These are the acquisitions ranked in the order that I believe has contributed to the Rockets' success. 1. Drafting Hakeem Olajuwon in the 1984 NBA draft. 2. Trading for Clyde Drexler in the middle of the 1995 season. 3. Trading for Steve Francis before the beginning of the 1999 season. 4. Trading for Charles Barkley before the 1996 season. 5. Trading away Scottie Pippen for Kelvin Cato, Walt Williams, and Carlos Rogers. 6. Drafting Cuttino Mobley in the second round of the 1998 draft. 7. Acquiring Shandon Anderson before the beginning of the 1999 season. 8. Signing Mo Taylor to the exception this offseason. 9. Picking up Moochie Norris from the CBA and making him our backup PG. 10. Drafting Sam Cassell with the 24th pick in the 1993-94 draft. ------------------
In between two and three: Trading for Moses Malone from the Bullets (I think it was the Bullets) Between 3 and four: The drafting of Calvin Murphy You are showing your age counting crow, by leaving these two out. ------------------ Save our children from the TAAS test: TAAS test report card TAAS test fact sheet Dog lover here....cats beware.
1.Hakeem 2.Drexler Those are top 2 because they led to championships 3.Steve Francis 4.Cassell Cassel is 4 because he was big part in championship teams. 5.Barkley 6.Cuttino 7.Shandon 8.Pippen trade 9.Moochie Mo Taylor signing is incomplete, because first of all we don't know how he will fit in with the Rox and how they will do with him. Second of all we don't know if he will be here long term. If I had to rank now, I would Rank ahead of Shandon ------------------ "See they pick and pick and pick. Man they picked me to death." -Steve Francis on the Utah Jazz
Moses was acquired from Buffalo in 1976. Moses brought recognition to Houston as an NBA city by leading the highly underdog Rockets to the NBA finals where they lost to the upstart Celtics. It has snowballed ever since. ------------------ In order to be a success in life, you need 2 things: 1. Don't tell everything you know.
Buffalo Braves....I knew it was a "B" team. ------------------ Save our children from the TAAS test: TAAS test report card TAAS test fact sheet Dog lover here....cats beware.
I believe Othella's drafting should be someone in there. Without his value shooting up, we probably would not have Steve Francis in our line-up as we speak, er write. Azim da Dream ------------------ We don't live for the destination. We live for the journey.
Hello, Ralph Sampson anyone? John Lucas with the number 1 pick? Youngsters, sheesh !! DaDakota ------------------ All you MO-FO's better stop ripping off my lines !!
Sorry DaDakota, not a youngster here, I just don't feel Lucas, or especially Sampson, helped contribute to the Rockets success, like the topic asks. ------------------ Save our children from the TAAS test: TAAS test report card TAAS test fact sheet Dog lover here....cats beware.
I think they are called "yootz" DaDakota. The "yootz" are rampant at CC.net ------------------ In order to be a success in life, you need 2 things: 1. Don't tell everything you know. [This message has been edited by BobFinn* (edited August 27, 2000).]
1. Drafting Hakeem Olajuwon in the 1984 NBA draft. 2. Trading for Clyde Drexler in the middle of the 1995 season. 3. Trading for Steve Francis before the beginning of the 1999 season. 4. Drafting Sam Cassell with the 24th pick in the 1993-94 draft 5. Drafting Cuttino Mobley in the second round of the 1998 draft. 6. Acquiring Shandon Anderson before the beginning of the 1999 season. 7. Trading away Scottie Pippen for Kelvin Cato, Walt Williams, and Carlos Rogers. 8. Signing Mo Taylor to the exception this offseason. 9. Picking up Moochie Norris from the CBA and making him our backup PG. 10. Trading for Charles Barkley before the 1996 season. ------------------ My dream job is to be a Houston Rockets towel-boy. [This message has been edited by fadeaway (edited August 27, 2000).]
Behad, Agreed about Lucas, but Sampson led us to the finals with Hakeem, if it were not for the Booger sugar that Lloyd, Wiggins and Lucas snorted, the Rockets could have very well had more then just 2 rings. I rate the greatest Rockets pickups as these: 1. Hakeem gets drafted 2. Trade for Moses Malone 3. Ralph Sampson gets drafted 4. Steve Francis trade 5. Clyde Drexler trade Those are my top 5, for now. DaDakota ------------------ All you MO-FO's better stop ripping off my lines !!
DaD, Hypothetical question: Put another power forward in place of Sampson, say Otis Thorpe or Larry Smith or even Barkley....do we make the finals? I think so. Akeem was the star of that team, not Sampson. Sampson was highly over-rated, IMHO. ------------------ Save our children from the TAAS test: TAAS test report card TAAS test fact sheet Dog lover here....cats beware.
