Good Doctor, he was NBA rookie of the year for '83/'84, MVP of the All Star game in his second year, I think, and here's a nice synopsis from a University of Kentucky fan site, a university that thought they were going to snag the big guy: Ralph Sampson was one of the most heralded high school recruits of all time. At 7-foot-4, he towered over his competition, even those he was destined to face in the college and eventually the professional ranks. Yet he maintained excellent timing, quickness and shooting skills for a big man. He played high school basketball in Harrisonburg, Virginia, a small city nestled in the Shenandoah Valley in the western part of the state. But that didn't prevent him from getting noticed by schools all around the country. He was recruited by all the powerhouse schools, however the choice came down to four schools, Virginia which was not much more than an hour's drive away in Charlottesville, Virginia Tech, North Carolina and Kentucky. Finally, after whittling the list down to two, the University of Virginia and the University of Kentucky, he called a press conference in the spring of 1979 where he announced his decision to attend Virginia. There was no hesitation in his initial annoucement, and it was clear that he chose the University of Virginia. On May 31, 1979, Sampson made good on his announcement and signed his letter of intent with the University of Virginia, where he went on to win three consecutive national player of the year awards. One area he did not succeed in, however, was winning a national championship (a stated goal in his press conference.) The Cavaliers made the Final Four his sophomore year, but did not advance and Virginia never got closer than that for the remainder of Sampson's four-year career. http://www.ukfans.net/jps/uk/ralphsampson.html Too many people have forgotten just what an incredible player he was. It's a damn shame, and a damn shame his injuries prevented what would have been a hall of fame career in the league. He was a four year man at Virginia. That used to be common. Those were the days, when players came out of college polished by what was frequently a superb staff, one that would make Yao's coaching in China, no offence, look ludicrous... not that Yao could do anything about it. I'm sure that's improving in China. One would hope so.
Seems simple to me, of the four [Moses, Sampson, Akeem, Yao] only one has put the the team on his back and brought two world championships to Houston. It was great to watch and until it happens again, Hakeem is the best of all of them.
He's not a newbie. This is why I started the thread last week that espn classic was showing the UHvs.NCState 83 championship game because there are so many folks who have no idea how good Dream was. When I stopped watching with about 5 min to go Dream had 17 pts 17 boards and 7 blks. It was ridiculous.
Thanks pgabriel. You are correct, I'm not a newbie. I've been on this board way before many of these yahoos. Before it was clutchcity.net. I just stop posting because I was tired of seeing other people and myself getting blasted for bringing up topics of possible interest during the offseason. Its the offseason for heavens sake! Yes this poll might be lopsided if you comparing them from a complete career standpoint. But some of you got it, it just for fun and began to think outside the box. Some of you compared them not just by talent alone but by looking it from the era that they played in, the coaching staff, their marketibility, the type of defense that was allowed during their times. Yes I believe as well that talent wise Hakeem was better in their 3rd/4th year of their careers, but remember it took Hakeem many years to develop a consistent jump shot, foot work, and high percentage foul shot. When Hakeem first came into the league, he was a defensive monster, that was great at blocking, boards, and dunks. It was Sampson who took most of the shoots. It was Sampson's last second shot remember that took the Rockets passed the Lakers and eventually to the finals against the Celtics. Imagine if Yao had a big man like that early in his career. You know it use to be fun posting here, because everyone wanted to contribute, not looking for the next person to blast, call stupid, and newbies! Many people here think big of themselves because they have hundreds or thousands of posts. But posts like "I agree", "This is a stupid post", "Hey, this post was brought up in post #4564394939548384", "Hey you misspelled a word" is very ignorant to me, and just a way to pad their post stats and try to show a fellow BBSer up. Many of you were not around when Clutchcity was Clutchcity.com, and could talk to Clutch on a regular basis. I remember how great this forum was in early 90's when the Rockets were having trouble getting past Seattle in the playoffs, during the championship years, when we traded for Drexler, and Barkley. Those were they days, qualty posters (i.e. Popeye, Clutch), and qualty posts. We are all on the same side then, some of you have reacted like if I said that Karl Malone was Hakeem's Daddy. I was only trying to stir up some fun. THAT IS ALL. Not have people tell me I'm stupid. If that was the case I'll just fall back to just reading again and not participating. I don't want anyone to think that I upset at the comments, but the BBS that I have loved for so long has been a shell of what it use to be. NOW THATS SAD.
is this a joke? are you gonna bust out 'if you were a minor league team' you'd pick yao? what kind of nonsense is this? we're not talking from a corporate standpoint. we're talking from a basketball standpoint. we're not talking from a 'i love china' standpoint. we're talking from a basketball who can win me more or even who is more fun to watch. you know on the suns hakeem would be scoring 40 a game. the 'changing game' which is more uptempo and more one on one would definitely favor hakeem.
i sadly agree. even though i have not been here for long, actually for a very short time, it seems this is what goes on more than anything. i have taken the time to read post from 3-4-5 years ago, and it seemed friendly. there is alot of good posting going on now, but there is a lot of blasting going on. calling somebody a newbie means what? just because somebody just started posting doesnt mean they didnt watch the rockets when they won back to back ships. doesnt mean you know more about basketball than they do. personally, i think its ignorant to call somebody a newbie. i know everybody is not going to get along, and not everybody is going to agree, but this could be a funner place to post for everybody if some of this nonsense didnt go on. just my two cents.
I'd still take Drexler over T-Mac as of today.. if Tracy can bring us a ring, then it's T-Mac all the way, but untill then Clyde is my choice.. Then again, we both shouldnt be talking.. look at our names
It's interesting to note that Yao is a more skilled offensive player than Hakeem was at 3 years into their respective careers. A good comparison for early Hakeem's offense would be Amare Stoudamire. Hakeem wasn't the focus of the offense at that point, and hadn't developed the amazing skills that he had later. However, he was obviously much better on the boards and light years beyond both Yao and Amare defensively. Yao, on the other hand, is one of the top 3 most unstoppable forces near the basket in the league. He is never defended by just one player, because coaches know that it is suicide (and the Rockets currently don't make them pay enough for double-teaming). He is well above average defensively for his position, and has a huge impact on our team defense - but he's no Hakeem. You have to pick Hakeem, but don't sell Yao short - if he stays healthy and continues to improve, he will be easily be a top 10 center by the end of his career - and maybe even top 5. All the Rockets need are about 5 championships to achieve the latter.
