What was Ralph Sampson like in his prime?

Sampson played more of a 4, just like David Robinson. He covered a lot of ground, and with his long arms he was very tough to stop. But he always wanted to play point guard, like bringing the ball down the court once in awhile or jacking up a three. When the Rockets got Olajuwon, Hakeem immediately dominated the inside. Part of that was because Dream did not have the skills at that time to move his game further out from the basket, but part of it too was because NOONE could play against him in the paint.

I think comparing Sampson to Robinson wouldn't be too bad of an error, though, if you want to imagine how he played.

 

Ralph Sampson? Curious question.

Facts: Rookie of the Year (looking back, should have traded him to Portland after that year for the second pick. They wanted a center sooo bad they took Sam Bowie. We coulda had MJ and Hakeem. And then if we woulda picked Clyde instead of Rodney McCray...and then instead of...oh yea, wake up...).

Story (start the music): He began his illustrious career as a 5. But then Houston still stunk and started tanking the final games of the season. The Lotto was born the next year. But not before Houston won the coin toss and selected Hakeem. While Ralph had talent (had a pretty good hook shot) and height, Hakeem had D and moves that made Bill Fitch choose him to play the 5 and move Ralph over to the 4. This was the beginning of the end for Ralph. Sure we had the twin towers and it hard to match up your 4 if their 4 is 7'4". But Ralph didn't have the strength to guard the quicker more powerful 4s. Soon his knees started to go. He tried adding a finesse game (dribble the ball up court, shoot the 3, etc) but he looked like a fish out of water.

Traded him to GS for Sleepy Floyd and Joe Barely Cares At All. He was then traded a few other times for even less. Years ago I heard he ended up as JV coach somewhere I think. After that ???

 

The day that Sampson came to the Rockets, I was happy. He was the total package. He was'nt the strongest, but he was tall and agile. To bad his 9-10 knee operations killed his career, he would of been a superstar.





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the Heat suck!!

 

Wasn't the one thing that was the beginning of the end for Ralph that horrible jump for rebound - land in puddle - crack head on parquet he did at Boston Garden? That was awful...

 

just like everyone else said in here, Sampson was a guard in a center's body. he was a good ball handler, outside shooter, and quick and agile for a guy that's 7'4" hell, he even gave it a try in a slam dunk contest, but he just ended up embarassing himself.

he was just a decent post-up player and an ok defender, that's why he'll never compare to hakeem. but still, this guy was going to be a superstar!!! his knees just didn't want him to be one.

 

It always really bothered me that Ralph was muscled out by the other power forwards.

When he first came out of college, I read an article (I think in SI) that said that he could bench press more weight than anyone on the Virginia football team. If that report was true, he should have been able to hold his ground better.

His falling backwards shot against the Lakers, however, is one of the greatest moments in Rockets history, however. And for a couple of years, he engergized the city behind the Rockets, who, at that time, IMHO were worse than the current Bulls team. I remember radio talk show hosts referring to those teams as the Retro Rockets.

And one more thing about Rodney McCray. Yes, we could have had Jordan, but Rodney McCray was one of the classiest players that the Rockets have ever had. He was a really nice guy who was absolutely responsive to the fans. I was very sorry when he left the team.

 

Actually it was Clyde instead of McCray. Both had class.

And yes it was a good 2 weeks.

 

If you ask me, it was the McCray Pick which landed us at least one championship. We traded him for Thorpe. Who then teamed up with good pal Kenny Smith for a cool combination. Enough said. Thorpe for Drexler got us number two.

So forget about MJ. Things worked out. And Portland had many good years, so they didn't really mess up in Picking Bowie ahead of Jordan. They had a good run and got their championship when Drexler won it all with us. I know they were pulling for him.

 

One of the things that has been said that I think is really interesting, I believe Hakeem mentioned it in his book, was that Ralph's knees were abnormally high up, and when people backed him down they were essentially bumping his knees. This is given as a reason why Ralph had trouble with centers in the post up, where as Hakeem was strong and his gravity more centered.
Ralph was a bad man. Hakeem and Ralph single handedly made Kareem redo his game in the summer of 86. He'd never had his sky hook dominated before he met the twin towers of houston, and he was so ashamed that he worked out the entire summer after the Lakers got beat. I would definitely not compare Robinson and Ralph. They are very different.

[This message has been edited by fromobile (edited December 08, 1999).]

 

I personally believe that the shot in '86 was the best EVER. I remember staying up late when I was in third grade to watch that game, and then my teacher letting us bring TVs to class to watch one of the Finals games.

I love seeing it on the Rockets intro before the game.

 

I know this is off the subject, but Portland "didn't really mess up in Picking Bowie ahead of Jordan". Come on. That is the GREATEST draft "mess up" (don't want to get censored) of all time. I'm not a big Jordan fan, but really ... think about it. Sam Bowie ... Micheal Jordan ... hmmm ... which one do I pick?

 

I don't know if he ever had a prime, but the guy was a 22 point 10 boards a night guy for a while, with Hakeem in the lineup. Never ever should a 7'4" guy play any position other than center. Imagine if you will Bradley playing the PF position. The two of them were similar in size and lankiness.

