Ralph Sampson #50 (Sorry Robert Reid) Yao Ming #11 (Sorry Vernon Maxwell) Tracy McGrady #1 (when he retires... Sorry JLamb) Elvin Hayes #44 Robert Horry #25 (Sorry Mad Chicken) Otis Thorpe #33 (Sorry Greg Smith, even though you'll be gone soon probably; Sorry Robert Reid... again) And Just for the hell of it, Kenny Smith #30 (Sorry Royce White!)
I only agree with Sampson, Yao, and Elvin Hayes, and maybe Thorpe, but Im not sure. no to horry, tmac and kevin smith. if you retire horry, you should retire mario elie, but its not happening. something like a ring of honor, then you can put horry name there, but not retiring.
No one on your list deserves to have their Rockets jersey retired we aren't the Cleveland Cavaliers who have retired more numbers than us: 7 Bingo Smith, F, 1970–79 22 Larry Nance, F, 1988–94 25 Mark Price, G, 1986–95 34 Austin Carr, G, 1971–80 42 Nate Thurmond, C, 1975–77 43 Brad Daugherty, C, 1986–94
Yao and Sampson are the only ones that probably have a legit shot. The rest are iffy or even absurd. People with retired jerseys should have made special contributions and/or been with the franchise for a long time.
Yao was a perennial All-Star and one of the most famous basketball players in history. He should be retired. I thought the Rockets should have announced it for the upcoming season. It would've been a huge marketing opportunity, especially with Jeremy Lin on the team now.
Sampson has been retired for so long, it's not going to happen. Yao is a lock for getting his number retired. If they don't, it would be the most disrespectful act by the Rockets yet. Mutombo should have his number retired too, huge contributions to locker room in 2009 to help the team get to the 2nd round, was a huge part of the 22 game winning streak and just his humanitarian and philantropic work makes him a lock for at least a few franchises. #2 in blocked shot is also nice to have up there alongside Hakeem, the #1.
Mutombo was a backup at the tail end of his career in Houston. If he gets his number retired its going to be with Atlanta or Denver, but considering he only played ~5 seasons with each that's not likely. Yao will probably get his number retired b/c of his "contributions" to basketball and the Rocket's brand (see CHINA!). He didn't have the career numbers and/or rings you'd like to see, but there are people, including team owners and announcers, that get their 'numbers' retired for contributions. Hell, Jordan had his number retired by the Miami Heat for 'contributions' (Jordan's number should be retired league wide like Gretzky).
Too long ago, if they haven't been retired yet, they're not gonna. Dream and Drexler already got their numbers retired, so I don't think there's gonna be any others joining them any time soon Not every good player who ever played for a franchise needs to get their number retired. We got nowhere with those two. Good days for sure, but not worthy of making them part of Rockets history. Like someone else said, I don't wanna be one of those teams that retires the number of every half decent player they ever had
People who think Yao should not have his number retired are out of their mind. The guy gave it his all, opened doors that were shut and had a global impact. The man was an icon and our franchise star for almost 10 years. With regards to Mutombo, I think he should because of what he did off the court but also what he achieved here: became #2 shot blocking all time, great part of 2nd longest streak in NBA history. He won some awards for his great work off the court and was also an icon for many years here. Do you think just because he only played 5 years here / Denver or wherever nobody should retire his number??
Your post is so fail unless you oh I don't know explain you're reasoning. Posts like this are ****ing idiotic.
And one thing I just don't understand are people that hate on T-Mac and not Yao since they went down with the same thing- Injury. T-Mac is the reason we have the longest win streak in the NBA since the early 70s, 13 in 33, and Game 2 of the 2005 Finals vs. Dallas (both dunk over Bradley and the game winner), and in my opinion was just robbed in front of us in the 2006 All-Star Game of the MVP. People like to blame him for all the disappointment since he was the scorer. Sure, people may not like the way he left when he was traded but I guarantee even with Yao we'd have gotten less media exposure and jersey sales (I still see way more McGrady than Yao on the streets). T-Mac deserves to have his jersey in the rafters just as much as Yao, weather either of them do or not. And Sampson, no matter how short his career was, still impacted this franchise in a big way, and it'd look good in the rafters now that he's in the hall. If you disagree on Sampson all I can say is you're just too young to remember.
Also Dennis Rodman and Jamaal Wilkes will be getting their numbers retired decades after they did, so time is not a factor.
