is it just me, or AK 47 is much much better than pau and yao

He fell because he was undercut going for a rebound. His leaping ability had ZERO to do with that. It was a freak accident.

Second, the way he altered his running style to compensate for his back injury is what caused his knee problems. Sampson has said as much in past interviews.

Here is an article about it from Fran Blinebury:

Sampson 's hope for tomorrow

By FRAN BLINEBURY
Staff

.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - There are nights when his wife and daughter are asleep, the house is dark and the only sounds are the click and whir of the VCR as Ralph Sampson sits with the remote control in his hand, pushing the buttons and staring at the images that flicker across the screen.

He watches a 7-foot-4 figure go up to the top of a backboard with one huge hand to spear a lob pass and spike it through the hoop. He sees the man dribble along the right baseline, spin left under the basket and come out on the other side to scoop in a layup off the glass. He looks with eyes widened at those long legs taking such graceful, easy strides across the midcourt line, then finishing a fast break with another resounding slam dunk that would send a bolt of electricity through the crowd. He can hear the roar.

"That was me?" he asks the darkness.

"Yeah," he says, hitting the rewind button. "That was you.' Then.

Now, Ralph Sampson 's days are filled with silence. The stillness of an empty gym punctuated only by the chirp and squeak of his sneakers on the polished floor. He shuffles from side to side. He works on pivoting and changing direction. He moves forward and back , concentrating on bringing his knees straight up to his chest. Then, the biggest trade

Two years ago today, the Rockets sent Sampson and Steve Harris to the Golden State Warriors for Sleepy Floyd and Joe Barry Carroll in what then was regarded as the biggest NBA trade of the decade. Since that time, Carroll has been shipped to New Jersey; Floyd has lost his job as the Rockets' starting point guard to 36-year-old John Lucas; Harris has been waived out of the league.

And Sampson is learning to run all over again.

If there is anything sadder in sports than watching an aging athlete whose skills are slowly eroding, it is to see youth struck down by injury. This is supposed to be the prime of Sampson 's career, and yet, at 28, as excess baggage on the roster of the Sacramento Kings, each step is loaded with questions and every day is filled with the knowledge time is running out.

He says the pain is gone now. But that would be the pain in his knees, which have had arthroscopic surgery three times, not the ache that comes from watching the videotapes and remembering the way things were. The moves that used to be so easy and so fluid are now unsure and embarrassing. He can't jump, he can't cut sharply, he can't do much of anything except tiptoe around as if barefoot on thin ice.

If you were watching him on the floor under game conditions for the first time, it would be hard to imagine he was an All-American in college and an All-Star in the NBA. McCray shocked by deterioration

"Last summer, we got together to work out one day in Houston,"recalled Rodney McCray, again Sampson 's teammate with the Kings. "I had heard a lot of different things about his physical condition, but I was shocked. I mean, I remember what he could do a couple of years ago. He was a great player.

"When we finished, I had to talk to somebody about what I had just seen. I went home and called my brother. I said, `You're not going to believe this, but Ralph can't play." The prevailing theory is that Sampson 's problems began March 24, 1986, when he took a frightening fall at Boston Garden and landed hard on his back and head. He began to experience back problems after the fall and tried to compensate for the pain by changing the way he ran. That altered running style is said to have caused his knees to deteriorate and has left his career hanging by a thread of hope and his own determination.

Sampson works out on his own now, ever since making the decision to go on the injured list Nov. 25. He is following a program intended to build up his strength and agility, designed by Bruce Frankie of Phoenix, Ariz., a personal trainer.

"When they traded for me and brought me here back in October, what I heard from the Kings' management was that they only wanted me to be able to play to 75 percent of my ability and they'd be happy,"Sampson said. "They said if I could just stand in the middle, block a few shots and get the rebounds that came to me, they'd be better off than they were before, and it's all they asked.

"So I tried that, but I found that I wasn't happy that way. I don't want to be just part of who I was. I want to be the whole player again.' Just how much of a player the whole Sampson was is the subject for another debate. But let it be said the Rockets have not had anyone post the numbers of a healthy Sampson at power forward since he left. In fact, even in his crippled state this season, Sampson has blocked more shots (11) than Otis Thorpe (five).

"I really don't think much about that situation," Sampson said. "I'd say that personally, I don't have any bitterness anymore about the way they handled me or who took my place. My ill feelings are about the way they broke up our team after 1986. I don't think they gave us a chance to get healthy again, or we'd have won a championship. Look what's happened now.' The truth is, Sampson is difficult to know. Never beaming with a smile on the floor or quick with a quote in the locker room, Sampson has left himself open to detractors. They toss around such labels as uncaring and without heart, perhaps revealing much about their own prejudices and ignorance of the game. During the past two years, they have hooted derisively at a man hobbling on bad legs.

Quit, they tell him. Sit back and collect the more than $2 million a year you've got coming for three more seasons and live off the interest.

"I've slammed doors in the faces of people who've suggested that," Sampson said. "Financially, I could definitely do it. But I don't want to wake up someday 10 years from now wishing that I had tried to make it back .

"There came a time when I had to ask myself two questions:

"Did I want to play? The answer to that was a definite yes.

"Can I play at a high level again? I've gotten closer to that answer in the last few weeks, and I believe it's yes. Because I've had stretches now where I'll have two or three real good days in a row in my workouts. I'm able to jump and move and have no pain.

"But I have to break through from one level to the next. It's a slow process.' There has been no clamoring from the sideline. The Sacramento fans have directed their wrath at Pervis Ellison, the No. 1 pick in the 1989 draft, who suffered a foot injury and is probably out for the season. Letters to the local papers suggest changes in personnel and moves in management.

No one even mentions Sampson anymore. They regard him as part of the past, and he thinks only of going back to the future to a time when he can play the game instinctively again and not have to take lessons to do something as basic as walk or run.

Can he make it all the way back ?

McCray just shrugs, and you know it's a long, long road.

Sampson sits on the bench in street clothes during home games, slaps backs enthusiastically and comes in early the next day to begin another solitary workout in an empty gym.

Then, there are those nights when he turns on the VCR and stares at the pictures that appear on the screen. The reason he looks at the tapes is to study his old running style, to try to recapture former habits. But there are times when he just can't help watching the games. There are the games against Sacramento in the 1986 playoffs. The Denver series. The win over the Lakers when he hit the winning shot in Game 5 at the Forum.

Two years and a lifetime have passed.

"Sometimes," said Ralph Sampson , "it feels like yesterday.

At other times, he just hopes for tomorrow.

 

It is not a shame to lost to Raptors, they just beat Utah at home !

 

If I recall correctly, Sampson was up pretty high on that rebound. It has been a long time though, and I may be remembering someone else.

It's beside the point I've been trying to make anyway. Sampson played so recklessly, he was begging for a serious injury. Just like AK47. A great leaping ability, overused, adds more pressure to the lower body and makes an early retirement even more likely.

 

I didn't see the Raptors vs. the Jazz, but I saw the Raptors hammer the Pistons, 101-89. The game wasn't close -- Toronto had a comfortable lead for nearly the whole second half. The Raptors were employing the Grizz method of rotating two or three complete 5-man units, and were able to run the Pistons to death. What was most amazing, I thought, was that the Raptors were able to win without much offensive contribution from Vince Carter (he had only about 5 points until garbage time).

After watching that game, I didn't feel quite so bad about the Rockets' loss to the Raptors in the season opener.

 

By the way AK-47 in 36 minutes of action against Toronto tonight - 9 points.