- Location: Houston, Texas, USA
- Home court: Toyota Center
- G.M: Rafael Stone
- Coach: Stephen Silas
- Star: G Jalen Green
- 2021 Season: 20-62, failed to make the NBA Playoffs.
- NBA Titles: Two, 1994, 1995
- Greatest Player: C Hakeem Olajuwon
- Factoid: The Rockets have had some of the most elite and intriguing big men of all time – Elvin Hayes, Yao Ming, Ralph Sampson, Hakeem Olajuwon, Moses Malone, Rudy Tomjanovich
The Twin Towers. The Beard. The Chairman of the Boards. The Dream. The Big E.
For a town known more for football and oil, the Houston Rockets have had some of the most memorable players in NBA history. It’s as if the team’s superstars must have some extra zeal or appeal. Which makes it an electric basketball town.
Hakeem “The Dream” Olajuwon will always remain at the top of the list for so many reasons starting with that fact that he led the Rockets to their two NBA titles. Championship Dreams came true in Houston.
Olajuwon was more than a just a great player. He was a 7-foot, 255-pound dancer of an athlete, spinning and turning in the paint to create scoring opportunities.
Here’s why being a star in Houston is such a cool address. Everything is bigger in Texas.
Which is why a lot of eyes will be on rookie Jabari Smith Jr. He is not a monster in the middle, like many of Houston’s previous big man stars. No, Smith is a package on the perimeter, a 6-foot-10, 220-pound lanky forward who is so smooth you’d think he bathes in Neutrogena skin cream.
He has a beautiful outside shot and can get to the basket with ease. In an NBA where “stretch” is the operative word, Smith might be the next exquisite stretch 4.
Houston doesn’t have a problem. But it might have its next phenom.