[Dee-Zy]

That was the mandate facing one GM. His future Hall-of-Famer was feuding with the owner and calling the GM incompetent to the press. The guy's teammates were muttering off-the-record about greed and ego. The team seemed locked in the middle of the West, far behind the real contenders.

Sound familiar?

Clearly, we're describing Kobe Bryant...except we're not.

good read:

http://weritegoode.blogspot.com/2007...-you-dont.html

[giordun]

Good read. Holy crap Olajuwon was like that? I never knew. I wasn't even born then.

[liekomgj4ck]

wow good read, interesting!

[CubanLaker]

Great find!

[Basel57]

Definitely a good read. I never knew that about The Dream. Thanks for posting!

[OneBadLT123]

Interesting this was brought up. And as scary as this sounds, the final deal along with the the Heat deal, was the Rockets were going to consider was Stanley Roberts, and cash considerations for Hakeem (To the Clippers) But it never became final as well.

There was talk as to what happened that made him change. Some Rocket historians say that around the early 90's he dedicated full faith in Allah and Islam, which in turn gave him a different perspective on life and his career.

But also, there was a lot of speculation about Charlie Thomas (Then Rockets owner before he sold it to Les Alexander) that he was running the team, and running it into the ground. The GM was a complete moron, and puppet of CT. The 88-92 Rockets were a disaster as a team. Nobody on that team was any good, and most of them had severe off court problems. (Drugs, Domestic, Law...etc)

The 88-92 Rockets, were a version of the then recent "Jail Blazers", and the Timberwolves/KG situation rolled into one team. It was a disaster, but after Charlie Sold the team, Les cleaned up shop, and had a new line of management, which put the pieces around Hakeem. And from there on, things were different.

it was a mix of management being shifted, and Hakeem changing his religious ways. Either way, it did change for the better.

[KillWill]

Originally Posted by OneBadLT123;

Interesting this was brought up. And as scary as this sounds, the final deal along with the the Heat deal, was the Rockets were going to consider was Stanley Roberts, and cash considerations for Hakeem (To the Clippers) But it never became final as well.

There was talk as to what happened that made him change. Some Rocket historians say that around the early 90's he dedicated full faith in Allah and Islam, which in turn gave him a different perspective on life and his career.

But also, there was a lot of speculation about Charlie Thomas (Then Rockets owner before he sold it to Les Alexander) that he was running the team, and running it into the ground. The GM was a complete moron, and puppet of CT. The 88-92 Rockets were a disaster as a team. Nobody on that team was any good, and most of them had severe off court problems. (Drugs, Domestic, Law...etc)

The 88-92 Rockets, were a version of the then recent "Jail Blazers", and the Timberwolves/KG situation rolled into one team. It was a disaster, but after Charlie Sold the team, Les cleaned up shop, and had a new line of management, which put the pieces around Hakeem. And from there on, things were different.

it was a mix of management being shifted, and Hakeem changing his religious ways. Either way, it did change for the better.

add to that some young, unknown, future playoff greats and you have one of the best, forgotten about teams of our generation.

[JPSeraph]

Great article; strange because I was just thinking the other day that the Kobe situation reminded me of the Hakeem one. Funny how media can blow things so far out of proportion and make somebody look like the villain.

[Hakeem]

They don't mention that two independent doctors agreed that Olajuwon really was injured and recommended that he take time off to recover. Or that the team was terribly run.