An in-depth look at why Olajuwon would not have defeated Jordan in the Finals.
1993-94 Season
The ’93-94 Rockets team that took home the NBA Championship won 58 games during the regular season. In contrast, the Bulls WITHOUT Michael Jordan won 55 games that same year but fell to the New York Knicks in the second round of the Playoffs.
That year, the Rockets – coached by Rudy Tomjanovich – had a first seven playoff roster that looked like this:
Hakeem Olajuwon – C
Otis Thorpe – PF
Robert Horry – SF
Vernon Maxwell – SG
Kenny Smith – PG
Sam Cassell (rookie) – 6th Man
Mario Elie – SG/SF
Meanwhile, the Bulls – led by Phil Jackson – probably would’ve played their first seven this way:
Luc Longley – C
Horace Grant – PF
Scottie Pippen – SF
Michael Jordan – SG
BJ Armstrong – PG
Toni Kukoc – 6th Man
Steve Kerr – PG
For added emphasis, let’s go 12-deep — which is the number of active players allowed on a playoff roster — and look at the remainder of both benches.
For the Rockets, it looked like this: Scott Brooks (now Head Coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder), Carl Herrera, Matt Bullard, Chris Jent and Earl “The Twirl” Cureton.
For the Bulls, their bench would’ve most likely looked something like this: Pete Myers, Bill Wennington, Bill Cartwright, Scott Williams and John Paxson.
It could be argued that the retirement of Jordan led to Myers being on the team in the first place, but keeping it “one hunid,” Pete was garbage and so was Jo Jo English, so what’s the difference? This is after all a “what if” scenario, right?
Either way, neither bench looks impressive, but the advantage would clearly have to go to the Bulls. Like his current Lakers squad now, PJax had length back then and that makes a world of difference in basketball.
Perhaps Bullard and Jent could’ve stretched Chicago’s D with their outside shooting, but with the defense the Bulls played, how long would that have lasted?
And yes, Olajuwon was better than every big the Bulls had, but Phil had the luxury of having three 7-footers, one 6-10 guy, and 24 fouls to use on Olajuwon. Say what you want, and I know that Hakeem is great, but over a seven-game series, those factors will start to come into play and constantly being fouled will eventually wear a player down. Look no further than the “Jordan Rules” – the Detroit Pistons strategy, not the book – for evidence of that.
If the Bulls could’ve found a way to somehow frustrate Olajuwon, the rest of his team would’ve fallen in right behind him.
Conversely, Houston would’ve had no answer for the three-headed monster of Jordan, Pippen and Toni Kukoc. No matter what Rudy T would’ve tried defensively agaimst the trio, it wouldn’t have worked. And as much as I loathe Horace Grant, he would’ve been a factor too.
So had the Bulls, with Michael Jordan, and the Rockets met in the 1994 NBA Finals, it would’ve been a great series, but it is of my opinion that the Bulls probably would’ve dispatched the Rockets in seven games even without homecourt advantage which is purely speculative considering the Bulls with Jordan probably would’ve won more than 55 games.
1994-95 Season
Once again the Houston Rockets took home another NBA championship winning back-to-back titles, sweeping Shaquille O’Neal and Penny Hardaway’s Orlando Magic squad in the Finals. The Rockets finished 47-35 during the regular season and oddly enough, so did the Bulls who played the first 65 games that year without Michael Jordan.
The Bulls were 34-31 through their first 65 games but won 13 of their last 17 once Jordan returned from baseball. Conversely, the Rockets started ’94-95 on a tear winning their first nine games of the regular season and were 39-26 through their first 65 games. But they faltered toward the end winning only eight of their final 17 games.
Also, both rosters had undergone a bit of change as well.
For starters, the Bulls were without Horace Grant who was now in Orlando playing for the Magic. Also, Chicago added Ron Harper to replace John Paxson, and when Bill Cartwright decided to hang up his razor-sharp elbows, the Bulls replaced him with Will Perdue.
