[Blasphemy] Is Clyde's Importance to the Rox Overstated due to his UH Roots?

He brought one more ring to Houston, that is enough to retire his number.

 

You are not serious.

 

Clyde did a boatload more than ride coattails. It could be argued that he was nearly as important as Hakeem in their time together. He was the facilitator of the offense, led us in assists, was second in points and boards, a strong defender, and was a clear leader.

Yes, his history with the city and with Dream went a very long way as far as his place in Rockets lore and getting his number retired. But unlike Walton's ring with the Celtics, I doubt we'd have that second championship without him. He was a major part of why we remained so good in 96 and 97.

Evan

 

dude chill out. Clyde is a living legend there is no way we would have won in 95 without him. I guess you forget how bad our chemistry was before the OT trade ,Clyde was the spark that turned around that season. He is a great player that helped bring a championship to us. He may not be calvin murphy on the microphone but who is? We all miss calvin but let us not understate what clyde has accomplished for us on the court.

 

Well, we probably would not have that second ring if we had not done the trade. Not only because of Clyde, but the morale boost he brought to the rest of the team going into the playoffs. We had a pretty ****ty regular season that year.

 

As much as I love Mario and Horry (they both were huge pieces of the puzzle), they didn't average nearly 21 ppg, 7rpg, and 5 assts in the '94-'95 playoffs like Clyde did. While Dream was clearly the number one option for us at the time, Clyde was no slouch either.

 

I agree somewhat, but its hard to argue because of the championship. its not like the rockets are the lakers are the celtics with more than 10 championships. there are only two, and both were very special in their own way.


at the same time, why the guy has so much clout in the organization is beyond me. he doesn't want to do road broadcasts, except games in phoenix or miami apparently. bullard has to do road games and can't even do the good ones. its ridiculous.

 

horry and sam and otis and vernon deserved IMMORTALITY.

 

To me, Clyde was very important to our second championship, but he spent most of his best years with the Blazers. Clyde with the Blazers in his early days was a better player than old Clyde with the Rockets. After the 2nd championship, Clyde's old age caught up with him. I remember him missing a dunk against the Lakers.

 

Hotballa,

You have gotten valid responses to your question, and aren't satisfied. Sounds to me like you just want people to agree with you. Do you ever rest fighting the battle of who could care less?

-P1st, S2nd

 

What about scotty brooks? You guys forgot to mention him.

On drexler's jersey being retired.....He earned it.

 

This is actually a good question - a valid one. Realistically speaking, when you look in the rafters and see the retired jerseys, you see some names that equate to "Rockets". They were ROCKETS. Clyde was here for a bit and was an important part of a championship, but you can say the same for Mario Elie, Robert Horry, vernon maxwell, and co.

My answer : Clyde's jersey is retired because he was a Houston Cougar legend as well as a Houston Rocket champion. He was a Houston boy from the beginning regardless of his Portland ties, he was an NBA superstar, and he returned to get his first ring. Retiring his jersey kind of completes the circle.

*EDIT* : Oh, and I have no problem with that... he's a Houstonian - he should be rewarded.

 

Errr... the dude sorta pulled a superman during the Utah series... there's no way we'd have got past the Jazz without him, and therefore no way we'd win that second championship. End of story.

 

What about Elie's Kiss of Death? Horry, Maxwell, and Smith's 3's? You can say that about a bunch of people on that team. I'm not disagreeing, just countering/playing devil's advocate.

 

He played a critical role in the 2nd championship, and even though we lost in the WCF to Utah in 1997, getting that far was no guarantee, either. It is the combination of his overall career and his contribution to the Rockets. If he would have been an average player with flashes of greatness (Maxwell), he would not have had his jersey retired. If he would have been a great player but one who did not help us win a ring (Barkley), his jersey would not have been retired. It's that he was/did both.

 

The same argument can be made if Moses Malone's jersey is retired by the 76ers. He helped them win 1 championship, but the large majority of his career was with other teams. If Philadelphia has already or plans to retire his number, I wouldn't have a problem with that at all.