Yao+ Tmac They were supposed to bring this organization a championship. All we've gotten is two stars who have yet to bring success on the basketball court, and have consumed mass amounts of payroll and half a decade of our time.
I'd only put players on the list that we had a real expectation of doing some good things. Nachbar's highest possible ceiling was a decent role player ...he can't be considered a big disappointment ...just a mild disappointment. As much as I hate Scottie Pippen, he wasn't our #1 guy therefore I can't call him the biggest disappointment. So far, TMac has been the biggest disappointment. He's the highest paid player and has led this team nowhere. Steve Francis has to be #2. I loved Stevie's heart and he was fun to watch ...but he just couldn't make a good decision in crunch time to save his life. Eddie Griffen. He was billed as our #1 pick of the draft. If that were true, he'd be in the top 10 of all time draft busts. As Houstons fans go, he's right up there near the top. Oh, an Maurice Taylor and Kelvin Cato deserve some mention if we want to rank cost vs productivity.
Steve Harris was pretty good for us. He floundered in GS. He was like an old school version of Von Wafer.
According the Hakeem's book the Rockets were thinking over that trade and probably would have pulled the trigger if they knew how Drexler would have turned out.
Absolutely Maurice Taylor on the list. He was terrible. Steve Francis was an all star and scored lots of points for us so I wouldn't say he was a dissapointment.
It begins and ends with Ralph Sampson. He started out like a hall of famer (and had those expectations), but injuries caught up with him way too soon.
take sampson off the list. when talking about disappointment, injury should nt play a part imo, as it's something players don't have a lot of control with. come to think of it, the biggest fail has to be eddie griffin, at least in recent memories.
The Rockets are a stand-up franchise, definitely top-10 in the NBA (Boston LA Chicago and then there's no one else with a clearly superior history to ours). We should be judging disappointments based on postseason performances. By that criterion you would have to include Francis, Yao, and T-Mac. The first round is simply unacceptable for a franchise that has had three decades of contending for championships with the likes of Calvin Murphy, Rudy T, Moses, Sampson, Olajuwon, Drexler, etc.
I have to agree with the Doctor here. Lloyd and Wiggins were very good players. On the other hand, they would be all-stars or close to all-stars in today's NBA with the rules favoring guards with great shooting and offensive skills. Ralph Sampson has to be #1. Dream and Sampson made up the famous twin towers. Who has heard of a 7'4" PF? The castrophies of Ralph's injuries and the drug problems prevented the Rockets from winning multiple championships even against LA's Showtime and the Big Three in Boston.
I obviously disagree with you putting Max there. Clutch City 1 members are immune. especially the one that brought the Rockets back from 0-2 going to America West Arena, countless amounts of crazy game winners, defense, technical fouls, and the clutch game 7 performance against the Knicks for the first championship. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ASxTyFlLYso&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ASxTyFlLYso&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> Max had issues with ownership/management with his contract extension. sound familiar also its water under the bridge cause Max got forgiveness from his teammates and his coach and admitted it was his mistake. if you hold anger in your heart for maxwell, your heart is pure darkness.
I agree with everything here but I won't put Sampson on the list because the injuries were not in his control. But yeah, Wiggins and Lloyd really screwed us bad. Those two should certainly be on the list. Especially Lloyd - he was on his way to all star status.
Rockets All-Time Disappointment Team: Point Guard: Sleepy Floyd Shooting Guard: Tracy McGrady Small Forward: Scottie Pippen Power Forward: Eddie Griffin Center: Kelvin Cato Bench: Shandon Anderson Mo Taylor Stromile Swift Dan Langhi And the triumvirate that could have been Rashard Lewis: Michael Dickerson, Mirsad Turkcan, Bryce Drew,
this has been discussed every year and everybody keeps getting it wrong. Sampson wasn't this chronically injured player. He got injured badly on his hip and then he came back too soon. blame it on the medical technologies back in the day. His overcompensation for his hip caused his knee injuries. Look at when they found Yao had a fracture, they shut him down. They wouldn't do that back then. His career would be ruined like Ralph's if Yao played back then. Also, disappointment? Who was the hero who beat the legendary lakers when dream was out in la? <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/i7rsqsNf4SE&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/i7rsqsNf4SE&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
I said I loved him until he bailed. He turned his back on the Rockets at serious crunch time and for that I don't forgive him. The players/coaches saying they forgive him doesn't sway me at all. Maxwell was not happy about coming off the bench when Drexler got here and he was sulking about it. I'll never forget the halfbutt shot he threw up against Utah. Team first always.