Houston Rockets

Team information

• Inaugural season: 1967
• Home court: Toyota Center, Houston, Texas
• Owner: Tilman Fertitta
• Team colors: Red, black, gray, anthracite, and white

Overview

The Houston Rockets are a professional basketball team that plays in the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Western Conference. Born in San Diego in 1967, the franchise established itself in Texas in 1971 and achieved its first period of sustained success in the late 1970s and 1980s. Throughout its history, Houston has been a star-driven team that has been home to some of the game’s all-time great players. The string began in the 1970s with Hall-of-Famer Elvin Hayes and continued into the twenty-first century with 2018 league MVP James Harden. However, it was the franchise’s greatest player, Hakeem Olajuwon, who oversaw the Rockets’ most successful period in the 1990s. With the towering Olajuwon at center, Houston won back-to-back NBA titles in 1994 and 1995.

History

From 1966 to 1968, the NBA underwent a period of expansion that saw it grow from nine teams to fourteen. In 1967, the league added two West Coast teams with franchises in San Diego and Seattle. In a name-the-team contest, fans in San Diego chose Rockets for the new franchise. The name was a reference to the burgeoning space-technology industries in the region at the time. The Rockets spent four seasons in San Diego and never finished with a winning record; although the team did make a playoff appearance in 1968–1969. With the on-court product struggling, the team’s attendance also lagged, prompting ownership to begin looking to sell. In 1971, a group of Texas businessmen purchased the team for $5.6 million and moved the franchise to Houston. Because Houston was home to the Johnson Space Center—the main spaceflight facility for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration—the name Rockets was seen as a perfect fit, and the new owners kept the name.

The team hoped that fans in Houston would turn out to see Elvin Hayes, an All-Star forward who had been a popular collegiate player with the University of Houston. Hayes kept his part of the bargain and played well, but Houston once again finished under .500 and struggled to attract fans. Hayes was traded before the 1972–1973 season and the team’s fortunes continued to slide until 1974–1975. Led by Rudy Tomjanovich and Calvin Murphy, Houston finished at .500 and made the playoffs. Early in the 1976–1977 season, the Rockets added center Moses Malone in a trade and went on to win their division. Houston, which was in the Eastern Conference at the time, advanced all the way to the conference finals before being eliminated. Powered by Malone, the Rockets made four straight playoff appearances from 1979 to 1982. Houston shifted over to the Western Conference for the 1980–1981 season and, despite a 40–42 record, made the playoffs and the NBA Finals. It was only the second time in NBA history a sub-.500 team advanced to the championship series.

After the 1981–1982 season, Malone left Houston for Philadelphia and the Rockets crashed back to earth, finishing among the NBA’s worst teams for two straight seasons. However, the team’s poor record did earn Houston the top pick in the NBA Draft in both 1983 and 1984. In 1983, Houston selected seven-foot-four center Ralph Sampson from the University of Virginia. The next year, the Rockets selected another seven-footer, center Hakeem Olajuwon, who played at the University of Houston. Together, Sampson and Olajuwon formed one of the most formidable front courts in the NBA and earned the nickname the “Twin Towers.” Houston made the playoffs in 1984–1985, and the following season made it back to the NBA Finals, losing to the Boston Celtics, the same team that had defeated them in 1981.

Sampson’s career was derailed by injuries in 1986–1987 and he was eventually traded, but the Rockets continued to make the playoffs each season until 1991–1992. By this time, Olajuwon had expressed his displeasure with Rockets’ management, feeling the team was not committed to signing the players necessary to win. Midway through the 1991–1992 season, Houston fired coach Don Chaney and replaced him with former player Rudy Tomjanovich. With a new attitude under Tomjanovich, Olajuwon and the Rockets responded by returning to the playoffs in 1992–1993. In 1993–1994, Houston rode an MVP season from Olajuwon to another trip to the NBA Finals. This time, the Rockets captured the franchise’s first championship with an exciting 4–3 win over the New York Knicks. Despite struggling at times during the 1994–1995 regular season, the Rockets once again caught fire in the playoffs. Houston advanced to another NBA Finals and won its second straight championship by sweeping the Orlando Magic, 4–0.

