Since Les is opposed to tanking, if he had owned the Rockets when Dream was in college, it's doubtful we would have lost enough games to get the number one pick. In fact, it's unlikely we would have lost enough games to draft in the top ten. To make things even more interesting, take a look at who was on the board in the middle of that draft. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_NBA_Draft#Draft Yeah, I'm glad that Les was not our owner 28 years ago.
I don't know what Les would have done, but one big difference between the Dream draft and today is that they had a coin-flip system back then and not the lottery. Tanking was much more of a sure-fire deal back in the days.
I keep saying this but few listen. Les did not win those two championships. He bought a "Mercedes" team and turned into a Yugo.
The other factor is that back then, players stayed in college for 3-4 years. The hit ratio on draft picks was much higher then. Nowdays, it's more of a crap shoot with high schoolers, one-and-dones, and euroballers. I think if there was another LeBron or Yao dangling out there, his attitude on tanking might change. Anthony Davis? Please.
Let's assume Dream is in the 2012 draft. And that he will not go anywhere BUT number 1. Would you make the following trades? Lowry for draft pick. KMart for nothing. Scola for nothing. Parsons for draft pick or nothing. Let Dragic go in FA. Let Lee go in FA. Let Camby go in FA. Not pick up Dalembert's option. Sign various scrubs to $10+ mil contracts to meet the necessary minimum salary requirements. After doing that, the Rockets would then have 25% chance of drafting Dream if no other team tries to tank along with us. But if there is another horrible team out there, that odd may go down to 20%, or 15% if we come in 3rd to last. Would you turn the Rockets into a laughing stock of the NBA for the next few seasons... for a 15-25% chance of drafting Hakeem?
Yes. Even when you miss out on Hakeem, you still get Jordan. I would do all of those things except the Parsons trade. Parsons couldn't carry the team and would still be valuable.
During Dream's year you flipped a coin to determine the top pick. This meant you only have a whopping 50% chance to get Dream, and at the very worst you'll be the 2nd pick. In today's NBA where you only get 25% to get a top pick, and there's a chance you end up out of the top 3. Also, let's get real as well, in the old days, players would spend 3-4 years in college before coming to the Pros. This meant their coaches in college were REAL coaches and not glorified recruiters, they spent several years developing their players so when they came to the pros the players were already somewhat skilled. When you got a big man out of the top 3, you're expecting a double double machine, not like today's NBA wherein you get stick thin boom or bust players like Hasheem or Drummond.
