Wasn't as good at shooting/finishing as he should have been even before the injuries. This was an era in which the best players could get over 60% for True shooting since 2 pointers & FT's were where it was at. For a 7-4 guy to be below average for most of his career was not good, to say the least.
I encourage everyone here to call me out if I’m wrong but from the games I’ve seen, the closest player comparison we have today is Victor Wembanyama. I fully believe if Sampson played in the modern era he’d be working on his 3 point shot the same way Vic is. Sampson would often push the ball up the court the same way Vic occasionally does. They’re both tall, mobile aliens with amazing defense. Sampson doesn’t get enough credit (in general, around here he does).
How good was he? You know in Hollywood movies when they say, "He's not just (adjective), he's good!"? That's how good.
He had heart. He just was injured. He was also constrained by what people thought a tall guy should be able to do. If they let him shoot 3 pointers, he could have been very much like Dirk or some of the modern centers. He could been a stretch 5.
Stupid shoe polish on the floor. if he would have showed up now, he would have been pretty damn good. They would let him shoot from outside more, and modern sports medicine would have saved his knees.
He definitely would have been better now. They would have let him play in a way where he wasn't hammered all the time. They would have also gave a him a training program to preserve his body.
I will advance my suspicions. He could be amazing some days and make you pull your hair out others. But there may be a reason. As I've gotten older, many big men, particularly those on the extremes of bulky and lanky, ,just tend to have foot and back problems. Both can be played with, but not without it affecting their game. I met Akeem shortly after he signed with the Rockets and to be honest, he looked more like a proportional 6'9" guy in person. But he played bigger and the marketing almost demanded he be called a 7' player. Sampson, on the other hand, looked all of his height, and a bit lanky. This fits my definition of a likely problematic health risk. So bottom line is I think his good days and bad days might have had as much to do with playing while hurting as with effort. But he was brought up in a stoic generation and I doubt he would say much about this, even if it were true. Injury is a different story.
At the time, it wasn't poor man's. The TWIN TOWERS of Houston was more famous than the ones in New York.
I was just about to post this, The only thing is that I don't know how much Sampson loved basketball. Sampson had been a superstar his whole life but when the talent gap finally shrank vs good NBA players he didn't dominate the way he should have. He had all the skill in the world and then the injuries started to pile up and he fell off the map. But when I saw Wemby, the first guy I thought of was Sampson. I think Wemby is the modern day version who will be better barring injuries of course. But Imagine a young Olajuwon and Wemby playing together in this NBA. That was the potential that the Twin Towers was supposed to have in the freakin 80's!. But Sampson's injuries derailed everything.
I feel like this story would repeat if Yao was playing in modern times too. Probably never has to bulk up and they could lean into the finesse side of his game even more. If they could convince China to give him the summer off too he'd be one of the best.
Ralph was KG before KG and Wemby before Wemby. He's ahead of his time. If he played in today's game, he'd be shooting 3s and also having a back to the basket post game.
Imagine Wemby with more post game than perimeter game who played 4 years of college ball. Before Ralph got hurt, most teams in the league would have GUTTED their roster for a shot at Ralph. Surely you’ve heard the stories of the rumored Portland trade that would have sent the #2 pick (Jordan) plus Clyde and Fat Lever to Houston. In 1984, no one would have given up Ralph. But he didn’t have the same fire as Dream and it was easy to get in his head. Never the same after he got hurt.
Fitch used to waive a crisp $20 bill in the air when a player got close to 20 rebounds as motivation. I miss the old school NBA.
My God. Ralph had the potential to be one of the greatest players the league ever saw. He was a phenomenal college player and did things people his size just were not supposed to do. His game would have translated to the modern game beautifully. At the time though, big men didn't really play like that. I think he was a victim of the era in some ways. But to answer the question of how good he was? He was infinitely better than his stats. He was REALLY really ****ing good when he was young and healthy.
Granted a lot of this is because it was so long ago - but I don't really get the whole "was way better than the stats indicated" argument My recollection from the time (talk radio etc) was that there was a general sense of disappointment because despite his all everything college career he was far less dominant in the NBA (unlike Olajuwon) and didn't show much progress despite having a loaded team by 1985. If I recall anything it was his general lack of aggression that was really criticized by the take havers of the day The numbers - looking at them 40 years later - seem to back this up There was effectively no 3 point shot then, the fact that he went from a 60% shooter in college to a guy who couldn't consistently crack 50% at 7-4 was a big deal.
