The Houston Rockets started out in San Diego as the San Diego Rockets. In 1968, they drafted Hall Of Famer Elvin Hayes as the #1 pick. As a one-man show, he led the team to its first playoff appearance in his rookie season, and they made it to the Western Conference Semifinals. The team moved to Houston in 1971 with the aquiring of Rudy Tomjanovich and Calvin Murphy. The team steadily improved, usually hovering around 3rd place in the Central Division. In 1975, the Murphy/Tomjanovich duo led the the team to a team best 41-41 record and making it to the to Eastern Conference Semifinals. Houston got even better by obtaining ABA star center Moses Malone. The team led in the Central Division for the first time and also made it to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time. The very next year though, tragedy struck. During a game with the Los Angles Lakers, Lakers player Kermit Washington threw a punch at Tomjanovich which nearly killed him. Tomjanovich would never play the same way again, and the Rockets slumped to a 28-54 record. They finally made their first finals appearance in 1981 though, with Moses Malone and Calvin Murphy doing the work. They would end up losing it in 6 games to the powerful Boston Celtics led by Larry Bird. By 1983 though, Murphy and Malone would be gone and the and the Rockets would be without a real star on their team, but not for long. In 1983, Ralph Sampson was drafted #1 by the Rockets, and the following year Hakeem "The Dream" Olajuwon would be drafted #1, starting the "Twin Towers" Era. The duo got a 51-31 record and 1986 and made the team's second finals appearance, but lost to Larry Bird's Celtics again. With Sampsons depature in 1987, Olajuwon stepped up his game, and boy was he impressive. He led the Rockets to its first finals win in 1994 and with the aquistition of star guard Clyde Drexler, led the team to another finals win in 1995. Things went downhill after that and Olajuwon was traded in 2001. The Rockets had the worst record in the league that year, but just led them to getting the #1 pick, which was Yao Ming. Ming led the team to its first 50 win season in 7 years and the team made the playoffs constantly, but they were taking a lot of first round exits. Ming later suffered a career-ending injury in his foot. Their overall record is 1867-1797 (.510). Their best season was their 1993-1994 season where they got 58-24 (.707) and their worst season was their 1982-1983 season, where they got 14-68 (.171). They've retired 6 jersey numbers. 22 (Clyde Drexler), 23 (Calvin Murphy), 24 (Moses Malone), 34 (Hakeem Olajuwon), 45 (Rudy Tomjanovich), and CD (Carroll Dawson).