In this episode of the Draymond Green Show, host Draymond Green and former NBA player Kenny Smith debate whether the 1994 Houston Rockets could have defeated Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls if Jordan had not taken his two‑year hiatus. Smith argues that the Bulls were too small and lacked key rebounders like Dennis Rodman and Horace Grant, which gave the Rockets a size and rebounding advantage. He highlights Hakeem Olajuwon’s dominance, the Rockets’ pioneering 4‑out, 1‑in offense that emphasized three‑point shooting and floor spacing, and the team’s superior second‑chance opportunities. The conversation also touches on the Rockets’ regular‑season success against the Bulls, the importance of role players (Sam Cassell, Robert Horry, Mario Elie) and management decisions after the second championship, and how missing players such as “GP2/GP3” impacted the team’s dynamics. Throughout, the tone remains conversational and analytical, with Smith expressing confidence that the Rockets would have prevailed without Rodman or Grant, but acknowledging that adding Rodman could have tipped the series. The episode concludes with a call to subscribe to the channel.
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Speaking of y'all time with the Houston Rockets, I hate it because I've heard similar stuff like that with our championships. Not exactly the same, but along the lines. People say, if Michael Jordan didn't leave for those 2 years, do y'all still win those 2 championships? Quite frankly, it don't matter, you're a champion, but—
No, it matters. It matters.
What? It does? It matters. So what do you feel about that? What do you think happens if MJ does not leave those 2 years?
I'm gonna say this. Michael Jordan is to me the greatest player that ever touched a basketball. And I'm actually glad that we didn't play them because I love the resume that he has that he's never lost in the Finals. Because as a fan, a basketball fan, I think that's a great resume. But they wouldn't have beat us. They would not have beaten us, Draymond, because of 2 things. Not because he wasn't the greatest player, because Hakeem was also the number— he would have been number 1 or 2 player in the world at that time too, in those championship runs. But they would— the Bulls were too little then. People forget they had— the reason they lost to Orlando wasn't Shaq, it was Horace Grant was gone. And Horace Grant was there, and they, they lifted Horace Grant up after the series because he dominated the series more than he's ever done offensively because they were too little. So all of those guys, and they were just too little for Dream. Weddington and Phil Jackson didn't double team. The next year we won it, they— he comes back. They hadn't had Rodman. Rodman wasn't there yet.
Yeah.
They're still too little. So they just would've not been able to dominate us because in those— that first championship years, when they won, I think, 3 in a row. You know, we in the East and West, you only play 'em twice. We went 6-2 in the regular season against them. Now, it's not the playoffs, like, it's different. But that just shows that, like—
It's different, of course, but—
Like, yo, in 3 years, y'all only beat them twice? Like, wait a minute. Like, that's saying a lot, that they had trouble with us. Even when they were winning championships, they used to come to Houston and get Ls. So, and it was because they wouldn't double. And then when they, and then they were too slow on the perimeter. 'Cause myself, Vernon, and Sam at that time, we were, I was a Jet for a reason. I could get by people. Vernon get by people easily. Sam could dribble by people. They were just too slow with BJ, Steve, and they on the perimeter. So we got baskets a little bit more frequently too. So, nah, I don't think they would've beat us, man. I don't. I think they were too little. Now if they had Rodman, They would've beat us probably. I would've been like, mm, I ain't know about. But no Rodman, no Grant, we smacking them.
Why do they beat y'all if they had Rodman? Do you think Rodman would've guarded Dream well?
It's just the second shot opportunities. Like we were getting second shot opportunities. You know, you don't have to, like Dream is gonna be efficient, but he might not be dominant in one game in a series. Like, so you have an ease, you can even it out. It's like, Every series, like, okay, when y'all played Cleveland, who would you guard?
Kevin Love.
Okay. Take you outta there, how many rebounds is Kevin Love gonna get?
In his hands. Kevin Love a hell of a rebounder. In his hands. 15 rebounds.
He was top 3 in that era. He was top 3 power forward in the game.
12 to 15 rebounds, you could book it.
You can book it. Now not only rebound, offensive rebound, putbacks. You like, no, no, no, no, no. You gonna do a little bit of that, but we shutting some of that down. That's what they could have done. They could have shut it down. Without them?
Nah.
We wild on the boards. We all, he's all over the rim. He's an animal over the— it's too much. And we shooting threes. And we the first team to shoot threes, Dray. It's too much. We created the 4-out, 1-in offense. Nobody was doing that before us. We were all, everybody else was doing 2-guard fronts. "We the first team to win an NBA championship playing 4 out and 1 in." Too much. It was too much for them.
So what happens, I think a lot of people don't understand from year to year, championship teams are different. Even if you go back to back, it's a different team. Like very seldomly does an NBA team come back the exact same from one year to the next. And it could be one or two pieces that, the public may not see and they leaving and you know on that team, like, man, we missed this guy. We missed that guy. Was there something, someone that y'all lost after the second championship that changed the whole dynamic for y'all team?
I think it was management. The belief was that Draymond Green and Clyde Drexler got it done.
Uh-huh.
You know, in the moment, no one's believing that. Oh, it's a team. Oh, kumbaya, everybody did they part. Kenny, you broke the NBA record for threes that game. Sam, you came in and got 30 in game 2 of the NBA. Mario, you hit the kiss of death. Like, everybody, oh. Everybody remembers that in the moment. Then about a year and a half removed, They don't remember that. And they go, oh, we can get a guy, we can get a guy to do it. I'm gonna go here with you. We can get a guy to do what Gary Payton III does. Oh no, you can't. Oh no, you can't. Now somebody might run into that role, but you gonna miss it. You like, you're gonna miss GP3. His role is big, was big.
GP2.
GP2 rather, right? GP2, you gonna miss GP2. Like you gonna miss this guy. So like, I thought that they thought we were a 3-point shooting team and they forgot the fact that we were 3, we were able to get 3s off because if you ran at us, we went by you.
Yeah.
Where then they brought in other guys around Draymond and Clyde that they were just 3-point shooters. And so they really couldn't create offense for themselves if they ran at them. Like, you know, you run at Steph, he gonna go by you. You run at Klay, he got the two dribble pull up. Those guys are like, no, we staying in this spot. We not moving.
And we shooting.
And we shooting. Or we not, or we gotta go. They're just contesting threes.
Yeah.
And I thought they just, management didn't really, they didn't take what Sam Cassell did. They didn't take what Robert Horry did. They didn't take what myself did, or Mario. Mario they kept, but I don't think they thought, that the value that the three of us brought was just the spacing of the floor.
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