Photo of the day From the Stripes archives
January
21, 2005
Red Grandy ©Stars and Stripes
Darmstadt,
Germany, July 16, 1984: Future basketball Hall of Famer Elvin
Hayes, recently retired after 16 outstanding years in the NBA, poses during a
visit to U.S. troops in Germany. In an interview, Hayes criticized the decision
by his former team, the Houston Rockets, to use their top draft pick on a
second center, Akeem Olajuwon, when they already had Ralph Sampson on the
roster. He would have drafted Michael Jordan instead — a choice that seems
obvious in hindsight, but must be weighed against Olajuwon's outstanding career
in which he led Houston to two NBA titles in the mid-1990s, long after
Sampson's short-lived tenure ended.