Houston Rockets: ‘Membering Some Meh Guys
While we wait for the NBA season to resume let’s take a moment, have some member berries, and ‘member some mediocre Rockets from yester-years.
Every sports fan remembers some meh guys. Not great, not terrible they just kind of took up space on the floor and the roster. Every now and then one is remembered for a big moment or a bad one (Sleepy Floyd and his ridiculous game against the Lakers or Craig Ehlo for Jordan hitting the shot over him). Here are a few Rockets meh guys.
‘Member Carl Herrera? He was a forward on those Rockets championship teams. Averaged a cool 6 and 4 with 50% shooting almost exactly. He never took a three point shot and was basically a poor mans P.J. Brown. In 2017 he was named one of the Rockets 50 most legendary players, and in 2018 he was left out of the top 30, leaving him firmly in the meh part of our memories.
From that same era we also have Pete
‘member him? Chilcutt, a 6’10” forward who averaged 3 rebounds a game,
mold as Brad Lohaus, Scott Hastings and Fred Robert’s. They were all big guys lacking toughness that could shoot a little. He averaged 4 and 3 and was pretty useless in old Sega Genesis basketball games.
Now do you ‘member Scott Padgett? Proving there was a need for the Chilcutt even in the 2000’s, the Rockets acquired Padgett for the role. On the plus side he shot .391 from beyond the arc, the negative…he shot .412 from inside it. He also was a first round draft choice, providing further evidence NBA GM’s have been terrible forever. He hit a buzzer beater once though, so there’s that.
Finally do you ‘member Moochie Norris? Moochie spent 7 seasons in Houston and left a huge mark with his trademark Afro. He couldn’t shoot, pass or defend but became a fan favorite anyway. Apparently you can still complete your shrine to Moochie if you have a few bucks and nothing better to do.
Herrera, Chilcutt, Padgett and Norris took up space and minutes on some great Rockets teams. Moochie was fun, Herrera was a solid role player and the other guys totally existed. Norris popped up in the Big3 league for a minute and Padgett got into coaching. Hererra, the first Venezuelan to play in the NBA, eventually went back their pro league and became a coach as well. Pete Chilcutt continues to exist. Later this week, some guys from the Astros.