At the peak of his powers, Michael Jordan had essentially swept the NBA up in a reign of terror. Jordan and the Chicago Bulls were so good that it almost seemed like they were destined to win championships. They certainly did that quite often throughout Jordan’s career, as he won six rings as we all know by now, and is considered one of the greatest players, and greatest winners, in the history of the NBA.
Kenny Smith doesn’t think Michael Jordan would have stopped the Houston Rockets from winning in 1994 & 1995
Jordan’s career was interrupted by his decision to try to enter the MLB, but soon enough, he found his way back to the Bulls towards the end of the 1994-95 season. But while Jordan was gone, the Houston Rockets had emerged as a new superpower team in the Western Conference. They won back-to-back championships in 1994 and 1995, but many fans have wondered whether anything would have changed had Jordan opted to play in the 1993-94 season and the entire 1994-95 season rather than just the end of it.
If you ask anyone on those Rockets teams, you probably already know the answer to this question. Kenny Smith is certainly among the group that believes that even if Jordan was around, it wouldn’t have mattered, because the Rockets were that good. When prompted by Draymond Green, Smith elaborated why he believes this, and highlighted a key weakness that may have ended up destroying the Bulls.
“They wouldn’t have beat us. They would not have beaten us Dray, because of two things. Not because (Jordan) wasn’t the greatest player, because Hakeen (Olajuwon) was also, he would have been the number one or two player in the world at that time too in those championship runs.
But the Bulls were too little then. People forget, the reason they lost to Orlando wasn’t Shaqulle O’Neal, it was because Horace Grant was gone…No, I don’t think they would have beat us man. I think they were too little. Now if they had (Dennis) Rodman, they would have beat us probably. But no Rodman, no Grant. Oh we smackin them.”
Kenny Smith
Would Michael Jordan have prevented the Houston Rockets from winning two straight titles?
While it doesn’t ultimately matter, because the Rockets won two titles and nobody can take that away from them, it is fair to wonder if things would have fared differently for them had Jordan still been in the NBA. The Bulls didn’t make it to the Finals to take on the Rockets in either season, but that may have been different had Jordan still been playing basketball rather than baseball.
Smith makes a good point in saying that, obviously, the Rockets had a ton of talent on their team. Hakeem Olajuwon was one of the best players in the league, and with a supporting cast of guys like Smith, Otis Thorpe, Robert Horry, and Vernon Maxwell, who was the only guy who could irritate Jordan according to Smith, they were very tough to beat.
Of course, the addition of Clyde Drexler for the 1994-95 season helped as well.
It certainly would have been a tough fight, as Jordan never backed down from anyone, but as Smith mentions, it would have been a lot tougher for him to accomplish without guys like Dennis Rodman and Horcace Grant helping out alongside him. It would have been awesome to see these two teams clash, and while we will never know the real answer, it feels like it would have been tough for either of these Rockets teams to come up short in the playoffs during this crazy two year stretch.
When Michael Jordan was on the Chicago Bulls, they were generally a very tough team to beat. But in the two seasons where Jordan was playing baseball rather than basketball, it was the Houston Rockets who emerged as the new superpower team in the NBA.
The Rockets won both the 1994 and 1995 Finals without having to worry about the Bulls, and many folks often wonder whether or not things may have been different had Jordan still been in the NBA. Of course, the guys on those Rockets teams obviously do not agree with that assumption.
Kenny Smith, who was part of those teams, does not believe that Jordan would have made any sort of difference when it came to the Rockets winning back-to-back titles. Smith says that the Bulls were simply too small to defend those Rockets teams at the time, and Jordan wouldn’t have been able to do anything about that.
It doesn’t really matter, because the Rockets are champions and nothing will change that, but it would have been awesome to see these two teams square off in the Finals, but it may have been tough for Jordan and the Bulls to add to their championship collection here.