The NBA Dribbled Out

Here’s an old photo of the Houston Rockets Twin Towers tandem of Ralph Sampson and (H)akeeem Olajuwon standing in front of the Twin Towers. 

Today is the day Don Nelson, Reggie Miller and also Ralph Sampson will be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts. 

History hasn’t been that kind to the 7-4 Sampson from the University of Virginia. Coming out of college in 1983, he had already graced Sports Illustrated 6 times in just 4 years (here’s his first cover as a pro) and was easily the most anticipated professional big man of his generation. Expected to be equal parts Russell and Chamberlain, the lithe Sampson was an agile big man that could play from the perimeter before it was cool to do so. 

In his first two seasons in the NBA, he averaged over 21 p.p.g. and 10 r.p.g while shooting over 50% from the field. He also played every one of the Rockets regular season games. They would be the only seasons he did so over the course of a 9-year, largely disappointing career where he and (H)akeem never won a title—getting closest in 1986 when they reached the Finals after Ralph’s incredible buzzer-beater against the favored Lakers in the Western Conference Finals, but ultimately falling to Bird, Walton and that dominant ‘86 Celtics team in the Finals. 

Since it’s Hall of Fame week in a largely boring September for NBA fans, there have been a few posts about Mr. Sampson, largely debating whether he deserves inclusion in the Hall after such a lackluster pro career that didn’t even span a decade.

The best is probably Kelly Dwyer over at BDL, but Kurt Helin has some video highlights of Ralph at PBT, Slam republished their Q & A with Sampson(sonite) from Slam 41 and Scott Howard-Cooper talks about Sampson’s attempt to become a coach.