Well this is depressing, but still worth a watch. [video=youtube;CJKZgrzFqNM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJKZgrzFqNM[/video]
1. Portland got nailed for talking to Hakeem before the draft, and paid a hefty fine. Let's be honest: No one gives Houston any shit for not picking Jordan. Stern might have found a way to bar the Blazers from picking Olajuwon even if they won the coin flip, so Bowie might have fallen into Portland's lap regardless. There was no way Glickman and Ramsay were picking Jordan. In their minds, Jim Paxson was the SG of the now, Clyde was the SG/SF of the future, and they had just traded for Kiki Vandeweghe, giving them the SF they wanted. Hindsight is 20/20 on the impact that MJ had. No one saw it in 1984. 2. Glickman and Ramsay were still in the camp of "Championships are won by Centers". Walton, Unseld, Sikma, Malone, Jabbar. Add Chamberlain and Russell to the mix. Wings and Guards were scorers but did not win titles. The Blazers were smack dab in the middle of the "everyone chasing the Lakers" mode, and Ramsay wanted a big man to battle Jabbar. Bowie had just come off a stellar season with Kentucky and a Final Four bid. He had an excellent passing ability which Ramsay desired more than just about anything from a center. 3. The Chicago media lambasted the Bulls for picking Jordan and called for trading the pick for a proven center:
I'm not seeing the demand to trade Jordan for a C. As a lifetime Bulls fan, I would have picked Hakeem over Jordan to this day. Knowing what I know with all the hindsight. I'm reasonably sure that the Bulls would have won titles with Hakeem, Pippen, Grant, etc., too. I had lots of doubts about Bowie and Oden. My expectations for Hakeem going into the draft were pretty much fulfilled.