Behad, Highly overated? Come on ! He averaged over 20pts and 10 rebounds. Hakeem was SOOOOO raw it was incredible, they RARELY ran plays for Hakeem, he made his 20pts and 10+ rebounds off of others misses. Led the league in offensive rebounds. Sampson was a GREAT NBA player, his knees just gave out on him. He was graceful, athletic, and a pretty good defender. Hakeem was not the star, he shared it with Ralph, they did not call it the ONE tower, they called it "twin towers" DaDakota ------------------ All you MO-FO's better stop ripping off my lines !!
Is a 35 win season considered a success? If it's not then Steve Francis hasn't contributed to the Rockets success yet has he ? (just thought I'd open up a can of worms on this topic ) ------------------
Maybe I am just bias because I have never been a fan of Sampson. Why did he not win a NCAA title at Virginia? Because he was not a "winner" a la Olajuwon or Jordan. I know your next statement: "Olajuwon never won in college either." True, but you have Valvano to thank for that, and Olajuwon made up for it later. Smith easily outrebounded Sampson, and Barkley outscored him. To me, Sampson never had "the right stuff". What did he do in those finals, beside get in a fight with a midget? ------------------ Save our children from the TAAS test: TAAS test report card TAAS test fact sheet Dog lover here....cats beware.
Sampson just went through the motions. I used to go to games and offer Ralph some NoDoze. The guy had no fire at all (until the Danny Ainge biting incident) He was a very frustrating player to watch. All that talent wasted. ------------------ In order to be a success in life, you need 2 things: 1. Don't tell everything you know.
Yeah, I know Dr., but I have faith! ------------------ Save our children from the TAAS test: TAAS test report card TAAS test fact sheet Dog lover here....cats beware.
Exactly my point, Bob....Thanks! ------------------ Save our children from the TAAS test: TAAS test report card TAAS test fact sheet Dog lover here....cats beware.
BobFinn, Ainge biting incident? You mean when Tree Rollins bit Danny Ainge? People are always getting that backwards. Or are you refering to the Sampson vs Jerry Schiting fight? DaDakota - just the facts mam ! ------------------ All you MO-FO's better stop ripping off my lines !!
I can't believe no one has even mentioned one of the biggest acquisitions ... RUDY TOMJANOVICH. My list in chronological order: 1. Acquired Houston as their home town 2. Elvin Hayes put us on the map 3. Calvin carried us through some dark times 4. Moses - most important acquisition since moving to Houston. 5. Trading Moses - This "acquisition" allowed us to suck so bad that we got our next two huge additions (Ralph & Hakeem) 6. Ralph - A great player..... for three years. Huge reason we made it to the Finals in '86. 7. Hakeem - The biggest acquisition ever for the organization. Took the team to three Finals, and won two. 8. Otis Thorpe - Iron man who was part of the best front court in the NBA with: Hakeem, Thorpe, & Horry. He was also the guy we traded to get #11 on my list 9. Rudy Tomjanovich - Took over as interim coach at the end of 1991, and had won .592 of his games since. He has his negatives, but the players seem to respect him, and that's very important. 10. Mario Elie - Yeah, he's scum now, but back in the day JYD could do no wrong. KOD, and great defense. Hard to believe he was only here 5 years. 11. Clyde - Brought a renewed desire to a team that seemed sluggish, so much so we won another title. Helped bring tons more fans too. 12. Barkley - He came to Houston... no where else, Houston. He brought a more fans and more media recognition. I think we could've given him a ring if injuries didn't stop us. 13. &ippen - Brought fans, and more recognition. 14. Mobley - Brought youth and excitement to an older and "boring" team 15. Shandon - Kept the theme of desirable free agents coming to Houston. Brought experience, consistency, and defense. 16. Francis - May turn out to be the 2nd biggest acquisition ever. Let's just hope so. 17. Mo Taylor - Again a highly sought after free agent comes to H-town ... must be the water (or high lead content therein). ---------------- DaDaKota, I think that shows who was the star on that team. If one player gets the majority of the offensive calls (Ralph) and puts up the same numbers as someone who gets basically no plays drawn up for him.... well you get my point. Ummm, graceful? Well, he did have moves no other 7'4" man will ever have. But, "graceful" might be a little much. Athletic I can agree with. He's the only player I've ever seen dunk from the free-throw line in a game. But, I'll argue all night and day with you about his defensive prowess. His high center of gravity and lack of tenacity on defense make him an average if not below defender. Ummm, that's becaue there were two tall guys. There was only one "Dream" otherwise, wouldn't it have been, "The Twin Dreams"? ------------------ I have a dream.........his name's Hakeem. DREAMer's Rocket Page [This message has been edited by DREAMer (edited August 27, 2000).]
