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Thursday, February 1, 2001
Olajuwon says quotes were twisted
Associated Press
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HOUSTON -- The more Hakeem Olajuwon talks about his unhappy
situation with the Houston Rockets, the less he seems to explain.
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| Olajuwon |
Olajuwon, in the final year of a contract that pays him $16.5
million, apologized to coach Rudy Tomjanovich Wednesday night on
KPRC-Radio for comments he made about possibly playing for the
Miami Heat this season.
But on Thursday, the 17-year-veteran and future Hall of Famer
still wouldn't put all rumors to rest that he'll close out this
season with the Rockets.
When asked if he wanted to stay here the rest of the season,
Olajuwon responded, "That kind of question you can't ask me."
Olajuwon told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel before Tuesday
night's game against the Heat that he would like to play for the
Heat and coach Pat Riley this season.
"That's my goal, really, to get to play with the Heat this
year," Olajuwon told the newspaper. "It's supposed to be
confidential, but the idea is to play there."
Olajuwon declined to explain his comments at Wednesday's
practice but later called Tomjanovich's weekly call-in show to
apologize, saying he didn't realize his comments would generate so
much interest.
"It's making a mountain out of a mole hill," Olajuwon said at
Thursday's shoot-around prior to a game against the Los Angeles
Clippers. "I didn't know these guys (the Miami reporters). They
asked me about the idea of coming to Miami.
"I told them of course I'd thought about it, but I didn't know
it would become a big issue. If they (the Rockets) released me, for
example, one of the team options would be Miami. It wasn't a plan
that way. It was all twisted."
Olajuwon has asked the Rockets to trade or release him but owner
Les Alexander has declined. General manager Carroll Dawson has said
it would be almost impossible to trade Olajuwon, given their salary
cap plans.
Alexander and Olajuwon met last week but neither would discuss
the results of the meeting. Alexander declined to say that Olajuwon
would be with the Rockets for the remainder of the season.
Tomjanovich said he just wanted to get back to trying to get the
Rockets in the playoffs and that he and Olajuwon had cleared any
misunderstandings.
"I think you've seen some of the demonstration of how we feel
about each other and there is tremendous mutual respect,"
Tomjanovich said. "It's always been that way so that's why I made
the comment this had gotten out of hand when you throw out a lot of
stuff and don't have all the facts."
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