Article by Scott Howard-Cooper link [rquoter]One week until inductees for the Hall of Fame are announced, and Ralph Sampson remains an interesting debate, no matter how much attention he is not receiving. The platform of the Sampson candidacy is simple: It’s the basketball Hall of Fame, not the NBA Hall of Fame, and Sampson was the kind of spectacular at the University of Virginia that rates consideration despite the letdown that came later in the pros. Sampson and UCLA’s Bill Walton are the only players to win the Naismith Player of the Year more than once, and both did it three times. Sampson is the only two-time recipient of the Wooden Award. The obvious knock is that he never led Virginia to a national championship, reached the Final Four only once, and was the star of the team that endured one of the memorable upsets of any college sport – the Chaminade loss – but nothing takes away from the individual greatness of the 7-foot-4 center. Most just remember his NBA path never reached its potential. Though he was named Rookie of the Year in 1983-84 while averaging 21 points and 11.1 rebounds in Houston and played in the All-Star game his first two seasons, Sampson’s career quickly deteriorated into injury and frustration. He never averaged more than 20 points again and broke double-digits on the boards just once the final eight campaigns with the Rockets, Warriors, Kings and Wizards, before a last run in Spain. Knee and back problems limited him to 19, 29, 61, 26, 25 and 10 games the final six NBA seasons. When he finally left the league after 1991-92, Sampson had played in just 441 of a possible 820 contests. But what a college player, and that counts for something as a finalist for the basketball Hall of Fame. [/rquoter] Didn't see it posted..
Ralph Sampson hit one of the biggest shots in Rockets history (challenged only by Mario Elie and his kiss of death shot against Phoenix. As for being in the HOF, I don't think so. Ahh..what could have been.
The Elie shot is bigger because we went on to win the championship that year. Not to mention that it was a must-win game 7.
yeah he does deserve to be in the BASKETBALL Hall of Fame. though i wasnt a Rockets fan back then, i still liked Ralph as a player. but i can imagine the frustration of the fans back then with him being injured, i wonder was the frustration and disappointment back then as severe as what we feel about Yao? but i guess certain things happen for a reason, with Ralph getting injured all the time, it gave room for The Dream to put the load on his shoulders and become one of the best centers of the game. i became a Rockets fan because i fell in love with the Dream, will always be my most favourite player of all time
I say YES, the guy was dominate at the college level and for the first few years in the NBA. Honestly, I'd take Kenny's shot over Sampson's but that is like trying to pick between to extremely hot females. Although, that was a GREAT Laker team that if you gave them any kind of momentum, it would have been trouble.
What Kenny shot? I'd take Maxwell's Game7 championship clenching 3 over all the others. Kiss of Death would be second because punkin the Suns back then just felt so right.
IMHO, Kenny's three to force Overtime in Game 1 vs Orlando completely changed that series. Not saying we wouldn't have won the series but it changed everything. Sampson's shot was great and Elie's stands on it's on because if kept on run alive.
I'm assuming he means the 3-pointer Kenny hit to force overtime in Game 1 against Orlando in the Finals in 1995.
Any three time college player of the year deserves to be in the basketball hall of fame. There's no question, I don't care if he never played a game in the pros.
