GRIESHEIM, Germany — Elvin Hayes is leery about the Houston Rockets’ direction.

The recently retired NBA forward wonders why his former team drafted a 7-foot center for the second straight year.

In 1983, the Rockets used their No. 1 pick to land 7-4 Ralph Sampson. Hayes lauds that choice.

But this year, with Houston using its No. I pick to draft 7-foot Akeem Olajuwon, Hayes dissents. He would’ve chosen Michael Jordan, the 6-foot-6 Olympian drafted by the Chicago Bulls.

"No team in the history of pro basketball has ever been successful with two centers. They get killed by speed," Hayes said during a visit to The Stars and Stripes Monday. "Look at Houston. We had Sampson and Caldwell Jones and didn’t win. The Warriors one year (1964-65) had Wilt Chamberlain, Nate Thurmond and Tom Meschery and finished last. The Knicks had Willis Reed and Walt Bellamy and didn’t win until they traded Bellamy for Dave DeBusschere.

"We should’ve picked Jordan. He’s the best in the country. He’s a 20-game player. He’ll win 20 games just by himself. Walter Davis is one of the best players I’ve ever seen. Michael Jordan is better. There are only a few winners. Jerry West and Oscar Robertson were winners. Michael Jordan is a winner."

Hayes said that pairing Jordan with Sampson would be comparable to forward Larry Bird joining center Robert Parish at Boston and Magic Johnson teaming with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at Los Angeles.

"You complement the big guys with speed," Hayes said. "If you have Sampson, why get Akeem? Caldwell Jones is an all-defensive player, and he didn’t win with Sampson. So why will it be different with Akeem?

"Houston’s a team that wastes its draft choices. I like the guys on the team; I want them to be winners. But they won’t be winners the way the team is going."

Hayes, who said he knows and likes Olajuwon, said, "You don’t draft a player because he’s from Houston. You draft to win."

Hayes also questioned drafting an undergraduate like Olajuwon, who left the University of Houston after his junior year.

"I don’t think he’s ready for the pros," Hayes said. "There are so many centers who came out of college looking like sure things — Joe Pace with the Bullets and Marvin Webster (of Seattle and New York) — but when the game started, it was like a new game of basketball.

"College ball is just a game; pro ball is a job. Akeem ran into a lot of foul trouble in college. He also made those short dunk shots easily; he won’t do that in the NBA."

Sampson’s a different story.

"He’s not only a super athlete but a super person," Hayes said. "He’s willing to work hard. I love him.

"He has a chance to play better than any center in history. He can shoot, rebound, put the ball on the floor. He’s a very unusual 7-4 center."

Hayes, 38, who retired this year after 16 seasons in the NBA and a star-studded career at the same school Olajuwon attended, said of the Rockets’ chances of improving their 29-53 record, "Most people are excited because the Houston fans are saying what could be. But in reality the question is what’s gonna happen."