Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan: Portland Trailblazers Made the Right Pick

First, let me say this article is not satirical in any way, shape or form. Let me clear up several more things. I am not a Portland Trailblazers fan. I am not a University of Kentucky homer or a University of North Carolina basher. One last thing—Michael Jordan is the best shooting guard to ever play in the NBA.

There will be four types of reactions to this article.

First, the close minded flamer will see the title, not read a single word of the article and then  post a comment insulting my intelligence. People like that thrive off of the anonymity that Internet message boards provide. They get their jollies by putting others down and won't even consider the counterargument.

Second, the dissident opinion crowd will go in disagreeing with my claim but will at least hear me out. In the end they listened to the cogent argument I was making but still chose to disagree. I will end up respectfully disagreeing with them, but there should be some good dialogue along the way.

Third,than k goodness someone else had the cajones to put this in print. Few people will offer up an opinion they know will be unpopular even if they believe in it. I know going into this discussion it will be an uphill battle. The people from this group will help me fight the good fight.

Fourth, my favorite group—the converts. They went in wanting to disagree with me, but after digesting the logic they turned their opinion around on the matter. This group makes writing worthwhile because it accomplished something.

Now on to the discussion. This isn't simply about the Portland Trailblazers 1984 draft pick. This involves three teams—the Portland Trailblazers, Houston Rockets and to a lesser extent, the Chicago Bulls. It also involves two drafts—1983 and 1984. Sports fans and humans as a whole like to only look at the surface of a topic and make a snap judgment. That judgment can lead to a revisionist history and vice versa.

In this case the snap judgment is Michael Jordan was a better player than Sam Bowie and therefore should have been the Trailblazers 1984 draft pick at No. 2 overall. This is based on the media deifying Jordan over the years to the point that nothing disparaging can ever be said about him. If you don't worship at the altar of Jordan your opinion is thrown out like a worn out pair of Reeboks in the trash.

The key to this answer is looking into all of the angles as they weave together. The first thing to consider is what happened in the 1983 draft leading up to this one. With the first overall pick the Houston Rockets selected Ralph Sampson out of Virginia. Sampson was a 7'4" center who was a three-time National Player of the Year. This was a no doubt selection at the top of the draft. The Rockets also had the third pick in the 1983 draft and took SF Rodney McCray out of Louisville. A relevant pick for this article was made at 14th overall in the 1983 draft (more on that later).

Now on to the 1984 draft. The Chicago Bulls drafted SG Michael Jordan out of North Carolina with the third overall pick. Right before that the Portland Trailblazers selected C Sam Bowie from Kentucky with the second overall pick. The Portland Trailblazers are criticized heavily by virtually everyone for not taking Jordan.

What piece to this puzzle seems to be missing? The first overall pick of the 1984 draft of course. With that pick the Houston Rockets selected C Akeem Olajuwon from the University of Houston (he would later be known as Hakeem). The Rockets are very rarely criticized for taking Olajuwon with that pick. The rationale is that Olajuwon was a Hall of Famer who won two NBA Championships in his career. I disagree with that rationale, but that isn't important. What is important is that the vast majority of the sports population agrees with that rationale. They give the Rockets a pass on not drafting Jordan because of Olajuwon.

Here is where the vast majority of the sports population gets exposed as hypocrites. Remember I said there was a relevant pick made with the 14th overall pick in the 1983 draft? That pick was made by the Portland Trailblazers. The player? Hall of Fame SG Clyde Drexler from the University of Houston who went on to win one NBA Championship in his career. The Rockets somehow get a pass on not drafting Jordan because of the presence of a Hall of Fame center (Olajuwon), and yet the Trailblazers don't get that same pass despite the presence of a Hall of Fame SG (Drexler)?

That is an absurd rationale. Grossly absurd. Drexler went on to become the fourth best SG in the history of the NBA (Jordan, Kobe and Jerry West were better). This isn't a decent player, this is a Hall of Fame player that played the same position as Jordan early in his career. Drafting Jordan with Drexler already on the team would have been asinine. Especially when you consider that the leading scorer on the 1983-84 Blazers was a still young SG Jim Paxson. The Blazers were so stacked at SG that they traded Fat Lever to the Denver Nuggets before the 1984 draft for Kiki Vandeweghe.

The Trailblazers needed a big man to grow with their young wingmen. Bowie missed a significant amount of time at Kentucky with leg injuries, but he was still a very highly regarded prospect. Even with injuries ravaging his NBA career he went on to have a solid 10-year career with totals of approximately 11 ppg, 7.5 rpg and 2 bpg. You could argue the Trailblazers should have taken Sam Perkins (he went fourth overall), Charles Barkley (he went fifth overall), Otis Thorpe (he went ninth overall) or Kevin Willis (he went 11th overall) to be that big man.

What you shouldn't argue is that Jordan should have been the No. 2 overall pick in the 1984 draft for Portland. He either would have been wasted on the bench, Drexler would have been wasted on the bench or the ill conceived notion that either Jordan or Drexler would play out of position in the starting lineup would be thrown out there. All three of those ideas are terrible.

The team that screwed up by not taking Jordan? The Houston Rockets. The Rockets had a hole at SG and they already had a promising young C in Ralph Sampson. Drafting Olajuwon was superfluous. You don't win NBA Championships by putting two centers on the court together. Name me a single time that worked in the last 30 years. You can't, because it never happened.

Let me put this in terms of this year's draft class for you. Let's say the lottery plays out so the Cavaliers win the rights to the first pick, the Wizards grab the second pick and the Kings get the third pick. If the Cavaliers draft Derrick Williams (which they should) with the first pick, should the Wizards draft Kyrie Irving at No. 2 when they just drafted PG John Wall last year? Of course not. This is the same scenario as Drexler and Jordan many years later. You don't draft a player high in the draft a year after drafting a player high in the draft that plays the same position.

The next time you get in a draft mistakes debate with someone, remember this article. Defend the Trailblazers for not drafting Jordan. Feel free to take a shot at the Rockets for passing on him.

If you enjoyed this debate please read my previous draft debate article; http://bleacherreport.com/articles/604675-darko-milicic-over-carmelo-anthony-detroit-pistons-made-the-right-pick.

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