In 1990-1991, Hakeem got his eye orbit broken by Bill Cartwright. He only played 56 that season and the team finished a freaking 52-30 No other key players missed serious time. Key players: Smith (25) averaged 17.7 ppg at 52% with 7 apg. Thorpe (28) averaged 17.5 ppg at 56% with 10 rpg. Maxwell (25) averaged 17 ppg at 40%. Johnson (26) averaged 13.6 ppg at 48%. Floyd (30) averaged 12.3 ppg at 41% Other notables: Larry Smith averaged 9 rpb off the bench. The rest of the team was Jamerson, Wood, Winchester, Feitel, Bullard and Caldwell - nothing. <HR WIDTH = 75%> Fast-forward to 2001. Francis out 6 weeks. Likely to miss, what 20 games?. Taylor will miss 82 games. Rice a couple of weeks, Kenny has missed time and of course, Cuttino. So the supporting cast isn't as fortunate as Dream's was. Key players: Mobley (27) averaging 16 ppg at 43% with 5 rpg. Thomas (24) averaging 12.7 ppg at 57% with 7 rpg. Willis (39) averaging 8.6 ppg at 43% with 8 rpg. Williams (31) averaging 8.3 ppg at 40%. Norris (28) averaging 7.4 ppg at 40% with 4 apg. Other Notables: Cato (27) averaging 5 ppg at 47% with 5 rpg. Rice (34) averaging 8.6 ppg at 39%. Torres (25) averaging 6.6 ppg at 41% <HR WIDTH=75%> Injury Comparison: Obviously, this year's team is having more injury problems. Age Comparison: The 4 remaining starters in 90-91 were 26 years-old on average. The 4 remaining starters (Mobley, Thomas, Rice, Cato) average 28 years of age - time to stop using the "we're a young team" cliche. Scoring Comparison: In 90-91, 5 players averaged double figures in ppg aside from Olajuwan. In 01-02, just Mobley and Thomas. In 90-91, 2 key players shot better than 50% other than Olajuwan. In 01-02, zero. Team Chemistry: In 90-91, it was Kenny's first year with the team, Vernon's second and Thorpe's third. In 01-02, Mobley (4) Thomas (3) Williams (3) Norris (3) <HR WIDTH=75%> Conclusion: After careful consideration of all the facts, it becomes clear that this team sucks. Their health sucks. Their shooting sucks. Their chemistry sucks. This post started out with so much promise and now...it just sucks.
Not giving anyone an excuse, but you have to consider the talent in the league back then, plus rules changes, etc... There's more variables, so you really can't compare unless you put both teams in the same settings.
I think a better comparison would be to the '86 - '87 club. Coming off of the Finals run and a 51-31 regular season records, drugs and injuries would play havoc with the Rockets lineup in the that season. '85-1986: 51-31 record Ralph Sampson 18.87 ppg Lewis Lloyd 16.90 ppg Mitchell Wiggins 6.81 ppg '86 - 1987: 42-40 record Lewis Lloyd 12.38 ppg Mitchell Wiggins 11.09 ppg Both were suspended for drugs in January 1987, and only played in 32 games that season. Ralph Sampson Gone for two weeks in February 1987 to arthroscopic knee surgery, only played 43 games the whole season. Interestingly enough, the team was below .500 for the Oct-Dec portion of the season, and slightly above for the remainder. Maybe there's still some hope!
