I don't follow baseball anymore and have forgotten most of what I knew about it, so it could come as a surprise my contribution to this thread will be a baseball player. Has anyone mentioned : Ty Gainey?
#3 Andre Ware & #5 David Klinger were great when they were in Houston (UH). The problem started when they left Houston. Things that make you go Hhmm...
Thought of a few more. Not really huge busts as much as they came in with a lot of promise and left with a whimper : Derrick Chievous (the man who claimed he could get his shot off against anyone and promptly was rejected so many times in his short NBA career that he has permanent whiplash. He did leave us his gaping maw and that migratory band-aid, however). Can we talk high school busts? Lance Blanks (great high school player - never amounted to much) Sean Gay (see above) Elmer Bennet Ben Gay David Clyde (phenom baseball player that went nowhere)
You can blame O.A. Bum Phillips for that one. What a joke he was. He traded most of the Oilers draft picks away for players at the tail end of their career. The nickname Snake for comes to mind.
As I read the thread, this name was on my lips... sure enough the Dr. got it 3 posts before mine. btw- Webster Slaughter was a washed up Browns reciever when we got him. Hannah (WR) was the bust that year. Everyone said he was "so fast." Well he was, but he couldn't catch a Moonbeam. Recently? Jabbar Gaffney maybe. Broadcaster wise, Cynthia Cooper.
I trust your referring to 86-87, in which these numbers were up in 79 games? I saw his scoring average and shooting percentage drop as well. At best it's a wash, and he had plateaued. However, to say that he improved every single year in the league, when it only appeared to have occurred for sure in the first two of his nine seasons, and when a steep decline kicked in in his 4th season, is misleading.
Gotta throw in Rodney McCray #3 overall pick who was only here like 4 seasons. Reason he was a bust? WE COULD HAVE DRAFTED CLYDE DREXLER!!! IT'S NOT LIKE HE WAS HARD TO MISS HE ONLY PLAYED IN THE DAMN CITY!!! Sorry... anyway biggest draft bust coming in the same context, the 1998 Rocket first round!!!! Michael Dickerson Bryce Drew Mirsad Turckan when (as every Rocket fan remembers) Rashard Lewis was crying in the green room wondering why his home team in need of a SF and having three picks would not take the chance. I will never ever forgive CD and co. for that screwup. Decisions like that make me wonder if the GMs are really that much smarter than the fans.
sorta. his passenger was killed in the accident. he killed himself with his shotgun shortly thereafter. We traded Rodney McCray for Otis Thorpe so he wasnt a total bust
Well, a lot of teams didn't think Drexler had an NBA shot. He didn't, but he developed one good enough so his athletisism could make him a superstar. Reminds me of the old thing were the Rockets "could" have had Hakeem, Jordan, and Drexler. Basically, if we had drafted Drexler like the entire city of Houston had wanted...that would have been step one. The Bulls offered us their pick for Sampson...we kept Sampson, they took Jordan...so if that trade had happened, we would have taken Jordan...so we would have had Jordan and Drexler in the backcourt with Hakeem up front. I can see why we didn't do that, though. At the time, the front court of Hakeem...er...Akeem and Sampson would have won us several championships. Stupid Ralph Sampson knees. The Rockets probably would have been in the Finals and won some all through the late 80's and early 90's if Sampson's knees hadn't turned to mush.
He shouldn't be on the list much less the top ten. He was a third string quarterback coming in and he did the best he coud do with his skills.
Sampson should not be on the list. If he is on the list then JR Richard should be too. I don't believe either one should be on it but their careers were both very short lived and ended because of injuries. Sampson actually did more in his short career than Richard. Pippen, Griffen, Boseli gotta be tops in my book.
actually, or so the story goes, portland offered us their pick, #2 overall, for sampson. they were desperate for a big man and settled for the now infamous bowie-over-jordan. i'm 84% certain this has been confirmed by various rocket officials over the years.
