NBA on TNT analyst Kenny Smith joins the Dan Patrick Show and explains why, even if Michael Jordan doesn’t retire from basketball, his ’94 and ’95 Houston Rockets teams, led by Hakeem Olajuwon, still would have won those 2 NBA Titles
@Houston Rockets
6 Comments
If Kenny don’t sit his ass down somewhere 😂
Don't mind me I'm just here for the comments, MJ fanatics are already losing their minds.
Stop, you didn’t! If you could you would’ve!
Kenny Smith really speaking facts here. MJ was NOT rusty when he averaged 31/7/6 in the 1995 playoffs. They simply had no interior presence. No Grant, no Rodman, no Cartwright. If they couldn't deal with young Shaq, how they dealing with prime Hakeem? Instead, Jordan fans gotta push the myth that he was 'rusty' and somehow he became a lot better in 1996. No, look at the numbers, He was better in 1995 than 1996 by the numbers. If you don't have the right team around you, you don't win period. And that's what happened to Jordan in 1995. Stop it with the 'rusty' talk.
Not true Kenny, that was just one game…at MSG no less! EVERYONE (at the time) saw Jordan wasn't his full self yet. Just look at the Bulls record for the following season when Jordan was back in basketball shape.
Wilt had to go through Russell
Bird and Magic had to go through each other
Duncan had to go through Kobe and Shaq
Lebron had to go through the Spurs and Warriors 7 of 10 finals, Curry and Duncan won their conference 6 times each.
Jordan never had to go through Hakeem the next best player of his era.
People don't want to admit that Jordan really had a wide open league to dominate winning especially 2nd 3 peat.
Best sidekick Pippen
Best defender/rebounder Rodman
Best 6th man Kukoc
Harper a good defender who averaged 20ppg before the Bulls
Kerr best shooter statistically
Phil Jackson the best coach.
It's not like Jordan was overcoming improbable odds to win he had more than enough help to win relative to the 90s competition.
1998
11-71 Nuggets 16-66 Raptors 17-65 Clippers 19-63 Warriors 19-63 Grizzlies 20-62 Mavericks.
There were alot of bad teams to beat up on late 90s who were bad with healthy rosters not even tanking.
1998 best teams
Jazz 2nd best scorer Jeff Hornacek in his mid 30s , 2nd best player Stockton past prime 29mpg 12pts 8ast
Pacers 2nd best player Rik Smits, good but near the end of his prime not a Hall of Famer
Lakers with 19 year old Kobe , Van Excel and Eddie Jones who all made the allstar game because the depth of talent was watering down.
Spurs rookie Tim Duncan.
I know Jordan don't want to read all that but it's simply facts. If Hakeem had the kind of crew Jordan had and they were facing each other in Finals it would've been a real conversation who's better Hakeem or MJ because in the years Hakeem had terrible help he was more competitive than Jordan before Pippen and Grant became the best supporting cast in the league at the time.