Ok stealing this from the thread in the NBA dish, but post your all time starting five of players who played for the Rockets and tell why you picked them. Pg: Sam Cassell (clutch player, good midrange game, bonus pts for winning championships) Sg: Clyde (hometown guy, one of the best sg ever. excellent in transition and on defense) Sf: Tmac (He barely got the nod, but his talent is undeniable when healthy. Can do everything on offense and play lockdown defense when he wants to) PF: Moses Malone (tough, hardnosed player who can score and rebound) Cream (no explanation will be given) So, I thought this would be easier than it actually was...If I had a second unit to go with my first team it would be: pg: calvin murphy sg: Rick Barry sf:Robert Horry pf: barkley (sorry elvin hayes) C: Yao
I don't think you should ban a guy for preferring a PG who averaged 16 points, 6 assists, 3 boards over a guy who averaged 18 points, 4 assists, 2 boards in their respective careers. They played almost an identical number of games overall, in the same number of minutes per game. Sammy won 3 rings and also took the Clips, the TWolves, and the Bucks to the conference finals. Murphy helped Moses get us to the NBA Finals in 1981, but other than that year only won 3 playoff series in his career, all first round matchups. People idolize Murph because he's a great personality and was a lifetime Rocket, and that's fine. Sam only played 3 seasons in Houston and came off the bench for us. Murphy was the better scorer, but not as good a distributor as Sam. Especially since the question asks, best player who played for the Rockets and not best season as a Rocket, I'd give it to Sammy, too. Repped the OP.
Moses Malone was a center, not a PF. The Rockets have had two centers win the NBA MVP award so it's seems pretty simple that Olajuwon and Malone are your two centers. Rick Barry played two seasons in Housoton and averaged 13.5 and 12.0 pts/game. Barry was a Hall of Famer, but the 35 year old Rick Barry who played for the Rockets was hardly an all time Rocket great. Compare Barry's numbers as a Rocket with those of Lewis Lloyd (who also played in an NBA Finals as a Rocket). It's hard to leave Rudy T. off the list. Horry was a great role player, but Rudy T. was a perinial all-star. You might want to take a look at Ralph Sampson's accomplishments with the Rockets. He had better stats than Barkley, he was a defensive force and he helped take us to the NBA Finals. Barkley is like Barry, a hall of famer, but he played here at the end of his career.
SamCassell mentioned it as well, but to reiterate, I'm looking at a player's entire career, not just the time he was with the Rockets. I just wanted to pose the question thit way, because it makes it a lot tougher. Obviously Barkley wouldnt be on my team, and probably not tmac, barry, and maybe clyde and horry as well if we were to just consider time spent with the rockets.
What a shock, SamCassell is standing up for Sam Cassell! Good argument though for putting Cassell over Murphy especially if we are looking at their whole career. That said if we are looking at their whole career how can you not but Barkley on the list of All Time Rockets greats considering he played here as long as Cassell did? Plus if we are talking about whole careers then Rick Barry has to be there even, (shudder) Pippen.. If it is All Time Rockets Dream Team I think we should confine it to career with the Rockets. My team is: PG - Calvin Murphy. A good argument for Cassell but considering he was platooning with Smith while on the Rockets Murphy is a better choice. SG - Clyde Drexler. Mad Max, Lewis Lloyd and Robert Reid were good but Drexler is great. SF - Rodney McCray. McCray has long been overshadowed by the Twin Towers but he was a very good player and very important to the mid-80's Rockets teams. Even against the legendary Larry Bird he still held his own. PF - Ralph Sampson. This is tough one since Sampson's career was cut short before he even reached his full potential. For the few years that Sampson was healthy he was a phenomenal player. Second I would put Robert Horry who did all we asked of him and more after Otis Thorpe left and Horry was moved to playing PF Center - Hakeem Olajuwon. This is one category where you wished there could be multiple players since Houston has been blessed with four great Centers. Unfortunately for Yao, Malone, and Elvin Hayes its not even close.
I'd take Elvin Hayes on my team, and have no Yao. Sampson and Francis would be great adds if you consider them pre-knee injuries.
That'd be a great backcourt. They can try to beat each other up as they argue over who gets to dribble the ball up the court. lol.
PG Kenny Smith SG Vernon Maxwell SF Robert Horry PF Ralph Sampson C Dream The front line is giant athletic freaks with the shortest dude being Horry.
PG - Sam Cassell SG - Clyde Drexler SF - Tracy McGrady PF - Ralph Sampson C - Hakeem Olajuwon Second Unit PG - Calvin Murphy SG - Vernon Maxwell SF - Robert Horry PF - Charles Barkley C - Moses Malone
PG - Vassilis Spanoulis SG - Rodrick Rhodes SF - Scottie Pippen PF - Earl Cureton C - Richard Petruska No explanation needed.
I forgot my lineup. PG - TMac Tracy can run the point and is the only Rocket to score 13 in 35 SG - Da Glide Clyde is a top 10 SG in the history of the game. F - Ralph Sampson - I just want to see Ralph play another season, he was so special C - Dream - Greatest ever C - Moses Malone - Mean and nasty... I like that Bench: Mad Max - Defense and Crazy Elvin Hayes - This guy should be in the starting lineup but he ain't as mean as Moses Barkley - Comic relief and a HOF player Sam Cassel - We let him go too early Yao - 7'5" and chinese shoe contracts (I'd like to see him in there with Ralph and Dream) Rudy T. - If he ain't playin he's coachin Steve Francis - Stevie was so much fun to watch when he was still hungry(moses might kill him for dribbling too much though) Otis Thorpe - Another mean nasty hard nosed post player Calvin Murphy - We may need points from the point and he's a snappy dresser
