1983–84 Houston Rockets season

1983–84 Houston Rockets season
Head coach	Bill Fitch
Arena	The Summit
Results
Record	29–53 (.354)
Place	Division: 6th (Midwest) Conference: 12th (Western)
Playoff finish	Did not qualify
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Local media
Television	KTXH Home Sports Entertainment
Radio	KTRH
< 1982–83 1984–85 >

The 1983–84 Houston Rockets season featured the NBA debut of Ralph Sampson, whom the Rockets had selected as the first pick of the 1983 NBA draft. Under head coach Bill Fitch, the team finished with a 29–53 record, although Sampson won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award.

The team has been cited as an example of a "tanking", by deciding to play more more bench players after starting the season with a 20–26 record, in order to fall in the standings and get higher in the draft order for the following season.^[1] The Rockets finished last in the Western Conference and later won a coin flip that gave them the first section in the 1984 NBA draft, with which they selected Akeem Olajuwon.

Draft picks[]

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	College/Club team
1	1	Ralph Sampson	C/PF	United States	Virginia
1	3	Rodney McCray	SF	United States	Louisville
3	48	Craig Ehlo	SG	United States	Washington State
4	71			United States	TCU
5	94			United States	Oklahoma
6	117	Jim Stack		United States	Northwestern
7	140	Brian Kellerman		United States	Idaho
8	163			United States	Arkansas State
9	185			United States	Oklahoma City

Roster[]

1983–84 Houston Rockets roster

Players

Coaches

Pos. No. Name Height Weight DOB (YYYY-MM-DD) From PF 2 Bailey, James 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 1957–05–21 Rutgers SG 3 Ehlo, Craig 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 1961–08–11 Washington State PG 1 Ford, Phil 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1956–06–02 North Carolina PF 44 Hayes, Elvin 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 235 lb (107 kg) 1945–11–17 Houston C 27 Jones, Caldwell 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 217 lb (98 kg) 1950–08–04 Albany State PF 11 Jones, Major 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 225 lb (102 kg) 1953–07–09 Albany State PG 30 Leavell, Allen 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 170 lb (77 kg) 1957–05–27 Oklahoma City SG 32 Lloyd, Lewis 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 205 lb (93 kg) 1959–02–22 Drake SF 22 McCray, Rodney 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 1961–08–29 Louisville SF 33 Reid, Robert 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 205 lb (93 kg) 1955–08–30 Saint Mary's C 50 Sampson, Ralph 7 ft 4 in (2.24 m) 228 lb (103 kg) 1960–07–07 Virginia SG 20 Teagle, Terry 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1960–04–10 Baylor SF 42 Walker, Wally 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1954–07–18 Virginia

Head coach Bill Fitch Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured Roster

Regular season[]

Season standings[]

Midwest Division v t	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Div
y-Utah Jazz	45	37	.549	–	31–10	14–27	15–15
x-Dallas Mavericks	43	39	.524	2	31–10	12–29	19–11
x-Denver Nuggets	38	44	.463	7	27–14	11–30	16–14
x-Kansas City Kings	38	44	.463	7	26–15	12–29	16–14
San Antonio Spurs	37	45	.451	8	28–13	9–32	14–16
Houston Rockets	29	53	.354	16	21–20	8–33	9–21

#	Western Conference v t
	Team	W	L	PCT	GB
1	c-Los Angeles Lakers	54	28	.659	–
2	y-Utah Jazz	45	37	.549	9
3	x-Portland Trail Blazers	48	34	.585	6
4	x-Dallas Mavericks	43	39	.524	11
5	x-Seattle SuperSonics	42	40	.512	12
6	x-Phoenix Suns	41	41	.500	13
7	x-Denver Nuggets	38	44	.463	16
8	x-Kansas City Kings	38	44	.463	16
9	San Antonio Spurs	37	45	.451	17
10	Golden State Warriors	37	45	.451	17
11	San Diego Clippers	30	52	.366	24
12	Houston Rockets	29	53	.354	25

Record vs. opponents[]

