The Case for Ralph Sampson's Redemption

Flipping through The Sports Guys massive NBA tome this weekend at Brothattime!!'s, I read Simmons' claim that Ralph Sampson should've come out after his freshman year at UVa when Red Auerbach wanted him, claiming that Ralph stagnated for three years thanks to being on a team with no other threats and therefore being able to be triple-teamed, driven to such boredom that he'd try running the floor as if he was the point guard.  As much as I loved those teams, his sophomore year being my favorite team of all time, he's probably right.  If Ralph had gone to the Celtics he'd be banging against Bird/Parrish/McHale every day, instead of playing with the fucking mites he was surrounded with.  The best player he ever played with at Virginia was the All-American Jeff Lamp, but even he, while my idol, was merely a great 6'6" scorer who petered out after a few years in the NBA.  Meanwhile, Ralph was playing with...Jimmy Miller? Tim Mullen? Othell, Ricky, Kenton Edelin?  Really? And as much as I love them like I did Lamp, Lee Raker and Terry Gates weren't exactly Jordan/Perkins to Ralph's James Worthy.

Which is why it's always driven me crazy whenever people try to claim Ralph was a "choke artist" who "under-achieved."  Looking back at those UVa teams, how the hell they won 30 games a year and spent months at a time ranked #1 is nothing short of a miracle.  The point people have missed isn't that Ralph under-achieved, but that Terry Holland was the worst recruiter ever, including barely getting Ralph in the first place.  Jeff Lamp only came to UVa after witnessing a Bobby Knight meltdown after he had committed to Indiana, and Lee Raker, whom he played with at Ballard High along with Terry Gates, said fuck it, come to UVa with us.  Holland didn't get JR Reid, Alonzo Mourning, the list of Virginia studs who left the state goes on.  He surrounded Ralph with scrappy role players who had no right to even be in the stands of the ACC, and look at what Ralph did with them. Ralph Sampson, underachiever? More like a fucking miracle worker.