OnHoops made referece today to the "All Olajuwon Team". A team made up of players that lived up to the hype. What Rockets have lived up to the hype in your opinion. And who has not? ------------------ humble, but hungry.
Lived up to the hype- C- Moses Malone (imo, the best Rocket center) PF- Dream (can't leave him off) SF- Rodney McCray SG- Calvin Murphy (Hall of famer) PG- Stevie the Franchise Did not live up to the hype- C- Joe Barry Carrol PF- Charles Barkley (overweight and lazy) SF- Scottie Pippen (damn quitter!!) SG- Mad Max (could have been a great one) PG- John Lucas (cocaine ruined his overall career) ------------------
More lived up to the hype Elvin Hayes Rudy Tomjonavich Clyde Drexler Otis Thorpe Mike Newlin Mike Dunleavy Ralph Sampson Sam Cassell Not lived up to the hype Mitchell Wiggens Lewis Lloyd Steve Harris Buck Johnson Bryce Drew That is all !! DaDakota ------------------
Did I just read that Rodney McCray lived up to the hype???? I respectfully disagree..... ------------------ HOOP-T ------------------
Rodney McCray was considered the second best small forward in the Western Conference, after James Worthy. ------------------
Am I the only one that disagrees with this? Hakeem is in the top 4 centers of all time, and IMO was undoubtedly the greatest center the Rockets have ever had. ------------------ Looking for next year's Dan Langhi? Draftsource.net
Rocketexpert: You just hit my hot button. How do you say Charles didn't live up to the hype yet Stevie has. Charles was brought here to be a second option to dream, which he was. Unfortunately during Charles's time here both himself & Dream had injuries which didn't allow that to happen. I have a hard time saying Charles didn't live up to the hype. The other argument you may throw out is Drexler left because of Charles, but as we all saw with Coach Drexler is that maybe he isn't quite the warrior he was made out to be. Now Franchise may live up to the hype, but to say he has already lived up to the hype is ridiculous. He has achieved no more than Allen Iverson, up to this point. He has great skills, but he hasn't made his team better, yet, or like Dream or MJ carried their teams to the championship. Let me re-interate that I like Franchise but we don't need to put him on a pedestal yet, he has a lot of things to improve on (TOs, Defense) in order to make himself & the Rockets even championship contendors. ------------------
RocketExpert, Hakeem is the greatest center of all time. Chuck poured his heart into the Rockets and played exceptional. They booth exceeded their hype by lightyears. ------------------ please venture to atheistalliance and rocketsonline I AM SPARTACUS
Sorry Cat, but Moses DOMINATED the lane like few centers EVER have. Moses did not have the complimentary players that Hakeem had, was constantly doubled and tripled teamed, and still scored 31 pts. and hauled in 17 rebounds one year. Moses and Hakeem are the two best players to ever wear Rocket Red, but since Hakeem has a better outside game than Moses (and think of the weak side shot blocking!), I put Dream at the power forward. What a tandem they would have made. As for Barkley, he was hurt because he is a lazy bum, with all the talent in the world. If he would have gotten into the weight room like Jordan and Malone, Sir Charles would still be a major NBA star. Alas, he opted for liquor, late nights, and strip joints. ------------------
i believe that meriweather was traded to the hawks after one year for dwight jones and atlanta's first round pick (which turned out to be the #1 pick in the draft) which was used on john lucas...so in that respect, joe c lived up to the hype... also, jellybean bryant was not a draft pick of the rockets..he was acquired from the clippers (i think)... one of my favorite stories was when john johnson (jj) was 'tampered' with by the celtics...the league office awarded the rockets 2 2nd round draft choices as compensation...the rockets eventually traded jj for 2 more 2nd round picks...when jj mentioned to ray patterson (in jest) that he should be compensated for this draft bonanza, patterson offered him one of the 2nd round picks... ------------------
sampson never lived up to the hype. He was supposed to be one of the best centers ever to come out of college; regarded as better that Hakeem. He was supposed to be the next Kareem. He was good before he got injured but didn't live up to the hype. ------------------
WHO considered McCray the 2nd best SF in the West back then??? I remember McCray as a good player. Not a star by any stretch. ------------------ HOOP-T ------------------
Rodney McCray was *far* from being the second best forward in the league. He was a very ordinary player who could break out and have a great game from time to time, but he was the type that was absolutely never consistently agressive enough on offense to help in the way the Rockets needed. How many times did we see McCray go off for 20/10 in a victory and then come back and score 4 points? And before, anyone says that wasn't his role, I remember very well the Rockets coaches practically begging him to be more assertive on offense (vis a vis Robert Horry some years later). ------------------ Tom Archer www.sourcedna.com
Great post bobrek!!! Man did that bring back memories I thought Moses was great as well, but I would rate them (Moses and Dream) as even. Moses took that '81 Rocket team to the finals aganst the Celtics. I loved his quote: "I could get 4 of my buddies and whip those bums." Of course the Celtics posted that on their wall and went out and beat the Rockets. He was a great one for sure. As for hype: John Lucas (even with the drug problem he was awesome) Sam Cassell (hated to see him go) As for flops: Derrick Chevious Buck Johnson ------------------ "Your not a real member of CC.net unless you have 1000 posts" [This message has been edited by BobFinn* (edited August 01, 2000).]