1983-84 NBA Records
Team	ATL	BOS	CHI	CLE	DAL	DEN	DET	GSW	HOU	IND	KCK	LAL	MIL	NJN	NYK	PHI	PHO	POR	SAS	SDC	SEA	UTA	WAS
Atlanta	—	0–5	4–2	3–3	1–1	0–2	2–4	1–1	1–1	4–2	0–2	0–2	3–3	3–3	4–1	5–1	1–1	0–2	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–1	4–2
Boston	5–0	—	5–0	6–0	2–0	2–0	4–2	2–0	1–1	5–1	2–0	0–2	5–1	4–2	3–3	2–4	2–0	2–0	2–0	1–1	2–0	1–1	4–2
Chicago	2–4	0–5	—	2–4	1–1	0–2	1–5	2–0	0–2	3–3	1–1	0–2	2–4	2–4	2–4	2–3	1–1	2–0	0–2	1–1	0–2	1–1	2–4
Cleveland	3–3	0–6	4–2	—	1–1	0–2	1–5	1–1	1–1	2–4	0–2	0–2	1–5	2–3	1–5	2–4	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–1	0–2	4–1
Dallas	1–1	0–2	1–1	1–1	—	4–2	0–2	4–1	4–2	2–0	3–3	3–2	0–2	1–1	0–2	1–1	3–2	2–3	4–2	4–1	1–4	4–2	0–2
Denver	2–0	0–2	2–0	2–0	2–4	—	1–1	2–3	4–2	0–2	4–2	1–4	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–1	2–3	1–4	3–3	3–2	2–3	3–3	0–2
Detroit	4–2	2–4	5–1	5–1	2–0	1–1	—	1–1	1–1	4–2	1–1	1–1	3–2	1–4	4–2	3–3	2–0	1–1	1–1	2–0	1–1	1–1	3–3
Golden State	1–1	0–2	0–2	1–1	1–4	3–2	1–1	—	2–3	2–0	4–1	3–3	0–2	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–5	2–4	3–2	3–3	4–2	1–4	2–0
Houston	1–1	1–1	2–0	1–1	2–4	2–4	1–1	3–2	—	1–1	2–4	1–4	1–1	0–2	0–2	0–2	2–3	1–4	2–4	2–3	3–2	1–5	0–2
Indiana	2–4	1–5	3–3	4–2	0–2	2–0	2–4	0–2	1–1	—	0–2	1–1	1–5	1–5	2–4	0–5	1–1	1–1	0–2	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–4
Kansas City	2–0	0–2	1–1	2–0	3–3	2–4	1–1	1–4	4–2	2–0	—	0–5	0–2	2–0	0–2	0–2	2–3	2–3	5–1	3–2	1–4	3–3	2–0
Los Angeles	2–0	2–0	2–0	2–0	2–3	4–1	1–1	3–3	4–1	1–1	5–0	—	2–0	1–1	0–2	1–1	3–3	5–1	2–3	4–2	3–3	4–1	1–1
Milwaukee	3–3	1–5	4–2	5–1	2–0	1–1	2–3	2–0	1–1	5–1	2–0	0–2	—	4–2	4–1	2–4	2–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–1	5–1
New Jersey	3–3	2–4	4–2	3–2	1–1	1–1	4–1	1–1	2–0	5–1	0–2	1–1	2–4	—	3–3	3–3	2–0	0–2	0–2	2–0	1–1	1–1	4–2
New York	1–4	3–3	4–1	5–1	2–0	1–1	2–4	1–1	2–0	4–2	2–0	2–0	1–4	3–3	—	2–4	1–1	0–2	2–0	2–0	1–1	2–0	4–2
Philadelphia	1–5	4–2	3–2	4–2	1–1	1–1	3–3	1–1	2–0	5–0	2–0	1–1	4–2	3–3	4–2	—	1–1	1–1	2–0	2–0	1–1	2–0	4–2
Phoenix	1–1	0–2	1–1	1–1	2–3	3–2	0–2	5–1	3–2	1–1	3–2	3–3	0–2	0–2	1–1	1–1	—	2–4	5–0	4–2	2–4	1–4	2–0
Portland	2–0	0–2	0–2	1–1	3–2	4–1	1–1	4–2	4–1	1–1	3–2	1–5	1–1	2–0	2–0	1–1	4–2	—	4–1	4–2	4–2	1–4	1–1
San Antonio	1–1	0–2	2–0	1–1	2–4	3–3	1–1	2–3	4–2	2–0	1–5	3–2	1–1	2–0	0–2	0–2	0–5	1–4	—	4–1	2–3	4–2	1–1
San Diego	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–4	2–3	0–2	3–3	3–2	1–1	2–3	2–4	1–1	0–2	0–2	0–2	2–4	2–4	1–4	—	3–3	2–3	1–1
Seattle	1–1	0–2	2–0	1–1	4–1	3–2	1–1	2–4	2–3	1–1	4–1	3–3	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–1	4–2	2–4	3–2	3–3	—	1–4	1–1
Utah	1–1	1–1	1–1	2–0	2–4	3–3	1–1	4–1	5–1	1–1	3–3	1–4	1–1	1–1	0–2	0–2	4–1	4–1	2–4	3–2	4–1	—	1–1
Washington	2–4	2–4	4–2	1–4	2–0	2–0	3–3	0–2	2–0	4–1	0–2	1–1	1–5	2–4	2–4	2–4	0–2	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–1	—

Game log[]

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Player statistics[]

Legend

GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game

Season[]

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3FG%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG

Awards and records[]

Awards[]

• Ralph Sampson, NBA Rookie of the Year Award
• Ralph Sampson, All-NBA Second Team
• Ralph Sampson, NBA All-Rookie Team 1st Team

Records[]

Transactions[]

Trades[]

Free agents[]

See also[]

• 1983–84 NBA season

References[]