Clutchfans unite!! What can we do to get "OT's" number up on the rafters?

mommy there goes that man.....

 

Thorpe was great. But legends get retired...

 

Was Bruce Bowen a legend? Ilgauskas? How about nearly all of of the Blazers championship team?

 

I remember when OT was traded away in the Clyde deal. Someone — I think George Karl — spoke out and said the Rockets made a mistake, that they would not be able to replace what OT brought to the table. Obviously, things worked out otherwise that year. But that was just a reflection of how OT was regarded. He was the ultimate lunch pail guy, one of the toughest, grittiest players on the league. Great guy next to Dream. Loved OT.

That said, was he a legend? I have a hard time with that. Not all great players are "one for the ages." And — sorry, but I can't agree with the Clyde comparison. No question about Clyde belonging there. If he hadn't played in the Jordan era, I wonder how much larger his reputation would be.

 

Thorpe was a very good player but not a great player. Yes he won a title with the Rockets and guarded Malone and Barkley but he was playing along side Hakeem Olajuwon. We also beat Malone and Barkley the following year in '95 with Horry, Chuckie Brown and Charles Jones manning the PF position.

If you start retiring the jerseys of the good but not great players then you're going to need to retire a lot more jerseys. From an individual performance perspective Steve Francis was much more successful than Thorpe, he just didn't have the good fortune to play with a prime Hakeem.

 

OT was a great player but, Elvin Hayes not having his number retired by the Rockets is a travesty. More points as a Rocket than Moses or Yao. More rebounds than Moses and Rudy T.

Argue all you want about most of his great years were in San Diego, but if your relocating team carries with it all the records compiled in San Diego you should have no problem retiring Hayes's number.

 

OT was the iron man in Rockets history.
He was built like a truck and didn't miss games.
Look at all the 82 game seasons.

In the eras where fans here worship players who play every other game or miss whole seasons or get back spasms for taking too many pull up 3 pointers or miss games cause they bruised their chest, a true IRON MAN like OT is not even imaginable.

But he was REAL. OT never went Omer Asik, he just WORKED. Set picks, play defense, dunk basketballs, rebound.

OT represents the hard working people

<PRE>
Season Age Tm Lg Pos G GS MP FG FGA FG% 3P 3PA 3P% 2P 2PA 2P% FT FTA FT% ORB DRB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS
1988-89 26 HOU NBA PF 82 82 3135 521 961 .542 0 2 .000 521 959 .543 328 450 .729 272 515 787 202 82 37 225 259 1370
1989-90 27 HOU NBA PF 82 82 2947 547 998 .548 0 10 .000 547 988 .554 307 446 .688 258 476 734 261 66 24 229 270 1401
1990-91 28 HOU NBA PF 82 82 3039 549 988 .556 3 7 .429 546 981 .557 334 480 .696 287 559 846 197 73 20 217 278 1435
1991-92 29 HOU NBA PF 82 82 3056 558 943 .592 0 7 .000 558 936 .596 304 463 .657 285 577 862 250 52 37 237 307 1420
1992-93 30 HOU NBA PF 72 69 2357 385 690 .558 0 2 .000 385 688 .560 153 256 .598 219 370 589 181 43 19 151 234 923
1993-94 31 HOU NBA PF 82 82 2909 449 801 .561 0 2 .000 449 799 .562 251 382 .657 271 599 870 189 66 28 185 253 1149
1994-95 32 TOT NBA PF 70 35 2096 385 681 .565 0 7 .000 385 674 .571 167 281 .594 202 356 558 112 41 28 132 224 937
1994-95 32 HOU NBA PF 36 35 1188 206 366 .563 0 3 .000 206 363 .567 67 127 .528 113 209 322 58 22 13 76 102 479

7 seasons HOU NBA 518 514 18631 3215 5747 .559 3 33 .091 3212 5714 .562 1744 2604 .670 1705 3305 5010 1338 404 178 1320 1703 8177
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