Grantland article on the 1980s Rockets

Post #1 » by **Mr. E** » Sun Nov 11, 2012 12:35 am

"The Greatest Team that Never Was"

Good read. Worth the time.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/860 ... on-rockets

I've heard some of those stories, but some stuff was new to me.

I always have wondered what would have happened if Lucas, Wiggins & Lloyd could have been sober.

Post #2 » by **Slava** » Mon Nov 12, 2012 6:16 am

I tried reading that but got tired after the first page and realized there were 2 more left but the part about Sampson was pretty interesting.

moofs · Post #3 » by **moofs** » Mon Nov 12, 2012 6:18 am

Reid: They broke us up intentionally because they wanted Bird and Magic. They knew L.A. would never get past us.

You don't suppose that David Stern would do an underhanded thing like that, do you?

I mean especially not something that would undercut Houston...

rocketsballin · Post #4 » by **rocketsballin** » Mon Nov 12, 2012 6:41 am

daam this is a good read. im barey on the making of the twin towers on the first page. once i scrolled down to the bottom i got scared, but im gonna at least try to read this novel

spolgar · Post #5 » by **spolgar** » Mon Nov 12, 2012 5:13 pm

moofs wrote:
Reid: They broke us up intentionally because they wanted Bird and Magic. They knew L.A. would never get past us.

You don't suppose that David Stern would do an underhanded thing like that, do you?

I mean especially not something that would undercut Houston...

I don't know, I don't think there was a grand conspiracy.

1) The league started its makeover in the late 70s and it seemed like part of the Houston roster never got on board.
2) Larry Bird's ascension with the Celtics were a complete fluke. How did 4 teams in the draft pass him up? And then there were all these bone headed deals that got them the biggest/baddest/bestest front line of all time. You couldn't plan that kind of idiocy.
3) LA with Kareem (with hair) and Magic is a match for anyone when healthy. Then with Perkins and Worthy on board, if the Lakers could dictate the pace and make people run, then it was their game to lose.
4) If Ralph Sampson played in Houston longer, Hakeem might never have became the offensive juggernaut that he evolved into. We might have gotten to the finals again and might have won one or two in the 80s if Sampson was healthy, but come the 90s, we'd still be rebuilding and our chances of getting the titles in 94 and 95 would be much slimmer.

Great article.