Rocket career potentials: Ralph Sampson vs Yao Ming

joebarleycares posting about sampson

irony?

 

two things that will forever stick in my mind from the the rockets of the eighties

sampson hitting the shot

sampson going down the next season, i vaguely remember the game and how grim the announcers were about the injury

 

It's a little unfair to put that season on Ralph, the Rockets were clearly tanking that season. Taking that into consideration Ralph was still the ROY that year and most still thought he was clearly the best young center in the game prior to him moving to PF. If all the players had played up to Ralphs level as a rookie the Rockets would have easily been a play-off team that season. Just thought I needed to respond to your quote because it seems that you are exaggerating the facts in order to make a point.

Just my observations on what I recall from watching both players.

Ralph was finesse player and there were big questions about his heart. I specifically remember having no idea who Karl Malone was when he came out and said he was going to destroy Ralph and I remember being pissed when he did.

I think Ralph was a better at sealing off his man in the post than Yao but once the entry pass is recieved Yao was just better, more physical, caused opposing players more foul problems and would generally just bully you to the basket. I'm not a JVG fan but I do credit him for instilling that mentality in Yao.

I think Ralph was better at most other parts of his offensive game. He was a better passer, ball handler, better running and finishing on the break but I'm not sure who had the better outside shot as I think both were pretty good.

I think Yao is a better post defender than what Ralph was. Ralph could get bullied by stronger players (Karl Malone) but Yao never got bullied even by Shaq. Having said that Ralph was a better rebounder and shot blocker, much quicker and could jump much higher and was a better defender away from the basket than Yao.

Both players were highly skilled. Yao had more heart than Ralph and Ralph had more athleticism than Yao. Having said that I think Ralph's ceiling was higher than Yao and in today's NBA would be the best Center in the game.

 

I always find it comical when someone shows their ignorance. If you are going to go down that road then it took Yao 4 years to average the type of numbers that Ralph averaged his first 2 seasons before the back injury in Boston.

Yao and Ralph were both great. Both had flaws in their games that are easily identified. Both had their careers limited by injuries. Don't make ignorant statements about one player in order to make your point about other players.

If you think Yao's ceiling was higher than Ralph then I certainly think you could make a strong compelling and well thought out argument supporting your point of view with out making yourself look like you just stared watching basketball yesterday.

 

Can Miller do a behind the back dribble in a one-man fastbreak?

Seriously, I mentioned Miller because he's as slow as you can get but he's still driving to the basket from time to time. The thing is, as long as you have a reliable jump shot, you can always freeze the defender up close long enough to drive.

I've said this all along. Adding a high post dimension to Yao's arsenal would not negate his low post game as if any coach would be dumb enough to park him outside the whole time. His main area of work would still be down low. Expanding his game would just make it harder to neutralize his best weapons.

 

Lmao at Yao or Miller driving to the basket....Miller drives to the basket just to get hammered on purpose.. Yao couldnt drive to the basket if the handed him car keys!!

 

Yao under JVG had the potential to be greater (individually) than Ralph, because he was dominating the paint on both sides of the court. Yao under Rick had the potential for greater team success due to him moving out of the paint, which opened it up for other players which would relieve pressure from Yao. It is an interesting dichotomy, for sure.

 

Why are people blaming Yao for being fronted? Yao never had a problem getting the ball when T-Mac or Rafer were on the court with him EVEN when being fronted. It was only after we traded Rafer and T-Mac got hurt that fronting Yao was effective because Brooks sucks.

Anyways, Yao wins.

 

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BTW, Yao is a better FT shooter than Miller. So getting hammered might just be the point of driving.

 

Great analysis and I agree with most of it. Sampson's weakness was always mental and Yao dominates him in that category.

We also have to consider two other factors. Players including Yao are generally much larger thanks to better understanding about training and nutrition. So while Yao is only a few inches taller than Sampson he is much heavier, so is the opposition so Yao gets an edge there. The rules are much different and Sampson played in a day when they would allow more physicality in the game so Sampson gets an edge. If you consider if Sampson had played in the last 10 years he likely is going to be bigger also and if he could make play like he did back when hand checking and pretty much grabbing was allowed he is likely to do well now. Yao playing in the mid 80's would likely be smaller and would still be good but in a game where the Kurt Rambises of the league could get away with throwing elbows I'm not sure Yao could dominate.

One thing I find interesting about both players is that when facing players relatively close to their own size they did relatively well. Sampson against Kareem and Eaton, Yao against Shaq and Howard. Against smaller players who played them very physically they have had struggles. As another poster noted players like Bill Hanzlik and Karl Malone would get in Sampson's head while Yao would have problems with the ball getting stripped from him.

 

I love this comment and the comment by verse. Here's one from me. We've had this argument, and other arguments about Sampson, many times here, so I'll just put in a comment from 2006:

http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?p=2550950

 

Ralph was deceptively strong. When he came out of college, many people thought he would be pushed around in the NBA because of his slender build. But he could hold his position quite well. I remember reading somewhere that he spent a lot of time in the weight room to build his strength.

 

With the poll, you should just put two options instead of 6.

 

I guess not a lot of people here remembers Ralph. Ralph Sampson was highly skilled, quick, extremely long, and athletic. If it wasn't for the injuries, his career would be similar to Hakeem. Ralph would have dominated Patrick Ewing, David Robinson, etc. He was just too tall, long, talented and incredibly quick... ALmost cat like. I have never seen a guy his size that can move as fast as he can...

 

Huge Yao fan.

I go with Sampson. He could have been one of the all-time greats.

Plus can you imagine 10 years of the Twin Towers, it would have rewritten NBA history and changed the fortunes of Jordan, the Bad Boys, Lakers etc.

 

Growing up as a kid, I'd watched Samson play here and there.

The commentator said it best. "You know, you see Samson make a play like that and you wonder why he just doesn't totally the dominate the league". Samson was never a dominant player in the NBA. Maybe in college.

Yao dominated the league when he was healthy. He was the anchor of the offense and the defense. Sampson had Hakeem to lean on. My vote goes to Yao.

 

I find it funny how old people tend to overhype the stats of people from the old days. The same people who think Wilt might still score 30 ppg in today's game think that Ralph might be better than Yao.
The stats don't translate. Sure, you can say Ralph had 2 great years, but if you put it that way Yao was on his way to elite dominance too before he got injured. Ralph in today's game actually might do quite well, but Yao in the 80s game would be probably 30+ ppg every game.

 

Fronting Yao worked because he was slow and had butterfingers. If the pass thrown to him was too quick it would bounce off his hands. Passes had to be thrown softly to him in the post.