[Kelly Dwyer] The NBA's all-time starting five: Houston Rockets

heyparter is right again

99
all
the
time

 

C: Olajuwon - I think we all agree on this.

PF: Hayes - I wanted to put Malone here, but Hayes was just about as good and was an iron man and rarely injured.

SF: Artest - With Olajuwon and Hayes locking down the interior, I'm inserting someone to defend the wings.

SG: Drexler - I was tempted to put Harden here, but I think Drexler is the better overall player when you consider there are 2 sides of the floor.

PG: Cassell - The alien isn't getting nearly enough love in this thread! He was an incredibly clutch player and was arguably a better ball distributor than Murphy.

 

Oh geez.. I think you can go two ways with this. Which way wins better depends on what era you are rolling out your lineup with.

You can either go big-

C: Malone
PF: Hakeem
SF: McGrady
SG: Drexler
PG: Harden

of you can go small:

C: Hakeem
PF: McGrady
SF: Drexler
SG: Harden
PG: Murphy


That small-ball lineup would be INSANE in today's NBA with the versatility you have at virtually every position other than PG. If you go back to the 80's/90's grind it out NBA, that big lineup dominates unless Hakeem and Moses just don't mesh well.

 

For those who haven't seen him play. Super athletic big man:

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JMMKJKnF3x4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Yeah, anyone who wants to can wear his 22 for the Rockets. He's not really known for his days with the Rockets.



For those who think Harden is a good point guard when you could play Murph or Francis at the 1, check out his success at the position the 1% of the time that he played it:

http://www.82games.com/1415/14HOU6.HTM

 

So wait, are we just picking players irrespective of their ACTUAL careers or positions? A lot of you guys are just throwing in players into your lineups regardless of their position and style of play. That is NOT a lineup, just a list of best players.

 

Also, when a player plays ONE season for our team or his career is plagued by injuries, are we just ignoring all of that and still going by their overall career irrespective of teams and health. Hayes for instance, only played like one season for the HOUSTON Rockets so are you guys counting his time in SD as making him a Houston Rockets?

 

How could he put McGrady over Moses Malone? MVP who led us to the Finals? Crazy. My persona pick...

All-Rocket First Team:
G: Calvin Murphy
G: James Harden
F: Rudy Tomjanovich
F: Moses Malone
C: Hakeem Olajuwon

All-Rocket Second Team:
G: Steve Francis
G: Clyde Drexler
F: Otis Thorpe
F: Elvin Hayes
C: Yao Ming

All-Rocket Third Team:
G: Kenny Smith
G: Mike Newlin
F: Robert Reid
F: Tracy McGrady
C: Ralph Sampson

 

Sold. Scary.

 

Yao didn't have harden. He did however have a very effective mutumbo backing him up and some decent role players. Look at that 09 team. Dwight has Dorsey.. and I'd take Cookie Monster 55 over Dorsey anyday. What Yao really never had was the ability to stay healthy enough. You could tell he was exhausted when playoffs started. He made up for it though with heart. My heart will always go out to him but last years playoffs showed me why Dwight was worth all that hassle.

 

Robert Horry. yes.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eFlLRsHz0sA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

Center - Hakeem Olajuwon (He's a CENTER not a PF so stop putting Yao here)
Power Forward - Charles Barkley (Can't believe people are picking Sampson, Hayes or Moses)
Small Forward - Scottie Pippen (Yes he's better than TMac)
Shooting Guard - Clyde Drexler (Yes he's better than TMac)
Point Guard - James Harden (Yes he's better than any PG we've ever had)

 

Leaving off Rudy T is a joke. I don't see how you can not include a guy who was a 5 time all star as a Rocket and had 6 seasons of better than 19ppg and multiple seasons averaging a double double. I think a lot of you guys are missing the point that this lineup is supposed to be for what they did as Rockets not their total careers. You can put Pippen and his one season here avg 14ppg in the same class as a guy like Rudy who put up 5 all star seasons pre expansion era.

 

your logic is wierd

 

Untill we got Adelman and brought in guys like Landry, Scola etc the team surronding Yao and T-Mac was horrible, so bad in hindsight it is amazing what JVG, McGrady and Yao were able to do.

 

Hakeem was a natural 4, especially in his early years. His quickness means he could guards 4's away from the basket and he can score from from further out from the basket rather than just in the low block.

Just amazing how you say Hakeem is not a 4 so should be centre but in the same post say Harden, a shooting guard should be the point guard.

Moses Malone over Barkley any day.

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">We've updated our ranking with the best <a href="https://twitter.com/HoustonRockets">@HoustonRockets</a> of all time: Harden ahead of T-Mac. <a href="http://t.co/D2p3QMBexa">http://t.co/D2p3QMBexa</a> <a href="http://t.co/MEkmiDsY8S">pic.twitter.com/MEkmiDsY8S</a></p>&mdash; HoopsHype (@hoopshype) <a href="https://twitter.com/hoopshype/status/629652200839610368">August 7, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

Correct.

 

https://youtu.be/Iz7ZUzqG93c

https://youtu.be/I2kyeLyAJuw?t=2m22s

 

Positions were created for people/fans to better understand the game. It would be wiser for you not to get hung up on semantics. Just like all the fan debates about whether Beard is a PG or SG.

 

My personal fab five...

David Anderson (solid International guy that can bring cater to the international market)
Ryan Bowen (stretch four that can help space the floor; also a proven Dirk stopper)
Scott Padgett (grit, hustle, and goatee)
Richie Frahm (under the radar Morey type sharp shooter)
Bob Sura (helluva guy to grab a beer with after the game)