Simple question. My cousin is a new Rockets fan, and even new fans realize Dream is the goat. He asked me who # 2 was, and my first reaction was Murph, but upon reflection that may not be true. With all due respect to the big E, I narrowed it down to 3 choices. Moses, Rudy T and Murph. Moses was clearly the best of the 3, but his time in Houston was much shorter. Murph is in the HOF, but Rudy T was a 5 time all star, and had better stats in their prime IMO. Murph had much better longevity than the other 2, being a great player for 11 years. Now I, like most here, never got to see one second of these guys, so I'm going strictly on stats. Not sure if this has been discussed before, I was just curious as to the consensus around here.
Moses was clearly the most gifted player of the three. Murphy probably outplayed Rudy as well. Still I voted for Rudy because I factored in his entire time with the Rockets, including as championship winning head coach. Tough vote for me. These were my three favorite Rockets when I became a diehard fan in the 1970s. Still, Rudy was nearly a Rocket for life (if it had been up to him he would have been) and he brought Houston its first ever championship in all three major American sports. Given that I can't vote for anyone but him.
RudyT. As much for coaching as playing. Moses Malone was only a Rocket for 5 or 6 years, and while awesome, i will go for the championship coach!
Because you only said Rocket, not Rocket player, I went with Rudy T for his achievements as both a coach and player. However, if I was to choose the best player of the 3, I'd go with Moses.
At first I said Calvin, but I changed my mind. It has to be Rudy T. Top 5 I think Dream, Rudy, Clyde, Calvin, and the stunner here...Yao.