I think taking Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan may have been a mistake.

Interesting post, good stuff.

Although I wouldn’t paint Blazers as a chronic rule breaker. These cases are so far apart and the Hansen incident was quite minor if I’m not mistaken.

Craziest part to me is that 42 years later, the fine went down, joining TVs on the short list of things that have moved against inflation in the last half century.

Regardless of the fine, the Blazers were always going to make the mistake of taking an injury-prone player in 84.

From Wikipedia:

>Olajuwon was selected first overall by the Rockets in the 1984 NBA draft. In his autobiography Living the Dream, Olajuwon mentions an intriguing draft trade offered to the Rockets that would have sent Clyde Drexler and the number two pick in the 1984 NBA draft from Portland in exchange for Ralph Sampson.

>Had the Rockets made the deal, Olajuwon states the Rockets could have selected Michael Jordan with the number two pick to play alongside Olajuwon and Drexler, who had established chemistry playing together during their Phi Slama Jama days in college.

>Sportswriter Sam Smith speculates that such a trade “would have changed league history and maybe the entire Michael Jordan legend.”

So $250k wasn’t the only punishment. Stern barred them from drafting Jordan and by rigging the coin flip ensured Jordan would go to Chicago. Then Stern made Stu Inman declare publicly that he would take Bowie 2nd if he lost the flip.

I’ve seen enough, force the sale and move the team to London

The Portland Trail Blazers were fined $250,000 by the National Basketball Association yesterday for illegally making indirect contact with Patrick Ewing of Georgetown and Akeem Olajuwon of the University of Houston. The fine is the largest in the league’s history.

Commissioner David J. Stern said he found that representatives of the Blazers had met both with Ewing’s coach, John Thompson, and with “friends of Olajuwon.” He ruled, however, that the Blazers “did not conduct any contract negotiations and engaged only in general discussions of N.B.A. procedures.”

… Stern also ruled that the Rockets had not violated the by-laws. He said they had met with Olajuwon’s advisers in the belief that they would provide a letter indicating that Olajuwon had renounced his eligibility.

“When the advisers did not produce such a letter, Houston declined to go forward with the meeting,” the N.B.A. statement said.

https://www.nytimes.com/1984/05/22/sports/blazers-are-fined-250000-by-league.html

Repeat offenders? Ban them from the league!