Exactly my thinking. Cassell, Horry, Thorpe, Maxwell, Elie, etc were all key cogs during those championship years but none were really the face of the francise. Drexler is debatable because he only spent his last few years here, but I'm thinin his jersey is up there cause he not only brought us a championship but he's a hometown boy that's been a fixture of the community before and after his NBA days. As I said, Barkely never won a championsip here, was in the twilight of his career, and didn't call this city home...I have no ill feelings of the guy but he was never truly a fixture of this franchise or city. Stevie, Yao, T-Mac..maybe..one day..these next few years will define what they mean to the city. But lets not retire jersey's just for the hell of it
Horry should have his jersey retired here b/c it has to be retired somewhere and I believe he would prefer Houston. He should make it in the HOF. Best Post Entry Pass player in NBA history!!!!
if you remember, the reason the rockets retired clyde's jersey # is that portland and him did not separate amicably and said they were not going to retire his jersey. then the rockets decided to do it and just claimed it was for his lifetime houston citizenship and for his playing days in hisd and uh. then portland was being criticized by the fans and media and they decided to retire his uniform a year after the rockets.
you guys are basically suggesting that the rockets should be like boston and retire all of those jerseys. only 1 problem, boston was a true dynasty with so many hall of fame players. the rockets are not in a position to compete with that. there will be no more retired jerseys anytime soon. for you all (not just david) to mention all of these names is merely wishful and unrealistic thinking.
Yeah, except that Malone was the best player in the NBA for 2 or 3 seasons while he was with the Rockets. You can't say that about Barkley. Chuck was solid but he was past his prime by the time he got to Houston. Malone pretty much single handedly carried the '81 Rockets to the NBA Finals. You can't fault Malone just because he had no talent surrounding him. Malone was an elite player for the 6 years that he played here.
No. Last I checked Sampson has 0 MVPs, 0 Rebounding titles and was never a top 10 scorer. As a Rocket, Sampson averaged just under 20pts/game. Malone on the other hand averaged just over 26pts/game. That's a huge difference. Ralph did play on a team that went to the finals, but Olajuwon was the centerpiece of that team, not Ralph. Olajuwon, McCray and Lewis Lloyd were a significant upgrade over Tom Henderson, Allen Levell, Mike Dunleavy and Billy Paultz. The 86 Rockets were a 51 win division winner while the 81 Rockets were a 40 win team with a losing record. I'd have to say that it's a much bigger achievement to take a 40 win team to the Finals than it is to take a 51 win team (which included Olajuwon) to the Finals. Malone is, of course, the only player to win 2 MVPs while a Rocket and one of only a handful of players to ever win 3 MVP awards (2 with Houston + 1 with Philly). Sampson never won an MVP award. In fact, Sampson, was never named to the All-NBA first team, his best year was a 2nd team All-NBA. Again, that's a huge difference. You're comparing an all-star who's career was cut short by injuries to an NBA All-Time great. The fact of the matter is that Moses Malone is the NBAs 5th leading all-time rebounder and 5th all-time scorer and he had his best years here in Houston. I don't think the Rockets had to think too long or hard before they retired his jersey.
role players do not get jerseys retired. i love horry, cassell, ellie, etc.. as much as the next guy but they do not get the honor of having no other player wear that number. hayes is the only one on that list that deserves it. in the next few years we will see weather or not yao/tmac/steve will earn that right. my guess is that with 1 championship yao/mac will get it. with multiple rings together steve may get in the club as well. and if for some reason no rings are won, yao will be the only one to get the number retired.
