night Jeff? Hakeem didn't play well because he rarely even touched the ball in that Toronto offense. That is not a problem with Hakeem's skills, it's a problem with the system. The exact same problem the Rockets had last year. When Toronto figures out that having a low post presence leads to wins, they will start giving Dream the ball, and wins will pile up. Oh, and Hakeem still plays great defense, and his game has so many intangibles that don't show up on the stat sheet, but I guess that means nothing to you.
I miss Olajuwon bad... I mean I still have his pajama(current) Jersey on my wall... I paid $110+ on it... I miss the bug guy...
Hakeem has always been a rhythm shooter. You can't give him 5-7 shots a game and expect offensive fireworks. Look at his impact on the defensive end (steals, blocks, boards). I'm sorry, but the Rockets would be a better team with him. Besides EG, this is one of the worst collection of defensive players in the NBA.
He didn't get the ball because Davis shot 6-8, Clark shot 6-12 and Jerome Williams shot 6-10. You go with what's working, not to placate egos. I'm sure Dream's just happy they won. Keon Clark is a damn fine player. This guy could be a 20pt scorer if he got the shots. He had like 11 rebounds a game as a starter this year too.
Jeff -- I don't take any pleasure in seeing him do poorly. In fact I <I>really</I> want to see him and the Raptors succeed and do well. Watching highlights of what he's done for the Rockets (halftime show on UPN20 was great) and how he put us on the map .... makes me feel selfish to criticize him now (though in the end, he did things to warrant criticism). I think bringing up Cato is not on topic, since we gave him that money while Hakeem was here and had 2 years left on his deal. However, Rice was a blunder.... cost us more than Hakeem and has looked about as slow and definitely more injury-prone. Now, having said that, I'd like to point out that the Raptors and their fans are starting to realize what Rocket fans have known for a few years now. Hakeem is now just a <B>shell</B> of what was once a great player. <a href="http://www.canoe.ca/Slam020117/col_simmons-sun.html"><B>Toronto Sun: The Dream is becoming tainted by a harsh reality</B></a> A few quotes from column writer Steve Simmons that, honestly, are depressing: <I><LI> "You look at him now, after all he has done, and hope your eyes are hiding the truth. You look at him now, knowing who he is, knowing where he has been, knowing how much he has meant, and want to see something you just don't see."</I> <I><LI> "The reality last night came with a game on the line and Olajuwon sitting on the bench. In the moments that mattered most, the most decorated of all Raptors was watching wearing warmups."</I> <I><LI> "Olajuwon finished with 31 minutes played, five rebounds, six points scored -- a night almost as silent as his voice. And this was a game that mattered to him, like few games this season will matter."</I> <I><LI> "Olajuwon is, and always will be, a Houston Rocket. There is a player of the same name playing for the Raptors, but it is there the similarities end."</I> <I><LI> "In some ways, by becoming the Raptors starting centre, by seeing Antonio Davis move to power forward, you can argue that the signing of Olajuwon has messed up two positions with the team."</I>
He's insane. Antonio Davis is shooting like 38% this year. That's atrocious for a PF. How is that Hakeem's fault. Davis whined in the offseason that he wanted to play PF because it was his natural position. Toronto got Dream and he's done everything they need him to. For this writer to blame Dream for Davis playing like crap is insane. If anything, Lenny Wilkens should be getting the ball out of Davis' hands and into the hands of players who actually have 5/4 shooting percentages like Dream and Keon Clark. Dream has had great games for Toronto this year as well. Where was this writer when Dream hit a fadeaway over Nazr Mohammad to dust the Hawks? It's all a matter of some Toronto writer with a "what have you done for me lately kind of attitude".
Jeff, I'm suprised that you would even want to start a thread like this. We have some under-performing over-paid players on our team (Walt, Cato, Rice, Mooch), and none of them are the greatest Houston sports icon ever. Why is it that the Rockets have a history of over paying bums, but under paying Hakeem?
The worst thing is, we have Glen Rice and Mo Taylor's big contracts forever and right now KT and Eddie look to be better than Mo. It's gonna be tough to keep Eddie around w/ Steve's max deal coming, Cato's fat ass contract and Mo Taylor's paycheck as well. We're gonna have to start cutting the fat NOW.
Glen's contract is only a three year deal. Cato will be coming off the books shortly after that. Eddie is under contract for 3 years with an option. By the time his next contract arrives we will have full bird rights and can sign him for the max. Griffin will not be let go for luxury tax reasons.
