Pairing Sampson and Olajuwon— while great for the Rockets— also probably didn't help Ralph's development. He was an odd, singular player who— as others have noted— didn't get a chance to develop his game properly in the packed-zone era of NCAA basketball. Probably Bill Fitch, the Rockets and the NBA as a whole could have used a few seasons to best figure out how to utilize Sampson. Instead, he got paired after one season with a low-post focal point player whose dominance in the paint relegated him to wingman status.
Sampson is the rare NBA star whose PPG decreased almost every year, nearly linearly. I remember being much more scared of 1983 rookie Ralph Sampson than 1986 Finals Ralph Sampson (esp. given that I wasn't Jerry Sichting).
Sampson is the rare NBA star whose PPG decreased almost every year, nearly linearly. I remember being much more scared of 1983 rookie Ralph Sampson than 1986 Finals Ralph Sampson (esp. given that I wasn't Jerry Sichting).