from today's BBS fav, Peter Vecsey: Mitchell Wiggins, nearly 46, captured the 40-and-over MVP in last week's Masters National Championship in Coral Springs, Fla. The former Rockets starter on the '86 runner-ups to the champion Celtics carried Ontario, Canada, to the title with 34 points in the final game. Amazingly he weighs the same amount of grams as he did 20 years ago. (Was the event insured by Lewis Lloyd's of London?)
i remember him back in the days, he could flat out play. had one of the most unusal jumpshot (ala Drexler's) but made them. I believe he had a knee injury in which shorten his NBA career?
Thanks for the story Xiki! Great Info! Wiggins was a very good player that could have been great. I am glad to see he is having success!
Wiggins had a jumpshot? J/k. He wasn't ever really known as a big scorer, but was a hell of a defensive player. He did score pretty well when he came back to the Rockets from the drug suspension from what I remember. A bit of Wiggins trivia : he was traded to the Rockets by the Bulls when the Bulls drafted some guy named Jordan, who happened to play the same off-guard position as Wiggins. I guess when you have one of the 2 or 3 best players to ever play the game, even Mitchell Wiggins is expendable. xiki, was this an online link? Got a link?
that 86 time could have been really great for yrs.... hakeem in the middle, sampson at pf(only if knee's didn't give out), mcray(if only he could keep his weight under control), wiggins(nose injury), lewis loyd(nose injury), allen levell(the baldness was aero dynamic), robert reid, jim peterson, criag ehlo, steve harris (bust), john lucas, world b free, i can't remember the rest of the team, but i still have the calender poster where they are sitting in the seats..... lol.. but think about it... we had 3 lottery picks within 2 seasons in 83-84.... what could have been....
How much did it suck when they got suspended? THat and Sampson's knees is what kept the Rockets down for so many years...
The demise of that team was devastating to all of us. To me personally it was way too soon after Phi Slamma Jamma's demise. That article in the Chron. today about Rob Williams really got to me. If he'd stayed at UofH for his senior year, the '83 team would have been just sick. If Clyde had stayed for his I say we beat Georgetown the next year. I, of course, have no problem with Dream coming out when he did but then it was unheard of to have 3 guys in three consecutive years to leave before their senior years. Now 3 guys leave early the same season. Those years could have been an unbelievable run in Houston hoops for so long, but instead it's just a bittersweet memory. So in '94 when when we won the first ring I was thinking about '68, '81 and '86. I put my head on the bar.
1. Never mind McCray's weight...we should've drafted Drexler instead of McCray. On a side note, we didn't learn our lesson and passed on another hometown stud in Rashard. 2. Great list, but how could you have forgotten Granny Waiters? 3. The funniest thing that group did was that quasi-video "The Rocket Strut". Anyone here remember that? I have part of it on tape somewhere. They all rapped the song while they took turns strutting down from the free throw line, including a dead serious McCray and Lloyd in his pimp looking red dress shoes! Hilarious! Can anybody post that whole thing?
We lost Lucas, Wiggins and Lloyd all in about 1 years time to the big white. That team could have been devestating if they could have avoided the bugger sugar. Heck...Lloyd and Wiggins had a chance to get out of it, the league pulled them into an office, said they had evidence and if they admitted to it right then, they could both serve 30 days and get reinstated. They both turned down the deal, and took the test and both failed and got 2 year bans (lifetime), and they were never the same. Sweet Lew was a joy to watch, he had that Manu Ginobli long stepping drive to the hole which was impossible to stop. That team could have been special. DD
I seem to remember Lew was a huge part of beating the Lakers in the WCF in 86 with his jumper. He was really fun to watch. Didn't he also run up some huge bills at the Greenway Plaza Hotel during that time because he was living large in one of the suites?
LL actually gaved Magic a tough time while on D! Yes, I believe the hotel may have fallen a $ or $$ short.
Mitchell Wiggins was a very good defender before his drug problem. When he came back all of a sudden he averaged over 15 points per game! What the hell happened there? Lew Lloyd was a bowling ball on a rampage - coast to coast and a great finisher. Ralph was a 20-10 guy before he was traded. Peterson - avg bruiser. McCray was hilarious for being so quiet. Once he WHACKED Reggie Theus and put a nasty 4 inch scarr accros his pretty face. Was Nevit around then - or was it Granny then Nevit?
