Lewis Lloyd and Mitch Wiggins are both dead now. For a short time, they were on one of the most entertaining to watch Rockets teams ever. Those guys were so coked out, but damn they were fun to watch.
Sending my condolences to the Wiggins Family, may God Bless you all during this time!. Enjoyed Mitchell Wiggins during his Rockets tenure! Gene Peterson, CD, now Wiggins
here's the article linked in this tweet. Mitchell Wiggins, a key player on 1986 Rockets' NBA Finals team, dies Jonathan Feigen Mitchell Wiggins, a key guard on the Houston Rockets’ 1986 NBA Finals team and the father of Golden State Warriors forward Andrew Wiggins, died this week following an illness, his daughter Angey indicated on Instagram. He was 64. Wiggins played for the Chicago Bulls, Rockets and Philadelphia 76ers in six NBA seasons. In his 2½ seasons with the Rockets, he averaged 10.3 points in 21 minutes per game, mostly coming off the bench behind John Lucas and Lewis Lloyd. All three were suspended or banned for violations of NBA substance abuse policies, hastening the demise of the Rockets’ second NBA Finals team, though Wiggins had perhaps his best season when he returned with the Rockets in 1989-90, averaging 15.5 points on 48.8% shooting. “Wig was a great defender, father and teammate,” Lucas said. “It’s funny, I got suspended one year, then he and Lewis got banned the next year. And then, we all came back together. “He could defend anybody, man. Unbelievable defender, and instant offense off the bench.” Wiggins was the 23rd pick of the 1983 draft, selected by the Indiana Pacers and dealt that night to the Bulls. He played one season with the Bulls, averaging 12.4 points, four rebounds and 2.3 assists. He was traded to the Rockets after his rookie season for Caldwell Jones. Wiggins was out of the league for two seasons before returning to the Rockets but became a free agent after that one season with Houston. He sat out for one season before playing in a limited role with the 76ers. He left the NBA after the 1991-92 season to play in Greece, where he found great success, leading the league in scoring twice and early All-Star recognition three times. Andrew Wiggins, the first player taken in the 2014 draft, the 2014-15 Rookie of the Year and a 2021-22 All-Star, had taken a leave of absence from the Warriors on several occasions in the past two seasons. Though Wiggins and the Warriors did not indicate a reason for his excused absence, Mitchell Wiggins was dealing with serious medical issues at the time.
Well, damn. They're dropping like flies now. That '86 team could've been great, but I forgave Lew and Mitch (and Lucas) a while ago. R.I.P. emotionless dude.
with Lew, Lucas, Robert Reid, and Mitch, those early-mid 80s Rockets teams had some shooters with unorthodox jump shots.
Looking back, so many of our major players from that '85-'86 team were cursed during that season or afterwards, except for maybe Jim Petersen (don't remember how his career ended, though I thought he had some injuries, too, now that I think about it. I do know he was diagnosed with cancer not too long ago). Kind of sad.
Didn't Sedale Threatt come out of retirement for the Rockets one year? I have a vivid memory of Tommy Heinsohn describing him as looking "heavy in the shorts" on one broadcast.
I figure with the loss of Mitch Wiggins and Robert Reid this year it would be nice to show this article to show of our younger fans https://grantland.com/features/an-oral-history-hakeem-olajuwon-ralph-sampson-1980s-houston-rockets/
He was part of the Dream era. Which is the only era of any relievance in franchise history. It has been so long since we have tasted glory. Hoping for brighter days. RIP
A sad day for rockets fans, feel bad for his family. Heck of a defender, key role player during the 86 run. His tip in gm3 86 finals won that game.
I’m sorry to hear this. I loved Wiggins. He was a very good player, it’s a shame we never saw the ceiling. Cocaine is ****ing stupid.
TicketTV was in shock, Positive Comments and confusion. I was like should I type the Drugs Mitchell and the 1980s Rockets did. Michael Jordan telling how the 1984 Bulls Team was doing drugs and Michael was visiting the Hotel Room with his Teammates and found out watching his Teammates doing drugs, Michael saw that and warned his Teammates and left avoiding trouble.
looking at that picture, I'm struck by how much shorter Akeem (as he was then) is than Ralph, or even Petersen.