In the 1994–1995 season, Houston had traded with Portland for shooting guard Clyde Drexler, a teammate of Olajuwon at the University of Houston. In 1996, the team traded for forward Charles Barkley, a ten-time All-Star with Philadelphia and Phoenix. That same year, the NBA released a list of its fifty greatest players to celebrate the league’s fiftieth anniversary. Barkley, Drexler, and Olajuwon were all on that list, meaning the Rockets had three of the NBA’s all-time players on their roster from 1996–1998. Despite the star power, Houston failed to make another NBA Finals appearance, although the team did advance to the Western Conference Finals in 1997.

By the start of the 2000s, the stars of the 1990s Rockets had begun to retire and the team went through a period of ups and downs for a decade and a half. From 2000 to 2014, Houston either missed the playoffs or was ousted in the first round; the lone exception being 2008–2009, when the Rockets made it into the second round. Shortly before the start of the 2012 season, Houston acquired shooting guard James Harden, who was starting to blossom as a star in Oklahoma City. Harden reached his full potential with the Rockets in the 2010s, leading the team to three division titles and two appearances in the Western Conference Finals from 2015 to 2019. Harden was traded from the Rockets in early 2021 after a disagreement with the team. Without their star player, the Rockets struggled to win games, finishing below .500 and out of the playoff race from 2021 to 2023.

Since 2003, the Rockets have played at the Toyota Center in downtown Houston. That same season, the team revamped its franchise look, focusing on a predominantly red and white color scheme. The team logo was reimagined as a stylized “R” that resembled a twin-booster rocket lifting off through a ring. In 2019, the logo was set against a dark grey and black basketball meant to invoke the image of a planet. In 2017, businessman and television personality Tilman Fertitta purchased the Rockets for $2.2 billion.

Notable players

The franchise’s first star, Elvin Hayes, was drafted in 1968 and played three seasons in San Diego and one in Houston before being traded. He returned to the Rockets in 1981 and stayed until his retirement in 1984. Over his sixteen-year career, Hayes was a twelve-time All-Star who ranks fifth on the Rockets’ all-time scoring list with 11,762 points. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1990. Calvin Murphy played his entire career with the Rockets from 1970 to 1983. As of April 2020, Murphy had scored the second-most points in franchise history with 17,949, although that mark was almost certain to be eclipsed by James Harden. Murphy entered the Hall of Fame in 1993.

Foreword Rudy Tomjanovich was a five-time All-Star with the Rockets from 1970 to 1981 and led the team in scoring four times in the 1970s. Tomjanovich’s career trajectory was tragically altered in 1977 when he was punched in the face during an on-court altercation. The blow shattered his skull and caused life-threatening internal injuries. Tomjanovich was able to return to the team in 1978, but he was never the same player as before the injury. In his twelve years as Rockets’ head coach, Tomjanovich won 503 games—the most in team history—and won two NBA titles. For his combined playing and coaching careers, Tomjanovich was elected into the Hall of Fame in 2020.

Moses Malone played for Houston from 1976 to 1982, making five All-Star teams and winning two NBA MVP awards during that time. In twenty-two NBA seasons with multiple teams, Malone made thirteen All-Star teams and pulled in 16,212 rebounds, fifth most in NBA history. He entered the Hall of Fame in 2001. Almost all of Houston’s franchise records are held by Hakeem Olajuwon, who played with the Rockets from 1984 to 2001. He leads in games played with 1,177; points scored with 26,511; rebounds with 13,382; blocks with 3,740; and steals with 2,088. In addition to making twelve All-Star teams, Olajuwon won the 1993–1994 NBA MVP Award and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2008.

Both Clyde Drexler and Charles Barkley played the majority of their careers with other teams. Drexler played with Houston from 1995 to 1998 and made two of his ten All-Star appearances with the team. Barkley was a Rocket from 1996 to 2000 and made one of his eleven All-Star games with Houston. From 2002 to 2011, seven-foot-six Yao Ming was a force at center for the Rockets before his career was cut short by injuries. He was an eight-time All-Star in the NBA and a basketball legend in his native China. His body of work, both in the NBA and internationally, earned him a spot in the Hall of Fame in 2016. Since arriving in Houston in 2012–2013, James Harden was a perennial All-Star. He won three league scoring titles and was named the 2017–2018 NBA MVP. Before he was traded in 2021, Harden established a franchise record with 4,796 assists, and was second on the all-time scoring list with 18,365 points, trailing only Olajuwon.

Bibliography

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