After the Portland Trail Blazers decided that his services were no longer needed, Clyde Drexler was traded back “home” to Houston and was once again reunited with his former college teammate at the University of Houston, Olajuwon. But outside of that and a few other changes to their role players, the core of the Rockets playoff roster stayed intact as they returned seven players from the championship squad the year before.
One thing that needs to be mentioned before comparing the two rosters is this: There is no way the Bulls would’ve won only 47 games that year had Jordan played the whole season. Even without Horace Grant, whose contributions were sorely missed. The last time the Bulls won 47 games with Jordan was during the ’88-89 season. Since that time, the Bulls had won no less than 55 games with MJ on the roster.
I won’t speculate as to how many games they could’ve or would’ve won, but I can say with certainty it would’ve been more than 47.
The Rockets starters and first two guys off the bench in the Playoffs that year looked like this:
Hakeem Olajuwon – C
Robert Horry – PF
Mario Elie – SF
Clyde Drexler – SG
Kenny Smith – PG
Sam Cassell – 6th Man
Chucky Brown – SF
The remainder of the Rockets bench was this: Pete Chilcutt, Charles Jones, Zan Tabak, Vernon Maxwell and Carl Herrera who only played in one game during the Playoffs that year.
For the Bulls, the first seven would’ve been this:
Luc Longley – C
Toni Kukoc – PF
Scottie Pippen – SF
Michael Jordan – SG
BJ Armstrong – PG
Steve Kerr – 6th Man
Will Perdue – C
The rest of the Bulls bench: Bill Wennington, Jud Buechler, Ron Harper, Pete Myers and Corie Blount.
If anything, this would’ve been the year where the match-ups between the two teams were a lot more even. Horry vs. Kukoc would’ve potentially been a wash, so would Kenny Smith vs. BJ Armstrong. But Scottie Pippen would’ve rendered Mario Elie useless and Clyde Drexler would’ve had flashbacks and nightmares from what Jordan did to him back in the ’92 Finals. And as far as Hakeem goes, the same rules would’ve applied: three 7-footers, a 6-9 guy, and 24 fouls to use on him.
As for the two benches, once again, advantage: Bulls.
When Vernon Maxwell pulled a Gilbert Arenas and faked an injury because he was upset that Clyde “The Glide” was taking his minutes, the Rockets subsequently dismissed him giving them virtually no bench production whatsoever. Now, had they been facing the Bulls instead of the Magic, perhaps Houston would’ve taken a different course of action given the Jordan factor, but still, the Bulls bench was deeper and overall, better purely from a talent perspective.
Once again, another interesting Finals match-up, but I think the Bulls would’ve had a much easier time against this Rockets team than with the one from the year prior and the Bulls, with Jordan, would’ve more than likely had homecourt advantage this time around.
Additionally, it’s worth noting that the Rockets were ranked 12th in team defense that year and even without Jordan for most of the year, the Bulls were ranked second.
So my take? Bulls in five.
I’ll admit, playing the “what if” game is always fun, and as much as I enjoyed watching Hakeem Olajuwon play throughout his career, I’m extremely skeptical of his ability to lead his Rockets to a victory over the Bulls against Michael Jordan in a seven-game NBA Finals series with a Larry O’Brien trophy on the line.
Love him, hate him, whatever, the ‘90s belonged to Michael Jordan. His retirement gave a lot of people – players and coaches – hope and inspired them to play their best basketball in order to compete for a title. But that window of opportunity was a small one and proof of his dominance was solidified when MJ returned to the game full-time, leading the Bulls to another three-peat and the best regular season record ever in the history on the NBA in ’95-96.
Eight-straight Chicago Bulls championships is only a fairytale because Jordan did take a hiatus from playing. But had he never left, it’s pretty obvious that there wasn’t a team in the NBA during that time period that could’ve beat him. Not even the great Hakeem “The Dream” Olajuwon and his Houston Rockets squad whose best chance to win would’ve been in ’94, but based on his resume, you’d have to think that MJ would’ve somehow found a way.
Read the SLAMonline Discussion Rules before posting.