The 10 Worst Houston Rockets of All Time

For every great player the Houston Rockets' franchise has had, there has been a Matt Maloney or Chris Jent.

As someone who's followed the franchise for years, I can say I can easily remember the bad players who've made me cringe or throw my remote in disgust, just as well as the great players who've made me smile and cheer.

Vernon “Mad Max” Maxwell

This man probably taught Rasheed Wallace and Ron Artest a thing or two about the fine art of being a huge knucklehead. He was a notoriously streaky, yet clutch shooter, and a tenacious defender best known for holding Michael Jordan below his scoring average.

Maxwell came with an infamous dark side, both on and off the court.  From throwing his gum and a cup of ice at a referee, to getting into a fight during a preseason game, to getting suspended for 10 games for punching an unruly fan for talking negatively about his stillborn daughter, this once-ticking time bomb did everything he could to throw away his talent.

His greatest claim to fame was hitting the game-winning shot in the 1994 NBA Finals. It was a defensive battle against the New York Knicks, and fundamentally helped the Rockets win their first NBA championship. He was part of the team for their second championship run, but unwisely admitted feigning a hamstring injury due to frustration with Clyde Drexler becoming the starter, which later reduced Maxwell's playing time.

This led to his departure on June 30, 1995 from the place where he’d had his longest tenure as a player.

He would bounce around the league from team to team with limited success, helping the young, upstart Sacramento Kings take the Utah Jazz to the limit in a first-round series in 1999. His career ended in 2001, after he seemingly wore out his welcome with every team he was on.

His son, Dominique, doesn’t even want to play the game that made his father famous, after finding out that his father knowingly infected a woman with herpes. According to the St. Petersburg Times, Dominique doesn’t “want to be like his father.”

Smart kid.

Scottie Pippen

During the strike-shortened 1999 season, Pippen was supposed to replace Clyde Drexler and form a new, powerful big three, along with Hakeem Olajuwon and Charles Barkley.

Little did the organization, (which acquired him in a sign-and-trade deal worth $67 million over five years) and Houston fans know that he learned absolutely nothing from playing with that guy named Michael Jordan during his Chicago days.

Instead of a talented offensive player with awesome defensive skills, the Rockets were saddled with a whiny, unassertive, and tentative player who claimed to never know his role in the offense.

Things would get worse in the 1999 playoffs against the burgeoning Lakers, when Pippen failed to show up—as he often had during the season—until Game Three. By that time, it was too little too late. In Game Four, he went a dismal 6-for-23 from the field, and the Rockets were bounced out of the playoffs.

During the offseason, he shot off his mouth about how frustrated he was with the Rockets, and said that Charles Barkley should apologize to him for coming to play with his “sorry fat butt.”

He would later be traded to Portland, and was denied in his quest to win a ring without Jordan by the potent duo of Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant.

“Sir” Charles Barkley

This one gave me the most trouble, because Barkley played his heart out. He's on this list mainly because of what his tenure in Houston brought to the city—nothing. No championships, not even a Finals berth.

The Rockets had to give up a huge part of their championship corps—Sam Cassell, Robert Horry, Chucky Brown, and backup power forward/center Mark Bryant—in order to obtain him. The trade got Houston fans excited and brought along a heap of lofty expectations, but it was never meant to be.

The Rockets were eliminated from the playoffs by the Utah Jazz in the Western Conference Finals in 1997, and in the first round in 1998 and 1999 by the Los Angeles Lakers. 

In the early part of the 1999-2000 season, Barkley severely injured himself in a game against the Philadelpia 76ers in Philly—ironically, ending his NBA career in the place it began.

That injury also brought to an end a bad trade that never should have happened in the first place.

Steve “Franchise” Francis

Sure, he could jump higher than any center or power forward and score at will, but he only scored points for himself, not the team.

After being acquired in a trade with the then-Vancouver Grizzlies, things looked up for the Rockets, as they now had a highly touted young point guard that was poised to help return the team to their glory days.

Things were going great as he teamed with second year guard Cuttino Mobley to form a great backcourt, but things quickly got out of hand.

The moniker “Franchise” was undeservedly bestowed upon him, and he quickly took to dribbling way too much—often until the shot clock was almost down to zero.  He partially stunted Yao Ming’s growth during his rookie season by ignoring him far too often.  And he publicly butted heads with new coach Jeff Van Gundy, who wanted him to play more of a controlled type of basketball.

The Rockets were beaten once again by the Lakers in the 2004 playoffs, and Francis, along with Mobley and center Kelvin Cato, were traded to the Orlando Magic for current Rockets guard/forward Tracy McGrady, Juwan Howard, Reece Gaines, and Tyronn Lue.

He quickly became a locker-room cancer in Orlando and was shipped off to the guard-loving New York Knicks.

He is now in his second tenure with the Rockets—minus his leaping ability and good knees.

Maurice Taylor

This one still has many scratching their heads, even after seven years.