My point wasn't to diminish who Hakeem is or was. My point wasn't to suggest that I am glad he is struggling. I love the guy. I'm glad he was a Rocket for all those years. I would have liked to see him in a Rockets uni this year. Lest we forget, I suggested keeping him and praised him highly on numerous occassions... May 2 - Truth Column... <i>Most importantly, bring back Olajuwon. No doubt he will want more than the veteran's exception especially since he hired an agent, but Dream is as much a part of Houston as Buffalo Bayou, NASA and the beer can house. Bring him back.</i> My POINT was that those of us who even dare breathe the notion (the "How dare you" earlier in this thread shoves a hot poker right through my point) that a Dream-less Rockets were as good as or better than one with him were treated like red-headed step children of the corn. It was like we were personally responsible for every evil plague that had befallen the world since the dawn of time. Life goes on. My point being that those who suggested Dream wasn't the player he used to be were told unceasingly that he was still a guy that could go for 15/10 every night. Now, that we see what the reality is, everyone seems strangely quiet. I'm not a hata. I love Dream. I wish him absolutley nothing but sheer greatness wherever he goes. I hope Toronto gets it together and goes to the finals. But, I'm not changing my opinion and I don't consider myself satan for saying it in the first place.
I predict that, before Dream dies but after he retires, he will fess up that it was a big mistake to go to Toronto, and that he wishes he had it to do over again.
Underpaying Hakeem!? The guy got 18 million dollars his last year in Houston how is that underpaying him!? And Cato's contract has NOTHING to do with Hakeem not re-signing. In fact if people want to constantly harp on Cato's contract, Hakeem's contract over the life of it was MUCH higher and better then Cato's contract. It just so happens that Hakeem's contract expired earlier then Cato's. And what does Glen Rice have to do with Hakeem? We didn't sign him, we traded for Hakeem. The Rockets still had Hakeem's bird rights so trading for Rice had nothing to do with Hakeem leaving either. I must be living on a planet where Hakeem averaging 8 ppg makes him an unmotivated megastar. The guy is on his last leg. He reminds me of Moses Malone in his final years. Old, injury prone, and barely productive on a consistent basis. It's hard to watch the guy, he just doesn't have it. I mean people are saying he would still be our best rebounder, yes he would, but he would be slow to get up the floor, limited to 20 to 25 minutes, old, slow, tired, unmotivated and clogging the lane. Again Cato has NOTHING to do with Hakeem. The Rockets paid Hakeem more then they paid Cato and they signed Cato 2 years before Hakeem left. Other then 7 rpg, something we are getting from Willis off the bench, what would Hakeem have offered us, especially in an injury riddled season?
Jeff, This is why I didn't think you'd be the one to start a thread like this..... I thought you were against all those "Hakeem sucks" "No he doesn't" threads. ---------------------------- RM, Rice and Cato (and Maloney, and Walt, and Moochie, and Pippen) DO have everything to do with Olajuwon. Their contracts show that the organization is/was willing to pay unknown-unpopular-unproductive players more than they were willing to pay the best player in their history - a player who is not as productive as he was in 1994, but a player who would still be the best defender on our team, lead our team in rebounds, be a consistent scorer (albeit a 2nd or 3rd option), and bring more fans to the games. Who cares if we would've won more games? We weren't going to challenge for the championship this year. And, we won't next year. Without all the injuries we've had, I still don't think we would've had a very good shot at the playoffs, mainly because I thought we'd be marginally worse than last year. Had we kept Hakeem we would've been marginally better, but still not a strong playoff team (possibly not a playoff team at all).
I dunno... He seems really happy and I think deep down he doesn't really like Steve or Cuttino that much. His family is happy, Toronto is winning and the Rockets aren't...
Toronto is "winning" only in the sense that they are winning more games than the Rockets. How many teams aren't this season? The Raptors are not doing as well as last season, and many people said that they had the best offseason of anybody. Lots of sportswriters said that they had a great chance to win the championship. I think that is a large reason why Dream left, because he wanted to be on a team that would actually DO something in the playoffs. Unless the Raptors turn it around, they won't be doing much in the playoffs. The main reasons I can think of that Dream left Houston for Toronto are not working out for him, to my way of thinking. He is not necessarily more loved (how can Toronto fans who have seen him for half a season appreciate him more than fans who he won two championships for), he is no bigger a part of the offense (we saw that in Toronto, they rarely fed him in the post), the weather is colder which he dislikes (even though he did say it was a beautiful city), and the team does not at all look like a championship caliber team. I remember last season, in close games, Dream was often on the bench in the 4th quarter and people around here (including me) would complain that he should be in the game. The same exact thing happened in Toronto. Even that Toronto Sun sportswriter commented on it. It just seems to me that the only added bonus of Dream going to Toronto over Houston is that he gets a few more wins, but probably not many more wins that count (playoff), and a little more money than the Rockets offered. I think when he is 50 or 60, he will have forgotten about those extra regular season wins, will only remember the early playoff exit, and the money will be meaningless to him because he was already rich. I just think that once he realizes those things, he will also realize that it probably would have been best for him to stay in Houston.
The Raptors are doing better than they were at this point last season btw. Don't judge him by one game.
