Who Has a Better History of Big Men? LA Lakers or Houston Rockets

Deck,
Kids could tell you about Christopher Columbus too and how the queen of Spain gave him a google map on how to get to the new world.

 

I agree and disagree with you at the same Damn Time lol
Yao endured more than Sampson, because Yao played all year around.
I'm 26, but I damn watch the Rockets vs Boston Finals on NBATV.
Sampson was a beast, but four season in the NBA? Yao>Sampson

 

I agree. Just a fun fact.

 

HousTon... Not even close...

 

Kareem and Shaq is kind of unfair, even with Hakeem.

 

Sampson got hurt in Boston and they didn't treat him properly, they made him play on. That ruined his career because his knees got bad because he didn't heal properly.

When Yao got his foot injury they shut him down. They don't do that in the 80s.

That's what they don't tell you on nbatv on that series.


Just like in the future new fans won't know the full story, then you have to tell them

 

....and apparently you did not start watching the NBA until Dream was old, because if you had watched him in his prime you would not say Shaq was better than Dream.

 

O **** I didn't know that. Thanks for the info.
Smh we would of won more rings if Sampson and Dream played more together.

 

You obviously never saw Moses play.

 

Man, Sampson is still my favorite PF of all time, but he peaked in is rookie year.

Yao was trending up, way up, before injuries after injuries took their toll.

 

Shaq Top 5:
Hakeem
Bill Russell
Moses Malone
Kareem
Mr. 100

In that order

 

I bumped an old thread on the garm about Sampson.
An old article. It tells you the real history of what happened.

A must read, great words from dream about his teammate

 

Fixed

 

Can you gve me the link please?

 

Ralph Sampson was super inefficient at .512 TS% in his third year. You simply cannot be considered a Rocket great playing only two good seasons. You just can't. Yao had 7 really good seasons, arguably ALL individually better than Ralph's rookie season.

Yao's PER:

20.6, 21.9, 23.2, 25.6, 26.5, 22.5, 22.7

Ralph's first three seasons:

20.1, 17.4, 16.9

I'm sorry, All-Star MVP? Are you serious? We're now counting performances at an exhibition game as a career achievement?

The lust over Ralph's potential due to his athleticism and flashes of brilliance that he showed early on really clouds a lot of Rockets fans' memories. Guess what? That potential never panned out whereas Yao actually put together several all-NBA type years.

 

Kareem is an interesting case, Wilt and Russell never held him in particularly high regard (they generally view him in that tier below, Wilt thought Hakeem was (was dead before prime Shaq) and Russell views both Shaq and Hakeem in it).

A lot of it is probably that he was never really the best player on a championship team outside his milwaukee title and the one magic won without him in 1980. He also won a bunch of his mvps when Dr J was considered the best player in basketball.

Also Kareem was beaten head to head by Moses (badly) and he was nothing more than a stat stuffer when Walton outplayed him, once you're over the hill, being beaten by the new kids is overlooked for obvious reasons, but being spanked head to head by your contemporaries is a giant red flag to greatness.

 

Elgin Baylor was a small forward.

 

I think Yao's game against Portland really signified that he was reaching all-world status. But there were reports that he was playing on sore feet for the back-end of that season. The knee knock (kobe) probably meant he favoured the right knee more, more pressure on his already straining left foot (which he had broken multiple times) meant it just crumbled. Was so sad to see him go out the way he did, when it just seemed like he was dominating the way we thought he could.