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The Houston Rockets first took the court in 1967. They were the Rockets, but the Rockets of San Diego. The team struggled as expansion teams do. Losing 67 games their first season, but they bounced back and won enough games to get a playoff berth in their second season. The early years were a difficult time, but they found a leader in Elvin Hayes. Hayes was joined by Calvin Murphy and Rudy Tomjanovich, but it was after Hayes left that the Rockets and after the Rockets left San Diego for Houston that the team turned things around.
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About The Houston Rockets
Playoffs became a part of the Rockets vocabulary after the 1974-75 season. Houston’s two remaining stars, Murphy and Tomjanovich, were joined by Mike Newlin and the franchise began a journey that led to the NBA Finals. By 1980, the Houston Rockets made their first visit to the finals. The team had Murphy, Tomjanovich, and Moses Malone. The club had come a long way from its inaugural season, but not far enough to beat the Boston Celtics.
The failure put an end to the hopes of the roster of the ‘70s and ushered in a seasons marked by struggle as the Rockets built a new lineup. In a word the strength of the new team was height. After drafting Ralph Sampson in 1983 and Hakeem Olajuwon in 1984, Houston had a fearsome front court nicknamed the twin towers. The towering presence in the paint led back to the NBA Finals in 1986, but once again the Boston Celtics sent them home in second place.
The series also managed to alter Sampson’s career. Sampson had been an All Star and Rookie of the Year, but his frustration got him ejected from a pivotal game in the series and the next season he was injured. He was never the same and finished his career on a sour note as a three knee surgeries decimated his career. The Rockets traded him in 1987 before the center’s career had begun to noticeably falter.
Hakeem Olajuwon would have to endure years of first round exits and the first three championships Michael Jordan won with the Bulls before getting a chance to take the Houston Rockets back to the finals. That return trip, in 1994, the Rockets went 58-24. The roster included Olajuwon, Robert Horry, Sam Cassell, Mario Ellie, and Otis Thorpe. Rudy Tomjanovich returned to coach the team and the Rockets won the NBA Championship, taking out the New York Knicks in a full seven game series.
The Rockets repeated with a key personnel change that brought Clyde Drexler, a victim of the dominance of the Lakers and Pistons in the 1980s and the Bulls in the early 1990s, to reunite with his college teammate, Olajuwon. Together the University of Houston alumni went back to the finals and swept the Orlando Magic. The Rockets brought Charles Barkley in from Phoenix to try and win a third championship, but age had won over the seasons and the Rockets would struggle with Seattle and Utah, the next teams to lead the Western Conference.
Houston began the 21st century trying to pick up the pieces from a slow decline. After decades of relying on big men to lead the club, the Rockets put their hopes in the hands of Maryland point guard Steve Francis. Francis was paired with the pure scorer Cuttino Mobley and Chinese import Yao Ming. Ming was a 7 foot 6 anchor for the offense and defense, but the combination of Ming and Francis proved less than stellar. Although the club returned to playing .500 ball, the Western Conference had become so competitive that only an exceptional team could even make a decent run in the playoffs.
The Houston Rockets traded Francis, Mobley, and Kelvin Cato to the Orland Magic for Tracy McGrady, Juwan Howard, and a couple of role players. That next season the collaboration of McGrady and Ming fueled a 51-31 record and brought the Houston Rockets back to the postseason. The team went out in the first round again that season, but the future was too exciting to let the early exit spoil anybody’s mood. Injuries the next season could kill the party though.
Injuries continued to plague the two stars, but the Rockets continued to assemble a supporting cast that would be able to play with the two when they returned. Shane Battier came in as a solid small forward, Rafer Alston came with his street ball ways under control, and Luis Scola joined the starting lineup at power forward. Injuries to Ming hurt the club, but McGrady became an outstanding basketball player, not just a superb scorer, in the process. In the 2007-8 season the team went on an improbable 22 game winning streak that solidified them as a postseason player again.
This really is a team of “ifs”. Coach Rick Adleman’s team is a fragile one. Once again, assuming that Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady are healthy, the Houston Rockets should be one of the best teams in the league. The team only got better by signing Ron Artest. The Brent Barry signing helps, but his outside shooting is nothing compared with the incredible defense Artest can add. Of course Artest’s behavior is another “if.”
The team will play amazing team defense if al the pieces fit. It will be interesting to see what happens with an offense that wants to run with Rafer Alston at point guard and Tracy McGrady on the wing, but that has the need to play a slower game with Yao Ming and Luis Scola in the post. Ming’s health is already in question after re-injuring himself playing in the Olympics. The revised plan for his to play fewer minutes during the season will allow the Rockets to exploit that full court potential they have.
