Stars of Houston
Over their franchise history, the Houston Rockets have had many players on their roster, from top talents to flops. But the talents they have had, and still have, are doing excellently. The Rockets managed to trade Chris Paul for Russell Westbrook, but the team also has names like James Harden. And that's not all: the Rockets have a list of Hall of Famers who also played for Houston. Think of names like Moses Malone, Tracy McGrady, Hakeem Olajuwon, Chris Paul, Scottie Pippen, Yao Ming.
James "The Beard" Harden
The 2.03-meter forward played college basketball for Syracuse before making his NBA debut in 2003-2004. Carmelo Anthony led his college team to their first NCAA championship and was part of the US basketball team that won the bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. In 2008 he won gold with the US basketball team at the Beijing Summer Olympics, and in 2012 he won gold again at the London Games.
Carmelo Anthony is considered one of the greatest talents in the NBA and spent a long time with the Denver Nuggets, until he joined the New York Knicks in 2011. "Melo's" wish came true: he had always wanted to play for his hometown of New York. In the 2017 offseason, after a few difficult seasons in New York, he was sent to Oklahoma City in a trade that brought the Knicks Enes Kanter, among others. After playing 1 season for Oklahoma City, he was traded to the Houston Rockets after a long transfer saga. He barely played there, and his contract was terminated. After a year without playing, he finally got a contract with the Portland Trail Blazers, where he will wear jersey number "00".
History of the Houston Rockets
The Rockets won only 15 games in their debut season as a franchise in 1967. The following year, in the 1968 NBA draft, the Rockets got the first draft pick and used it to select power forward Elvin Hayes, who would lead the team to its first playoff appearance in his rookie season. The Rockets did not finish a season with a winning record until 1976-1977, when they traded for All-Star center Moses Malone. Malone went on to win the NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) award twice while playing for the Rockets, and he led Houston to the Eastern Conference Finals in his first year with the team.
In the 1980-81 season, the Rockets finished the regular season with a 40-42 record. Despite their losing record, they qualified for the playoffs. Led by Malone, the Rockets surprised the entire league by reaching their first NBA Finals in 1981, becoming only the second team in NBA history to make the NBA Finals with a losing record. They went on to lose in six games to the 62–20 Boston Celtics, led by Larry Bird, Robert Parish and future Rockets head coach Kevin McHale. As of 2019, the 1980-81 Rockets are the last team since the 1954-55 Minneapolis Lakers to reach the NBA Finals with a losing record.
The Rockets' awards
Despite the great players Houston has and a devoted fan base, they have not managed to bring a championship home in recent years. It has not always been this way: the Houston Rockets have already been crowned NBA Champions 2 times, in 1994 and 1995. They have also won the Western Conference title several times, in 1981, 1986, 1994 and 1995.