Don't know if any of you remember, but before we traded Sampson to G State for Carroll and Floyd, we were offered Joe Dumars (!!!!) AND a whole bunch of picks and other players....maybe somebody else will remember who else there was...but, again....Joe Dumars!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Speaking of selfish players, Sam Cassell is among the biggest in the NBA... How exactly was Barkley selfish? By having a 2 mill per year contract so the Rockets could go after free agents like McDyess and Pippen in 99? I often times found myself yelling at Barkley to shoot the ball MORE... The whole time he was here, he never b!tched about not getting the ball (ahem Hakeem)... The only problem I ever had with him was when he would fling a 3 pointer...
This transaction should not count before the Rockets were already done with the RED and GOLD jerseys. They were a year into the red and blue pajamas. Kevin Willis? What? Are you talking about the same player who was the biggest reason behind the Jazz beating the Rockets in 97 and 98. He plays hard. But he Sucks. I don't understand the BBsers positivity towards this guy. He blows. He could not hit a thing against the Jazz, especially in 97. He was the biggest reason why the Rockets did not play the Bulls. Not the lack of point guards, nor an ineffective Mario Elie. Stop giving Willis credit, He really doesn't deserve it. A champion-caliber team will never have Willis on it. Notice how he has never even been to the finals. Man.
I do understand that getting drexler,jordan,and olajuwon would have been great (theoretically). Jordan took like 25 + shots per game in chicago. I'm not going to go into the details. but it would have been hakeem's team. Drexler might still have been the "glyde" if houston had him , instead of portland. I can't see how jordan would be that great in the houston team. He was that great because he was the man. Plus, drexler and jordan would have been fighting over the same position. Unless we believe that jordan could have been an excellent point. Anyway, I can't see the chemistry. Although, if they had the chemistry, this would have been the first dream team. The worst moves ever made were towards the end of fitch era to the chaney era. I don't if they were directly involved in the drafting , but let's look at the great ones: 1. dave feitl 2.derick cheavous 3.buck johnson 4. dave jamerson 5. i know i'm missing some more. It had to be post '86 to possibly '91 when all those we drafted were laughable. Wasn't there one guy who we drafted that was a scientist or something?
Did you even read my post!? I was responding to people who said this team shouldn't have traded for Barkley and just went after Willis. You cut out a piece of the post where I was saying that Willis likely wouldn't have come without Barkley. In another thread I posted why Barkley helped us get past Seattle and how Kevin Willis WAS NOT the answer against Seattle. In the another thread I posted about how Kevin Willis sucked the year we got Barkley. And Kevin Willis WAS NOT the reason why we lost to Utah. The lack of a defensive PG and 4th quarter defense was the reason. In fact Kevin Willis' defense on Malone wa sa big reason why the Rockets gave the Jazz a run in the 1998. It wasn't THE reason just A reason!
Man, I was watching ESPN Classic the other night. They had an old Virginia - NC State game from Ralph's senior year and it was like a revelation. Sampson was a freak. Watching him in that game I couldn't help but thinking of him as sort of the 'prototype' for Kevin Garnett. People called Ralph soft and weak because he dribbled around and played outside, while Garnett does the same thing and it's amazing. Like Garnett, Ralph had no 'go to move' like Hakeem's dream-shake, never great, but always way above average. I remember reading somewhere recently about Ralph's 'disapointing' rookie season. I then went and looked up the numbers and he was a 20-10 guy! The expectations for Ralph were too high, and his knees gave out too soon, but I don't see how you can blame anyone for hanging on to Ralph over Jordan. Ralph had that 'freakish' combination of Frankenstein skills that seem so perfect for a basketball player.
Who plays the 3 ??? MJ or Clyde? How do we afford this team in the early 90's??? Each would command over 10 million a season. Didnt Jordan get 30$ plus in his last few seasons? Bill Gates would have to Bankroll this team.
I thought Barkley only got 1 million that year, but then got a nice bump the next year. Also I think he took enough shots. At least he took enough bonehead three's.
Actually Jordan was one of the lower paid franchise players until that big 28 mill contract. I think he was making around 3 million a year where Dream and others were making 7-8 mill. If we did get those three, we would have jordan playing the 2 and Glyde playing the three since he had good post moves.
One thing I wish the Rockets would have done is draft Rashard Lewis over Mirsad Turkan . Lewis would have fit in perfectly with our current team sans Glen Rice. A line-up with Francis, Mobley, Lewis, and Taylor would be awesome.
Yes, but CD is on record saying that Lewis would have just been shipped to Vanc in the Francis trade, and Turkan gave us a 1st rounder that we used on Griffin. So, hindsight is 20/20 until you realize how changing history changes the present.
Ok then I wish the Rockets would have drafted Lewis over Bryce Drew . With 3 first round picks I would have rather taken Rashard than Dickerson, Drew, or Turkan. It's easy to say that now, but Lewis seems like the ideal 3 for the Rockets, IMO. Thanks for putting it into perspectice though crispee. It makes it not seem so bad when you say we got Griffin by drafting Turkan.
