If 90s Seattle Supersonics duo Shawn Kemp and Gary Payton refer to themselves as the original "Lob City," then the 80s Houston Rockets frontcourt tandem of Ralph Sampson and Hakeem Olajuwon was the original "Twin Towers." That's according to Sampson himself.

The originators
Every common NBA fan would simply say Olajuwon was the first NBA superstar to put Houston back on the map. While it’s absolutely true, it’s also worth pointing out that before “The Dream” became the brightest star in H-Town, the Rockets used to have two dominant big men. The other guy was Sampson, a.k.a. “Stick.”

For four consecutive seasons, Olajuwon and Sampson proved to everybody that having two natural centers on the floor at the same time was unconventional yet unstoppable if the talent and chemistry were there. Still, Sampson thinks that not all were convinced, but he is certain what he and Hakeem accomplished paved the way for the now commonly used term “Twin Towers.”

“I don’t think anybody knew the magnitude of it, because no one had ever really tried it. You had some guys that were so called ‘twin towers,’ but not like we were labeled. We were the original ‘Twin Towers.’ With my skill set and his skill set, it was very special,” Sampson said in 2014 via ExNBA.com

“I could run the floor and he could run the floor, so you basically had two gazelles that could play the game at a high level that didn’t necessarily need to be in the post or the low post. We could play in the high post, we could dribble, we could shoot – as people tell me, we were probably a little before our time,” he added.

A short-lived show in H-Town
For those who didn’t know, Sampson wasn’t like your ordinary big man. Unlike the usual 7-foot-4 lanky center, “Stick” was mobile, skilled, and savvy. It’s safe to say Sampson could do pretty much everything, but he was no superhuman. Injuries limited him and soon prompted him to call it quits.

Sampson only played nine seasons in the NBA. Houston shipped him to the Golden State Warriors in 1988, and after multiple knee surgeries, “Stick” retired in 1992 with four All-Stars to his name. Of course, Sampson wished he could’ve played longer, specifically alongside Olajuwon.

“It was an unbelievable experience for the year we played together,” Sampson admitted. “I sure wish we could have played together a little bit longer.”