1st team Hakeem the Dream Sir Charles Barkley Clyde The Glide Mario Elie Sam Cassel ------------------ President of the Sir Charles Barkley Fan Club
Those who have not lived up to the hype: Matt Maloney Emanual Davis Scottie Pimpin ------------------ President of the Sir Charles Barkley Fan Club
moses to hakeem?HAKEEM to rocket expert,if i remember olajuwon was double&triple teams to,actually he had whole teams running at him(in the playoffs&finals as well)hell teams will double down on him this season! olajuwon was part of every single play.we go down to hakeem and he would do his thing or throw it out for threes(all because of the dream)hakeem could do everything maybe besides bring the ball up court. i mean how many big guys do you see on the all-time steal list. moses was great to but i see him as the prototype of a pf. ------------------
Rocketexpert said: "As for Barkley, he was hurt because he is a lazy bum, with all the talent in the world. If he would have gotten into the weight room like Jordan and Malone, Sir Charles would still be a major NBA star. Alas, he opted for liquor, late nights, and strip joints." OK Dream, CB & Jordan all came into the league together. Jordan left the year before, but no doubt he could have continued playing. But are you saying Dream is also missing games because of his poor sonditioning? Why is Charles injuries related to conditioning & not Dreams? Also Charles did have great abilities, like you said, but to compare a 6'4 1/2 PF to anyone else is crazy. Charles achieved what he did by heart & ability, not ability alone. Yeah Charles coul;d have conditioned himself better, but he did more with his stature than any other current NBA player. ------------------
what about robert horry? rockets were chastized for picking him over harold "baby jordan" minor in the draft (where is he now??) but he kicked major @ss for the rockets. was a legit 3 point threat with the throw it into hakeem, throw it back for an open 3 offense, and his D was phenomenal in the playoff runs. he shutdown barkley, had the finals record (or tied it, dont remember) with 7 steals. could have arguably been finals mvp in the orlando series. he might not be doing too much right now, but he was an integral part of the rox championship runs, and lived up to any "hype" or expectations we had when drafting him. and on the rest.. barkley kicked butt. i dont think ive ever seen anyone play with as much heart as he did in the playoffs. and come on, this is ridiculous. hakeem is hands down best ever. he won the championship almost single handedly the first year against a well stocked knicks team. he had no second superstar and his role players were kinda streaky too (max....) ------------------ you are to be praised by gods and revered as women. [This message has been edited by jamma34 (edited August 01, 2000).]
Well, on NBA Live 00, you can kick butt with Hakeem at center, but not with Mo. Malone, so Hakeem was better. But seriously, the only thing Malone had over Dream is rebounding. Every other aspect of Dream's game is better, and he played with crappy talent just like Malone did. As a matter of fact, Malone didn't win until he got on a star-studded 76er team (then again...the 81 Celtics were better than the 94 Knicks). I would say Horry lived up to the hype. When we drafted him, we didn't expect too much. Yet, he always stepped ub BIG in the playoffs (remember ring #2 against Malone, Barkley, Rodman and H.Grant at PF). He and Sam were the final pieces of the puzzle, and we haven't won jack since they left. ------------------