How does a player who stands 6'10", averaged only 6.5 rebounds, and is shown missing more shots than making them in his own highlight package, deserve a contract worth $48 million over six years? Carroll Dawson and owner Les Alexander have lots of ‘splainin’ to do.

Taylor possessed a limited offensive skill-set, which consisted of a good mid-range jump shot and little else. He couldn’t post up or rebound well, and was always outworked, outplayed, and outhustled by an opposing power forward.

Yet, that somehow was enough to warrant signing him to a superstar contract.

Luckily, Isaiah Thomas loved underachieving players with big contracts, and took Mo Taylor off the Rockets’ hands in 2005. He would later sign with Sacramento in 2006.

Eddie Griffin

A promising start with a fatal, unfortunate end. Despite numerous reports of a bad attitude, Eddie Griffin was hailed as the most talented player in the 2001 Draft. He was drafted seventh by the New Jersey Nets, but was traded to the Rockets for the draft rights to Jason Collins, Richard Jefferson, and Brandon Armstrong.

Griffin nearly lived up to expectations with a solid rookie season, in which he averaged 8.6 points, 1.44 blocks, and 6.0 rebounds, while establishing himself as a three-point threat.

He continued this solid play in the 2002-2003 season with similar averages in points, blocks, and rebounds. The next season would be his last good season, as new coach Jeff Van Gundy wanted him to take his game inside and stop settling for jump shots.

What followed was a bout with alcoholism, a series of missed practices, and a flight from the team. Finally in December 2003, the Rockets waived him.

He signed with the New Jersey Nets, the team that originally drafted him in January 2004, but he missed the entire 2003-2004 season due to being admitted into an alcoholic rehabilitation center.

Before the 2004-2005 season, he signed a one-year deal with the Minnesota Timberwolves. He played very well for them, averaging similar numbers to those he put up in Houston. He was re-signed to a three-year contract with an option for a third, but the success would be short-lived due to his attitude and off-court problems.

These problems included: beating and shooting at his ex-girlfriend, and crashing his vehicle due to being distracted by a pornographic movie that was playing on his DVD player.

On Aug. 17, 2007, in the wee hours of the morning, Griffin ignored a railroad warning sign, moved through a barrier, and was struck by a moving train. His SUV and his body were so badly burned that only dental records were able to identify him.

The Harris County Medical Examiner's office said the 25-year-old Griffin died of “multiple blunt force injuries.” He is survived by a three-year-old daughter named Amaree.

Kelvin Cato

Cato was a promising center with a voracious defensive appetite who eventually was supposed to succeed the aging Hakeem Olajuwon.

He was traded to Houston from Portland before the 1999-2000 season in the six-players-for-Scottie Pippen deal, showing more offensive promise than was advertised during the preseason and at times during the regular season. As a result of this, he was signed to a six-year $42 million contract extension on October 28, 1999.

During the 1999-2000 season, he averaged a career-high 8.7 points, but his play declined in each season thereafter, and he was never the player he could have been.

Needing a front court presence, the Rockets drafted Yao Ming with the N.1 pick of the 2002 draft, and Cato’s role was relegated to being a backup center and power forward. After being eliminated by the Lakers in the 2004 playoffs, Cato, along with Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley, was sent to the Orlando Magic for Tracy McGrady, Juwan Howard, Reece Gaines, and Tyronn Lue.

He started 50 games for the Magic in the 2004-2005 season, but was sidelined the next season with shoulder injuries. On Feb. 15, 2006, Cato, along with the Magic's first-round pick in the 2007 NBA Draft, was traded to the Detroit Pistons for center Darko Milic and point guard Carlos Arroyo.

Cato finished out the season with the Pistons and signed with the New York Knicks just before the start of the 2006-07 season, however he was later waived.

Charles Jones

An NBA journeyman like his brothers Caldwell, Wil, and Major in every sense of the word. He played 15 seasons from 1983 to 1998 for five teams, including: the Philadelphia 76ers, the Chicago Bulls, the Washington Bullets, the Detroit Pistons, and the Houston Rockets, with whom he won a championship in 1995.

There was nothing spectacular about him, as he didn’t really have an offensive or defensive skill-set.  He was just a body teams used to fill their rosters, or to foul the opposition’s opposing center or power forward.

In fact, he was so adept at fouling that he amassed more career fouls than career points.

His greatest claims to fame was in 1995 by making David Robinson, who accepted the MVP award the same day, look like a high school player at times during Game One of the Western Conference Finals against the Spurs, and winning a championship in the NBA Finals after the Rockets swept the Orlando Magic.

He would retire after the Rockets were defeated in the first round of the 1998 Playoffs by the Utah Jazz.

Bryce Drew

“Most likely to fade into obscurity.”

Slam Magazine, I owe you an apology. You knew something the rest of us didn’t.

Chris Jent

Does anyone remember this guy? I hardly do, and I’m sure most Houston Rockets fans don’t either. ‘Nuff said.