So who do you think Houstons best all time front court is? Is it Sampson, Dream and McCray? This is my personal favorite but but I don't think they were the best because of youth and they never had a chance finish growing as a unit. As far as potential goes I think they would be tops. How about Mo, Big E and Robert Reid? Mo was an MVP but Big E was past his prime and Reid was still just an over achieving pup. Dream, Barkley and Pippen? Dream and Chuck were both past their primes and Quitten was...well Quitten. If all of these players were in their primes and little Snottie Quitten had not been such and ASS then this might have been the best IMO. Dream, Thorpe and Horry? IMO this is the best front court in Rockets history. Dreams skill level was at its best. OT was still a premier PF that played great D and was the perfect side kick for Dream in the paint. Horry was another young SF that could play great D shoot the three in the highest of pressure situations and had very good passing skills. In my oppinion
Barkley's both my favorite power forward and favorite Rocket, but I can't vote for any squad with Pippen on it (both in spite of and because of my love of the Big Sexy). And I agree with you that Dream/OT/Horry was the most effective combo. Here's hoping this poll has a new champ in 2-3 yrs: Ming, Griffin, TBA.
Dream, Chuck, and the Glyde. Until Clyde cried like a little baby about Sir Charles's off court work ethic (or lack thereof), this was the best Rox frontcourt. Too bad it was teamed with a back court of Matt Malony and a 50 year old Eddie Johnson or such all-NBA first teamers as Rodderick Rhodes, and then crippled with injuries.
I voted for Olajuwon, Thorpe and Horry myself. Got to go with the champs. That was a heck of a defensive frontcourt for sure! Here's hoping that Ming, Griffin, (fill in the blank SF) can hopefully one day be good enough to be included on your list! Chris
Hydra, I started to include Clyde, Dream and Chuck but Clyde was mostly a 2 guard during his career. However, I wish I would have included that line up now since Clyde played some three with the Rockets and I liked that unit a lot more than the one with Quitten. Is there any other front court combos that I left out that are deserving of mention. One thing is for sure, we have certainly had some all star caliber front courts.
I must have missed the "crying like a little baby" thing, but Drexler was in the backcourt on that team, Elie was the other forward.
A good friend of mine used to be a sportscaster for a small market station outside of town and is very tight with one of the network sports guys here in town (not M. Berman). He told me that towards the end of Clyde's tenure here, he was very, very unhappy about Barkley's work ethic and more his personality, and was not shy about saying so. By the end, according to the sportscaster, it got bad enough that even Dream and Rudy told Clyde that if he didn't like it it might be time for him to go. Anyone else hear anything similar? Same guy got the Barkley trade scoop in the wee hours the night before it was announced from the same source, by the way. He was at House of Pies with the Houston broadcaster when he got the phone call.
You forgot the 1976-77 team that went to the conference finals (losing to the sixers 4-2) Moses Malone- 13 ppg, 13 Reb Rudy Tomjanovich- 21 ppg, 8 reb Kevin Kunnert- 9 ppg, 8 reb *Mike Newlin played quite a bit of small forward that season and Rudy played the 4 a lot as well. The lineup that was on the floor for most of the minutes that season was: Moses Rudy Newlin Murphy John Lucas
Its hard to believe that the Mo, Big E and Robert Reid front court is not getting more votes than the Dream, Chuck and Quitten front court. Out of those 6 players the 81 version of Moses Malone was far superior to the 98 version of Hakeem or Chuck and the 81 version of Big E was at least Dreams equall if not Chucks. Robert Reid was also just as good as the 98 vesion of Pippen and was a much better team player. The 81 front court is just far superior to the 98 front court. Especially when you consider the fact that Mo was in his absolute prime that year.
crash, I'd bet it has a lot to do with cc.net users' average ages. A lot of people here probably never saw that frontcourt play. I'll never forget the heartbreak of that Celtics series. My sixth grade class was on a field trip to San Antonio when we lost.
Your probably right about the ages making a difference. That Celtic series still rates as the all time hardest defeat for me to take.
I would rate them as: 1. Dream, OT and Horry 2. Dream, Sampson and McCray 3. Mo, Big E and Reid 4. Mo, Rudy T and Berry 5. Dream, Chuck and Quitten I put both of Mo's teams ahead of the Dream, Chuck and Quitten team based on Mo's dominance. He could dominate a game start to finish during that time of his life like few could. Dream and Chuck could still put up good numbers but both were past their primes and neither could completely dominate a game start to finish on both ends of the court at that point in their careers. Big E was like Dream and Chuck, past his prime but he could still put up good numbers. The Dream, Sampson and McCray teams were the most talented and only lacked experiance and health from becoming the greatest front court ever. Could they have been better than the Wilt Chamberlain, Nate Thurman front court of the 60's Warriors or Bird, McHale, Parish and Walton front court of the 80's Cetlics? I think so.
Sorry my mistake... I thought the part about Dream, Sampson and McCray only needing experience and health to be better than the Bird, McHale, Parish and Walton would bring you out but not my bad spelling.
LOL It's hard to argue with speculation. We will never know how good Dream, Ralph and McCray could have been. Ralph was an underachiever even when he was healthy and McCray was too inconsistent with his outside shot.
I really thought that the Finals against the Celtics would be the first of many for that team. Who could have guessed how things would turn out? You just never know. That playoff run was amazing... glad I could see it. My vote is for Dream, OT, and Robert. My heart is for Dream, Ralph, and McCray.
Lets see: 54pts,28rebs,and 5 blks seems pretty good to me. That was the 86 frontcourt of Ralph,Dream,and McCray. Its obvious that team had the goods but didn't finish the deed. I don't think thorpe could hold a lighter to Ralph in 86.I'm not saying Thorpe was sorry, he just wasn't the player ralph was even though he played for a long time and is still playing.
Ralph would have been an all time great but in 96 Thorpe was a seasoned vet. Thorpe was a solid all star caliber player...not with the potential that Ralph had. Ralph's big problem in 86 was that he could be rattled and taken out of his game big time. The two players that used to do this were Tom Chambers and Karl Malone. Malone first made a name for himself when he basically called out Ralph prior to a Jazz / Rockets game and then dominated him during the game. Thorpe would have been uneffected. Sampson with a few more years of experience might have learned to deal with situations like that a lot better.
