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Thursday, February 1, 2001
Olajuwon says quotes were twisted



HOUSTON -- The more Hakeem Olajuwon talks about his unhappy situation with the Houston Rockets, the less he seems to explain.

Olajuwon
Olajuwon

Olajuwon, in the final year of a contract that pays him $16.5 million, apologized to coach Rudy Tomjanovich Wednesday night on KPRC-Radio for comments he made about possibly playing for the Miami Heat this season.

But on Thursday, the 17-year-veteran and future Hall of Famer still wouldn't put all rumors to rest that he'll close out this season with the Rockets.

When asked if he wanted to stay here the rest of the season, Olajuwon responded, "That kind of question you can't ask me."

Olajuwon told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel before Tuesday night's game against the Heat that he would like to play for the Heat and coach Pat Riley this season.

"That's my goal, really, to get to play with the Heat this year," Olajuwon told the newspaper. "It's supposed to be confidential, but the idea is to play there."

Olajuwon declined to explain his comments at Wednesday's practice but later called Tomjanovich's weekly call-in show to apologize, saying he didn't realize his comments would generate so much interest.

"It's making a mountain out of a mole hill," Olajuwon said at Thursday's shoot-around prior to a game against the Los Angeles Clippers. "I didn't know these guys (the Miami reporters). They asked me about the idea of coming to Miami.

"I told them of course I'd thought about it, but I didn't know it would become a big issue. If they (the Rockets) released me, for example, one of the team options would be Miami. It wasn't a plan that way. It was all twisted."

Olajuwon has asked the Rockets to trade or release him but owner Les Alexander has declined. General manager Carroll Dawson has said it would be almost impossible to trade Olajuwon, given their salary cap plans.

Alexander and Olajuwon met last week but neither would discuss the results of the meeting. Alexander declined to say that Olajuwon would be with the Rockets for the remainder of the season.

Tomjanovich said he just wanted to get back to trying to get the Rockets in the playoffs and that he and Olajuwon had cleared any misunderstandings.

"I think you've seen some of the demonstration of how we feel about each other and there is tremendous mutual respect," Tomjanovich said. "It's always been that way so that's why I made the comment this had gotten out of hand when you throw out a lot of stuff and don't have all the facts."


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Olajuwon, Rudy T. talk about aging star's unhappiness




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