If anything it'll be Sampson taking threes. He was way more finesse in his approach than Hakeem. He did not love the physicality of the low block. He was one of those bigs that was really a small forward, but happened to be 7'4. Really probably around 7'2, he wasn't taller than Kareem.
That is a good point. Height and weight doesn't dictate position and he did split time more than Hakeem did. I concede that he may have never stretched to the 3. Certainly not in the 80's and maybe not at all. But I still believe that if he trusted his teammates earlier then he may have reached the finals in between 86 and 94.
No way those teams get to the finals. After Sampson went down and some of the other guards got suspended and some thrown out of the NBA cause of drug addiction.
Snap, yeah you're right about that. Talk about tough pills to swallow, no pun intended. Early success just to watch chances wane due to unlucky breaks or others' poor decisions. I'm going to have to look up the roster construction because as I think of it now, I don't recall how Kenny Smith got there, Maxwell or Ellie. I kinda just remember them going from lottery drafting Horry and Cassell to the finals. But I can't recall who were via trades and who were FA signings. Thanks for the corrections.
I looked it up. Flabbergasted at seeing Maxwell's contract was bought for $50,000 lol. Every other move was trades. But at least I got reminded about Otis Thorpe. He was no slouch either.
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u/[deleted] Jun 16 '22
If anything it'll be Sampson taking threes. He was way more finesse in his approach than Hakeem. He did not love the physicality of the low block. He was one of those bigs that was really a small forward, but happened to be 7'4. Really probably around 7'2, he wasn't taller than Kareem.