Which Rockets Jerseys have been retired?

what is up with the love affair with matt bullard? i used to think it was a tongue-in-cheek kinda thing, but i'm starting to think some of you are serious. is this a token white boy 3 point shooter thing? would it be the same if it were craig hodges? somehow...i doubt it.

i mean, all matt bullard did was shoot 3s and give up layups...geez...

 

i was kinda tongue in cheek about bull.... but i'm serious about sampson (look at what he did while he was here)

and yes, hayes definitely yes. he did just as much for this city as did drexler....

as far as coaches go, anybody have a pick other than rudy...

 

Over his 11 year career with the Rockets, he averaged something like 17 points and 8 or 9 boards. In his best seasons, he probably had something like 22-24 points and 11 rebounds, give or take.

He played with Calvin Murphy for most of his glory years, but also got to share the court with guys like Moses Malone, John Lucas, and even Mike Dunleavy.

My dad went to college at Michigan, and has a funny story about some tall, skinny freshman who showed up at the gym one day and asked to play a pick-up game with my dad & his buddies. Ended up schooling every single danged one of them. They all remembered him because he had a funny last name.

 

If your example is/was true, then Malone's #24 wouldn't be up there. His jersey was retired only within the last few years.

Plenty of teams go back years later to retire a players number. There are several teams with the same number retired for different players because the first guy was gone long enough for another player to come in, wear the same number, and have just as much of an impact as the first guy did. For example: Earl Monroe and Dick McGuire both have #15 retired with the Knicks.

Elvin Hayes is the only Rocket I can think of whose number isn't hanging from the rafters that should be hanging from the rafters, especially given our history with big men.

 

Big E deserves to be there for the same reasons as Clyde. In other words, its a tribute for his contributions to Houston hoops.

Ralph Sampson does not deserve to be there, sadly, because he never fulfilled his potential as a Houston Rocket. He had two great seasons but that's it. He wasn't exactly a fan favorite either.

Retiring Charles Barkley is like the Tampa Bay Devil Rays retiring Wade Boggs. Sure, he did some great things for the Rockets but nobody remembers him as a Houston Rocket.

How about a fan favorite like Mario Elie getting retired. I don't think all jerseys have to be a star on the team. In Mario's case, here was a guy who epitomized the toughness of those Rockets championship teams.

 

Mario Elie or Kenny Smith

 

Big E definitely needs to be up in the rafters. I think he spent a total of 8 years with our organization and put up some fairly mind boggling stats.

I think Otis Thorpes number should be in the rafters as well. He is the most solid, consistent, long term, all star caliber power forward our team has ever had. Plus he was a very big piece in our first championship.

No Way we could ever retire John Lucas number since he did way to much damage to the organiziation with his drug abuse.

Clyde was clearly still a super star when he arrived and certainly the cercumstances associated with his arrival (the championship) plays into his number being retired. Mario Ellie was always just a complementory role player so you can not compare the two.

I guess you could make an argument for Chuck but he was only here for such a short time. And unlike Drexler the team never won a championship with him or even made it past the WCF. He did put up some big numbers here and his career did end here but I just don't know if it was enough.

The only other player that I can think of that should even be considered is Ralph Sampson. He is kind of in the same boat as Chuck because he was only with us for about 3.5 years but damn he sure put up some good numbers with us. Along with his numbers he also had some fairly big accomplishments while he was with us: Rookie of the Year, All-Star MVP, and he is the one that hit the came winning shot that sent Houston to the 86 NBA finals. Unfortunately I think the thing he also has the stigma that he had no heart and dissapeared in a lot of big games.

 

You need to be a Hall of Famer, a perennial All-Star or at the very least an All-Star on a championship team to get your jersey retired. The players you guys mentioned didn't cut it. Don't cheapen the jersey retiring thing.

 

Steve Francis and Yao Ming would be the next players if anything.



I wouldn't be opposed to having Gene Peterson having a banner whenever he calls it quits. Not necessarily a "jersey", but, well, you know.