Why did the Rockets and the Trail Blazers pass on Michael Jordan?

     Hard to believe that the best basketball of all time wasn't the first overall selection or even the second. Ok not really Tom Brady is considered the best Quarterback of all time and he was a sixth-rounder and Joe Montana was a third-rounder. Heck, some of the all-time greats didn't come through the draft like Babe Ruth who was bought out by the Red Sox or Wayne Gretzky who was with the Edmonton Oilers when they entered the NHL coming from the WHA. Granted you could consider Peyton Manning, Oscar Robertson, Magic Johnson, and Lebron James (more about him and Jordan later) an all-time greats and they were number one overall picks. Hey, wherever you can get a great player, am I right? Also, you're thinking if you're team drafts, someone, in the top five, top ten, you're hoping that player changes the fortunes of your team. There was great hype for Michael Jordan in Chicago when the Bulls got him three overall. Heck from earlier, teams tried to make a deal with the Bulls just to get him. Back during those times, NBA teams believed you needed a center to built around your team like Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain and if Patrick Ewing came out for the 1984 NBA Draft, Michael Jordan would have been a Dallas Maverick. I wonder if would have happened if Jordan stayed one more year in college and came out of the 1985 NBA Draft. Would the Knicks pick Jordan or Ewing first overall? Anyway, back to the 1984 Draft and the top two teams (or the bottom teams considering the draft). Also back then, the top (or bottom) teams, the worst team in the Western Conference and the Eastern Conference (more on that later) decided who to get the first pick of the draft. This was done before the lottery took over. For the teams, you had the Houston Rockets and the Portland Trail Blazers. The Rockets had a major fall from grace in a short period of time (not as quickly as the 1990s Bulls team as we'll get to that later). They lost to the Boston Celtics in the 1981 NBA Finals and followed that up with a first-round exit in 1982. During that offseason, they traded Moses Malone to the 76ers (man imagine if the 76ers him, DR. J, and Jordan or him, Barkley, Jordan, something I forget on another chapter) and the Rockets fell hard. They went from a good team to be the worst team in 1982-83 only winning 14 games. They won the coin flip against the Indiana Pacers and drafted Ralph Sampson from Virginia. They were better but still bad though some people said they tanked so they can get another number one pick especially to get local legend Hakeem Olajuwon from the University of Houston. It would have been a coin-filp rematch with the Pacers but they traded their first-round pick to the Portland Trailblazers. The Trailblazers actually had a good team at the time losing in the first round in the previous season against the Phoenix Suns and had guards Jim Paxson (brother of John Paxson) and Clyde Drexler who was their first-round pick in 1983. The Rockets won again and got Olajuwon and could have had his Phi Slama Jama teammate Drexler. The Trail Blazers offered their second overall pick and Drexler for Sampson which the Rockets said "No". Blown opportunity plus they could have Bowie and still had their Twin Towers with Bowie (yes, the Rockets could have drafted Jordan they probably been a super team that could have rivaled the current Golden State Warriors teams, well for this season Warriors team but at that time, Bowie would have been their pick if they made that trade, they wanted two big guys). Then came the Trail Blazers who drafted Bowie. Honestly, I'm surprised he was drafted that high because of his injury history and more than likely he would have dropped in the draft. Then again, teams do take chances especially if the players have talent that overlooks his injury history. 23 years later, the Trail Blazers took Greg Oden from Ohio State over Kevin Durant and we know how that turned out again not good for the Trail Blazers. Even now, with the Miami Dolphins picking Tua Tagovailoa 5th overall, teams will overlook injury concerns. Also, he admitted lying to the Trail Blazers about his injury report. I do appreciate him being honest but that's still on the team for not doing their due diligence to see if he was lying or not. Also, should I added that Sam Bowie MISSED TWO WHOLE SEASONS WITH INJURIES? That should have been a huge red flag for any team much less the Trail Blazers. Bob Knight (Jordan's team USA coach) told a friend to pick Jordan and when the friend responded we need a center to which Knight replied "Put Jordan in center". Again the Trail Blazers had their guards and in the same draft they got Jerome Kersey in the second round who would be their small forward for a decade. Could they traded either older Paxson or Drexler elsewhere? Probably would one of them been enough for a center? Houston said no, I doubt Seattle would have given them Jack Simka because they were division rivals, I doubt Philly, Detroit, and the Knicks would have given up Moses Malone, Bill Laimbeer, and Bill Cartwright. Plus Detroit and Philly had their guards. Maybe Washington could have given them Mahorn for one of those guys and The Trail Blazers could have gotten Jordan instead. That could have changed the NBA especially the Pistons because I doubt they become the Bad Boys without Mahorn. I think that could have work for both the Trail Blazers and the Bullets (now Wizards) Ultimately, the Trail Blazers went with Bowie and the rest was history. Bowie had a good rookie year but after that his Blazer tenure was marred that injuries and he was traded to the New Jersey Nets where he had his best seasons, granted not 20 points per game seasons but he averaged 13 points a game in his four years there. He played 11 seasons scoring nearly 11 points a game and 7.5 rebounds a game. Not bad. More than Greg Oden who only played three seasons. If anything, draft Bowie in the 19th pick (which they had, remember they got the 2nd pick via trade) and hope for the best (probably ended the same expect they would have had Jordan and Mahorn). Would the Trail Blazers won titles if they picked Michael Jordan? Probably though you can say that about every NBA team if they got Jordan especially the teams that tried to get back during the draft. Also, the Clippers (yes those Clippers under Donald Sterling) tried to get him (good thing the Bulls said no) and the Knicks a few times. Ok expect for the Clippers. Keep in Mind the Trail Blazers made it to the finals two out of three seasons in 1990 and 1992 including losing to Jordan's Bulls. With Jordan and Mahorn, they would have at least won one (maybe two, maybe they could have beaten the Bad Boys in 1990) and possibly more. If the NBA in 1984 was like it is today, Jordan would have been the number one overall pick. Drafting a big guy isn't as important as then back though you had Shaq, Yao Ming, and Dwight Howard during his Magic tenure though not many seven-footers out there today. At least we know what the Air Jordan would have looked like with the Trail Blazers. The same as they did with the Bulls because both the Bulls and the Trail Blazers had the same colors though the Bulls mostly wear Red as their primary road jersey and the Trail Blazers mostly wear Black. I'm still trying to picture Air Jordans with Rockets colors, can't do it. At least Portland still has its team unlike Seattle (Too Soon?). At least Seattle has their MLB and NFL teams and an NHL team coming. Though I would like to see the Supersonics come back.