Other teams were salivating at the thought of getting Sampson and why not? Ralph racked up 21.0 points and 11.1 rebounds, played in the All-Star Game, and won Rookie of the Year. He was 7'4" tall. He was athletic. He was a shot blocker. He had a terrific handle for a big man. Read aelliot's post for an idea of just how good he was playing with Olajuwon. Sampson had trouble with consistency, but that's not unusual for a guy in his first couple of seasons. A knock on the guy was that Ralph would sometimes think he was a point guard, but I've wondered before if part of that was due to being taken out of his natural position (although he often played center when Dream was on the bench) at the 5, and that it was a work in progress for him to adapt to his new role. We'll never really know. With the injuries, Sampson only had three exceptional seasons, two with the Dream. Just enough to let you know what you missed after he got hurt. Damn the freakin' Celtics.
Thanks for posting. I was at that game as a kid and I don't think I've heard a basketball arena as loud as the Summit that night before or after. In addition to how awesome Dream was I remember Sampson pulling down 20 + rebounds that night along with Reid having a great game almost matching Magic Johnson.
A healthy Sampson with modern conditioning would play great in the league of today. In many ways Sampson presaged the modern mobile and multi-talented power forwards. He would be similar to Dirk Nowitzki in that he could play all over the court and face up an opponents. Also not to take anything from Yao compare how fast and fluid Sampson is running the court compared to Yao. If a healthy Yao can play very well healthy a healthy Sampson in todays game would do as well or better. Saddly the only thing that limited Sampson at the height of his career was Ralph Sampson.
Ralph would still be terrific. The 80's NBA was not much different than today's NBA. There were plenty of big tough players in the 80's.
But they were a lot skinnier back then. Ralph only weighed 238 at 7'3". That is about 50 pounds less than Yao.
You are correct that the players were somewhat lighter weight back then, but there just wasn't that much difference. Ralph did at times struggle against stronger players, but Ralph was not a bruiser in the paint, he used his quickness, agility, and height advantage to get his points, rebounds, and blocks.
Kareem was just unreal. I can do nothing but praise his longevity. He used to dominate the Twin Towers as an old man (38ish). I remember he had a 46 point game against Akeem; Dream was just helpless that game. Kareem had a huge size advantage, though. The 86 WCF counts as the passing of the torch where Akeem took the best center in the game label from Cap. He was all over the floor, grabbing rebounds, blocking shots, dominating in transition and demanding triple teams at will. Riley put 4 guys on him and still couldn't stop him! One thing I would have really liked to seen is Akeem knock Kupchak out of his boots; too bad the ref and Lucas pulled him back.
Ralph didn't want to play down low (or should I say, had a disinclination for playing there). That's one of the reasons they moved him to PF. Ralph had to struggle to get to 240 if I recall correctly. After his injuries he was down to around 225-230 at one point.
Also Ralph wasn't 7'4". There's no way there was a 6 inch difference between him and Dream who was really 6'10". Here's a video of Chick Hearn with Mark Eaton. Eaton claims Ralph was at least 2 inches shorter than he was which would make Ralph 7'2".
Ralph was probably the most heralded collegiate player to come out, period. Seriously, people were hyping him to be greater than Wilt. Part of his downfall was that he wasn't ever going to live up to that hype no matter what he did. One of the most hoped-for matchups that never materialized was in the 1983 NCAA Tournament - a meeting between Hakeem and Ralph. NC State knocked Virginia out by 1 stinkin' point (?)... then knocked UH out in the Finals. As for the stats and "Blake Griffin numbers", you may want to temper that a bit. Consider that no team in 1983 scored below 101 ppg and over half the league was putting up over 110 ppg. Different era. Old timer? WTH? :grin: Michael Jordan was college player of the year that year, so it's not like he came out of nowhere. What nobody knew was how great he would be. There's a famous line or quote from Rod Thorn where he said that Jordan was a good player, but he's not a franchise-changer. The Bulls wanted Hakeem. The Rockets and Bulls both knew this and did their best to tank the hell out of their seasons to get that #1 pick. lol. Thorn has since said that Hakeem was their first choice and Jordan was their second choice, but others argued that the Bulls would've taken Sam Bowie #2 had they had the #2 pick. One of the interesting things I've read in the past is that Bill Fitch and Dean Smith were good friends and Fitch was quoted as saying that Smith talked to him before the draft and said Jordan would one day be among the greatest to play the game. Fitch admitted there were some thoughts about getting Jordan. #1 PICK : <iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/jfejFdqLJyI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> #2 PICK : <iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/2nERNj0afyY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> #3 PICK : <iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/I7v_6GzDO20" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Thanks for the reply on the Jordan/Sampson thing; most of the knowledge I have about Jordan's pre-championship 80s days came from reading David Halberstam's Playing for Keeps. I had heard about the Rod Thorn pre-draft stories, and knew that Bobby Knight spoke very highly of him, but I'm fairly confident you could find similar things said by other coaches about their favorite players over the years who decidedly didn't become the greatest player ever. Anyone else want to try and chime in on the perceptions of Sampson, and especially Drexler after their rookie years? If Bill Simmons was doing his trade value column, where would Sampson rank? Top 10? Top 5? Probably Bird/Magic/Isaiah/Moses/Sampson? What would be an equivalent deal in the modern NBA? Healthy Greg Oden who put up 18-10 in his first year, won ROY and made the All-Star Team for a Derrick Rose who stayed in college for 3 years + Thabo Sefolosha?
Yeah there are some crazy spin moves by Hakeem in that video. The defense was pretty much left standing there. And I still dont understand when folks claim that Hakeem wasnt as great early on in his career!? He had always been great until the knee surgeries in 96. He had crap for teammates after the 80s team went down with injuries and drug problems. Good find Tinman.
I don't think anybody says he wasn't great in his early years, but he was a better all-around player in his late-20's and as he approached 30 from what I recall. He was more explosive in his youth and loved to try to jam dunks down people's throats. As he got older, I don't think he cared as much about embarrassing people as much as he did just trying to get a bucket - he tried to be more efficient about getting his 2 points. His free throw shooting, blocked shots, etc. all went up as he matured and acquired more moves and started understanding the game better. People usually say he was raw early in his career with the Cougars. The biggest change most people talk about after he got to the NBA was when he got older, he was less of a hot-head.
Worthy was PF. He had the quickest first step for a PF that I have ever seen. Drop step was a blur. Later, the Lakers drafted Michal Thompson out of U of Minnesota and he played significant minutes at the 4, while Big Game James played both the 3 & 4. Coop played SF and was a defensive stalwart. He was also long and athletic enough to play the 2. Byron Scott played the 2 and was a nightmare from distance and finishing at the rim.
But with modern nutritious and training, Ralph would be bigger and just as, if not more, athletic. Why do people always assume old players wouldn't benefit from modern training and nutrition? Modern players didn't come out of the womb this way. They were trained and developed to be what they are, and any older player would have developed the same way had they been afforded modern knowledge.
big men played like point guards too in the 80s. all the more reason why the 80s was that decade for basketball.
