* He put up those numbers with Dream out in 90-91, that's why I mentioned that in case you didn't know what was going on back then. The guy also was an All-Star, should've been for a couple more times, and put up 20 and 30+ point games (88-92) a lot and rebounding was not a problem. Listen to Horry about his body, the guy was built like a brick house, could easily wrestle WWF guys! OT was a somebody before the championship days so you're wrong.
Man looking at that picture of Hakeem, Horry, and OT just gives me goosebumps. Still feels like yesterday..
Sure, he scored points and rebounded before he came to Houston and he was a good player no doubt. But lets not go overboard here. He looked much better because Dream made the game easier for him and if you disagree with that then I'm not even going to argue. The dude averaged 0.4 Blocks his career and he never blocked more than 0.7 in any one of his many seasons. To tell you how bad those numbers are...they're about par with Luis Scola and we know how much of a monster he is when it comes to shot blocking. Furthermore, after Thorpe was dealt to Portland his career basically dwindled and he became a nobody and had a not so glorious end to his career. I guarantee if that trade for Drexler was never made.... Thorpe would be better recognized and finished his career on a higher note. You know why?? Cause he would've been playing alongside Dream. I'm all for Rockets nostalgia & history and Thorpe was definitely apart of that but let's not get carried away.
Yes he sure did. Back when Grant Hill was fully healthy playing 40 mpg, finishing a whole season and dubbed the heir apparent.
That's questionable, how can you say Thorpe would not have been better had he been the focal point of the offense? 90-91 when Dream was out he proved he could be the go-to guy, and boy did he destroy teams single handedly! Also if you watched any games, Thorpe did not get much of his points because Dream was double-teamed or anything like that. Thorpe got his points by posting up, running the floor, setting screens, the deadly pick and roll with Kenny etc. You obviously didn't watch games because if you did, you would know he could block shot but many times he didn't need to. He was so strong in pushing people away from their comfort zone, forcing them into tough situations where they either had to pass it off or throw up a low percentage shot. Scola couldn't block a shot even if he wanted to. Again, you obviously haven't followed Thorpe because in he had some good years in Detroit. Became a nobody?? That's just downright disrespectful, don't come in here with that ****. He never got the respect he deserved and thus was bounced from team to team at the end of his career. Injuries and age crept up on him after that. Read the article below: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1009877/index.htm Thorpe was heartbroken from the trade and he would've ended his career on a high note maybe if the Rockets had stayed loyal but not necessarily due to Hakeem. Being the way he was, humble and not keen on the spotlight, probably added to the fact he was never fully acknowledged for the greatness that was OT.
Players hated the deal and it seems it was more about replacing Maxwell with Drexler than anything else: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1995-02-19/sports/9502190305_1_bulls-otis-thorpe-deal They also had a short term vision in wanting to repeat badly to break up the team. In 96-97 the transition was complete with all but Hakeem & Elie left from that championship team. How teams can break up after a championship is something I will never understand. I rather have had multiple 40 win season with those guys than trading OT, letting Maxwell & Herrera walk and finally trade your future in Cassell & Horry. Also the only reason why we trying so hard because they figured Dream & Drexler together only had a few years left to get that championship. The Rockets, Leslie Alexander gave up on the future way too soon. Therefore, I can never honour Leslie and it's a shame the previous owner didn't stay longer. Leslie gets credit for something he shouldn't be credited for and doesn't get the blame for something he should be blamed for. Funny how life can be like that.
Otis Thorpe. Hard hat. Speak Softly and carry a big stick. Blake would have been floppin like a rag doll. I don't remember Otis Thorpe ever flopping. I do remember people bouncing off of him.
Attitude wise, people today can compare him to Chuck Hayes. I don't remember him ever flopping. Yeah he was ALWAYS working, playing all 82 games basically every year. Horry probably compared him to Blake because of his strength and that Otis always dunked. Horry said Blake is a better dunker, which is true. Otis always dunked so that's why his fg% was super high, but that's what you are suppose to do that close to the paint.
We don't beat the Knocks without OT doing yeoman's work on the backside and battling the Knickerbocker thugs.
I'm guessing they'll do something like that for the 20th anniversary ... hard to imagine it's been so long already
His block stats are not impressive because he played with Hakeem who was always the last line of defense. Remember this one? <object width="560" height="315"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/qLtF-vsMg2E?version=3&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/qLtF-vsMg2E?version=3&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="560" height="315" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>
I know you are going to post the videos that Nate Robinson blocked Shaq, Yao Ming and Dwight Howard. But Nate Robinson blocked them from behind when they could not even see him.
From behind you say....hmmm... How about this one? <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/wg-9y_Z7jEM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
