Houston Rockets: 25 Best Players To Play For The Rockets
By Phil Watson
169. <strong>How acquired:</strong> Veteran free agent, Aug. 29, 1983; 10-day contract, Feb. 27, 1990.. SG. 1983-87, 1989, 1990. Lewis Lloyd. 22. player
Lewis Lloyd had flashed some potential in his first two NBA seasons and the Houston Rockets bit the bullet in August 1983, signing the veteran free agent shooting guard.
They sent a 1985 second-round pick to the Golden State Warriors as compension for signing Lloyd.
A big shooting guard for his era at 6-foot-6, Lloyd could slash and dish and started all 82 games for the Rockets in 1986 as the team reached the NBA Finals.
He averaged 7.7 points and 2.8 assists in 22.3 minutes per game, shooting .380/—/8-for-10 while starting all six games of Houston’s loss to the Boston Celtics.
Trouble came for Lloyd in January 1987, when he was suspended for a minumum of two years for violating the NBA’s anti-drug program.
He was reinstated a bit ahead of schedule in September 1989 and the Rockets welcomed him back into the fold.
But in December 1989, they waived Lloyd.
He came back later that season, first on a pair of 10-day contracts in February 1990 and later for the remainder of the season.
In parts of five seasons in Houston, Lloud averaged 14.8 points, 3.4 assists, 3.1 rebounds and 1.0 steals in 26.8 minutes per game on .525/.209/.782 shooting.
A JUCO transfer, Lloyd was an All-American in each of his two seasons at Drake, averaging 28.2 points and 12.4 rebounds per game in that span.
Thought to be a “tweener”–to small to play forward, too slow to be a guard–Lloyd fell into the fourth round before the Warriors selected him in the 1981 NBA Draft.
He spent a brief stint with the Philadelphia 76ers on a 10-day contract in January 1990.
The Rockets renounced his rights after declining Lloyd’s option year and he retired in October 1990.
He is 46th in NBA history with a field-goal percentage of .524.
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