In real life, Hakeem "The Dream" Olajuwon brought the Houston Rockets their first NBA championships in the mid-1990s. Here in the Rewritten Rings universe, however, things went very differently for the franchise. As always, before diving into the alternate history, it is worth taking a look at where the Rockets stood before our simulation began with the 1983–84 season.
The franchise began its history in 1967, but not in Texas. Its roots were planted in California, in San Diego to be exact. After making the playoffs just once in their first four seasons, the team was sold to Texas investors and moved to Houston.
Over the next 12 seasons before our simulation began, the Rockets made the playoffs six times. In 1981, thanks to former MVP Moses Malone, Houston reached the NBA Finals for the first time. They ultimately lost to the Boston Celtics, but it was nevertheless a successful beginning for the franchise in Houston.
Our simulation starts three years later, and by then Malone had moved on to Philadelphia. The Rockets were coming off a season in which they won just 14 games, but that poor record gave them the opportunity to select Ralph Sampson. Just as in real life, Sampson won Rookie of the Year.
That is where the similarities between the two timelines ended.
In reality, the Rockets endured another difficult season, winning just 29 games and earning the No. 1 overall pick in the 1984 NBA Draft. We know how that turned out: Hakeem Olajuwon went to Houston and eventually delivered the franchise its first two championships a decade later.
In the Rewritten Rings universe, Houston won a few more games, finishing with 32 victories. Remarkably, that was enough to earn the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference and a spot in the playoffs.
Instead of receiving the top pick in the draft, the Rockets fell all the way to No. 10, where they selected Tony Campbell. Just like that, there would be no twin towers in Houston.
That year, the real-life Rockets were a playoff team, while our Rockets finished last in the Western Conference and ended up with the No. 2 overall pick.
With that selection, Houston chose Karl Malone. They would not have the twin towers of Sampson and Olajuwon, but Sampson and Malone would go on to find plenty of success together in Houston.
That same season, the real-life Rockets reached the NBA Finals with their twin towers, only to once again fall to Larry Bird's Celtics. With rookie Karl Malone, our Rockets also became a playoff team, but their postseason ended in the first round against Clyde Drexler's Portland Trail Blazers.
The real-life Rockets would not return to the NBA Finals until 1994, when they finally captured their first championship. In our universe, however, Houston reached the Western Conference Finals just two years after that first-round playoff defeat.
That would be the first of an incredible six consecutive Conference Finals appearances for the Rockets.
Houston lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in 1988, but they came back the following year and won the Western Conference, sending Karl Malone to the NBA Finals to face his real-life teammate.
Waiting for them were the defending champion Washington Bullets, led by John Stockton. The Bullets went on to defeat the Rockets, denying Malone his first championship.
The Rockets returned to the Conference Finals again in 1990, but the Lakers had added Terry Cummings in free agency, giving Magic Johnson and Los Angeles the piece they needed to return to the Finals.
A year later, Houston reached another level. The Rockets won an incredible 70 games during the regular season before defeating Len Bias' Detroit Pistons to capture the NBA championship. For the first time, the Sampson-Malone era had reached the top of the basketball world.
And they were not finished.
In 1992, the Rockets did more than defend their championship—they dominated the postseason. Houston went 15-0 in the playoffs, becoming the first team in NBA history to complete a perfect postseason, and once again defeated the Pistons in the Finals, this time completing the championship run with a sweep.
After winning back-to-back championships, Karl Malone decided he wanted a fresh start and left Houston for Phoenix.
The departure of Malone did not destroy the Rockets. Houston fell to the No. 7 seed with Wayman Tisdale replacing Malone, but the team immediately made another postseason run.
After upsetting the No. 2 seed Dallas Mavericks, the Rockets found themselves facing Malone and the Phoenix Suns in the Western Conference Semifinals.
What followed was a thrilling seven-game series.
In another upset, Malone could not defeat his former team, and Houston advanced to its sixth consecutive Western Conference Finals. Waiting there was the franchise's biggest rival, the Los Angeles Lakers. The series once again went the distance, but this time it was Los Angeles that prevailed in Game 7.
The Rockets got their revenge the following season.
Entering the playoffs as the No. 8 seed, Houston stunned the No. 1 Lakers, becoming only the second team in NBA history to defeat a top seed as an eighth seed. Their Cinderella run ended in the next round, however, as they fell to Isiah Thomas' Portland Trail Blazers.
The following season brought a rare setback, as the Rockets missed the playoffs for the first time in a decade.
Houston returned to the postseason in 1996, which would also be Ralph Sampson's final year with the franchise. The Rockets lost in the first round, and the following season they returned to the playoffs once again, advancing to the Western Conference Semifinals before once again falling to the Blazers.
The Rockets continued making the playoffs in the years that followed, but their postseason runs ended in the first round each time. By 2000, the franchise had finally missed the playoffs again, closing out a remarkable era that had seen Houston rise from a rebuilding team into a two-time champion and one of the Western Conference's most consistent contenders.
The contrast with real NBA history could hardly be greater. Instead of Hakeem Olajuwon arriving in Houston and delivering the franchise its first championships, Ralph Sampson and Karl Malone became the foundation of an entirely different Rockets legacy.
Houston reached six consecutive Conference Finals, won back-to-back championships, and even became the first team to go 15-0 in a single postseason.
Check back for future updates as we continue to rewrite the history of the Rockets and discover what comes next in this alternate basketball universe.
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