so you, a convenient homer, claim. if the Rox were as good as you claim, why were they good enough to reach the finals during the years that MJ's Bull did ??????
Many other teams have done this to the Jordan Bulls in the regular season but the opposite happened when the playoffs came. How many WC champions learned this the hard way when they met the Bulls in the finals? This discussion has been going on ad infinitum in Houston but it is silly and the rest of the basketball world has moved on. The fact is the Bulls proved what they had to prove and the Rockets proved what they had to prove. The results are what they are, end of story.
Well, technically then, Reggie Harding started the trend because he was the first NBA draft pick straight from high school (in 1962). Malone didn't even start out in the NBA, and he didn't start a trend. Malone started playing pro ball in 1974. Not a single player was drafted out of high school between 1976 and 1995, the year KG was drafted. In the ten years between when KG was drafted and they changed the rule, more than 30 players made the jump from high school to the NBA. KG started the trend.
Have you ever heard of matchups? Sometimes a team matches up well against another team. The Rockets matched up well against the Bulls. I'm not saying they definitely would have won a finals series against Chicago, but they matched up well. The Rockets did not match up well against Seattle. In 1993, they had to play Seattle in the playoffs and they lost. That's why they didn't make it to the finals. In 1994 and 1995, Seattle was knocked out in the first round. The Rockets had to play Seattle again in 1996 and got swept.
Reggie Harding did not go to college and did play in the NBA. Reggie H was never a 1st round pick, which Malone, Willougby, Dawkins, KG were.
You're just flat out wrong about Malone starting the trend. Malone went from college to the pros. He was followed by Willoughby and Dawkins, but then no one else did it for twenty years! After KG, several people were doing it every single year until the rule was changed. KG started the trend.
I don't see what this has to do with the discussion. You said, if the Rockets were good enough to beat the Bulls finals teams, why couldn't they make it to the Finals. I said they didn't make it to the Finals because they had to play a team in the western conference playoffs that was a really bad matchup for them. What does the number of days rest in a series have to do with anything?
it is not is even worth debating. 4-4-4 was drafted by the Utah Stars from high school, he started the trend.
I can see from this and the Chris Wallace thread (where you said the Grizzles got Mayo using the Lakers' pick) that you just don't like to admit when you're wrong.
this is from nba.com http://www.nba.com/history/players/malonem_summary.html Moses Malone One of the game's all-time great centers, Moses Malone was a relentless rebounder and effective scorer who made the jump from high school to a pro career that lasted 21 years. ...... At the age of 19, when he was a lean and lanky 6-10 man-child, Malone had no trouble making the jump from Petersburg (Va.) High School to the Utah Stars of the ABA. ..
My mistake there. I see what you're arguing with now. I meant to type that Malone did go from high school to the pros... but he didn't start the trend because it took until KG did it 20+ years later for it to catch on.