I often wonder what may of come if Hakeem only had a tad more offensive prowess, and Fitch (I believe it was Fitch) could of played Sampson at the 5, and Hakeem at the 4, being that Hakeem is closer to 6'10".

Art...Hindsight is....

No one could of predicted Michael Jordans success, although highly touted in college, coming out. He never had an unbelievable college season (although many would say Dean Smith was accountable for that). At the time, Sam Bowie was probably as prolific a scorer coming out of college as Jordan. Difference was Sam "Bam" Bowie could grab boards, and block some shots. Come draft time, no one really gripped about the Blazers not picking Jordan. Sam might of been the real deal, but his knees gave out I believe early in his first year, and they continued to fail him, much like a Danny Manning.

[This message has been edited by thedreamshake99 (edited December 08, 1999).]

 

The real reason that Portland didnt pick Jordan was because they had a Two guard in Drexler from the year before.
He was picked the year before in the draft so Portland figured with him at the Two spot they needed a Center and went for Bowie.

I DO remember that right before the draft the Blazers offered us Drexler, and their 2nd overall pick for Sampson.. hmmmm.. could have had Jordan, Drexler and Dream for 15 years
Ahhh.. Hindsight IS 20/20

 

First of all,

Sampson had good career stats, but the hype killed him. In some ways he's like a Shaq. Shaq could average 30+ points and 15+ rebounds and all anybody'd see are his missed free throws. This despite the fact that we are probably looking at the most dominating player to play the game since Wilt (with the exception of maybe a Jordan). The other thing about Ralph was that he was inconsistent. He had a 20 point 10 rebound average, but he'd get it by going off for 40 points and 20 rebs one night, then go for 0 points and 0 rebs the next (yes, I'm exaggerating, but not by much... I once saw a Utah game where I think he ended up with 2 points).

Dude,

I believe you are correct. That has to go down as quite possibly the greatest trade that never happened. Can you imagine that team? Talk about dynasties... but then maybe Hakeem would have demanded the ball in the post more...

That's the trade that really had a chance of making it unlike some of these other scenarios where "if we had taken this guy in 1984 and traded that guy in 1987, then picked this guy in 1993, we'd have a championship in 1999". Yeah, right...

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Rocket fuel pumps through these veins...

 

Art,

Actually, Clyde was picked the year before Hakeem, so we couldn't have traded Sampson and picked him instead of McCray because he was already picked the year before. There were some rumors that the Blazers will willing to trade Clyde for Sampson, but I'm not sure how seriously we considered it at the time.

Lynus,

I was not much older than you (10 or 11) when Hakeem was drafted, but it seems to me that he was a poor man's version of a Garnett. In fact, had Sampson been Garnett's heighth (7'0) instead of 7'4 then he may have had a much better career. I think heighth can be too much of a good thing sometimes.

Oddly enough, the thing I remember the most about Sampson and Olajuwon at that time is that they were very emotional players. Others teams would frequently try to bait them into fitsacuffs. Ironically, that is not the Olajuwon we see today.

 

Ralphie Boy was a great college center, but not a great pro center. His slight frame could not take the banging and it was a boon for his career to be able to play the 4 when the Dream showed up. As a 4, he was offensively more effective since he was facing the basket and any banging he took while shooting was more likely to be called a foul. His general height advantage was even more so against opposing 4s.

He took a lot of crap from Rockets fans for playing soft, but I was always happy with his "finesse" play. I hated the trade at the time for Joe Barely Cares and the Rockets were not a better team after the trade.

Another thing I remember about the twin towers was that they both were great shot blockers. When they both were in the game, they forced the opposing team to either eat their their shot or to stay out of the paint.



[This message has been edited by No Worries (edited December 09, 1999).]

 

Barzilla, The trade was Ralph for Portland's pick (use the pick to draft MJ). Then we could have used our 3rd overall pick in the 83 draft to selected Clyde instead of selecting Rodney.

DreamShake, Sam was damaged goods before the draft. His knees had serious problems all through college. That blowout of the knees his first season was no surprise to me and shouldn't have been to anyone else. If your center's knees are bad in college don't count on him lasting too long in the pros.

Sure they didn't know how good MJ was going to be but it was a hugh gamble selecting Sam. It just goes to show you how bad they wanted a center.

And ah yes hindsight... What kind of team could be built if you had a time machine. That's all my orginal (side) message was. My later point though was that (and I still believe) picking Sam Bowie with the 2nd overall pick in the 84 draft was a historical NBA draft goof. Look at the class - one of the best - you get to pick 2 and you pick damaged Sam? Anyone that desperate for a center would gladly trade their number 1 pick (and probably more) for last year's ROY 7'4" center.

Hindsight... it's just a fun game.

 

Ralph Sampson had a Hall-of-Fame career...

To bad it only lasted 3 years. (The Hall of Fame part anyways)

I think his career did end in Boston, but it was his fight with Jerry Sitching(sp?) and his mental collapse that hurt him as much if not more than his injuries.

Ralph was the man against the Lakers in 1986, but in Boston I think he scored either 2 or 4 points in the last to games combined. I'll never forget "The Shot", but I'll never forget his crappy performance in the finals either.

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I have a dream.........his name's Hakeem.