“Charles Barkley -- His Phoenix Suns couldn’t get past the Rockets in the West two consecutive years. So what did he do? He went and joined the Rockets … The Rockets, in the absence of Michael Jordan, had a superteam. And they went back to back. … He did the exact same thing Kevin Durant is doing now. The exact same thing.” -- Max Kellerman on Sports Nation today, mocking Barkley for criticizing KD
Not one to defend Barkley but Chuck's deal was a trade not a free agent signing. Of course he was perfectly okay with it.
First of all it was a trade and the Rockets gave up Horry and Cassell - no small matter. Second of all, the Rockets had been swept out of the second round and were trying to get past Seattle who they couldn't get past. They weren't a 73 win team but a 40-something win team. Ridiculous.
Not to mention that Barkley wasn't in his prime. He joined the Rockets at the end of his career and at the end of Hakeem and Drexler's careers. Total opposite of what Barkley did. It's not even that similar to what LeBron did, when he joined a team that wasn't stacked and only had one all-star at the time.
LeBron James started this kind of move first, then everyone else starts to do it, it can result in a ring or two.
Barkley wason his last legs. Jesus shuttlesworth was 33. It's not the same. I don't like Barkley but I don't disagree with what he's saying. Durant should have gone to management and threatened to Leave if Raphael wasn't traded. That's how old schoolers did it. Mad respect to the O.Gs.
Barkley's going to be remembered more as an embittered old clown than as a basketball player. We need a Crying Barkley meme.
Not to mention Jordan wasn't absent for the Rockets' second title. After serving his secret gambling suspension, he was great but lost because they had no power forward.
Did Barkley piss off his fellow teammates by bending an ear and entertaining recruitment pitches from Rockets players in the middle of the playoff series like Durant did?
Exactly. Players have, for a long time, been leaving at the tail end of their career to try to chase a title. We kind of made fun of them for it, but it wasn't really taken seriously. For example, I hate Karl Malone. And I'm not a big fan of Gary Payton. Mainly because both the Jazz and the Sonics had pretty intense rivalries against the Rockets back in the day and both of them beat us enough times. That and the fact that Malone was a dirty, dirty player. But no one tarnishes their 'legacy' because they went to try to get a ring with the Lakers in their last years in the league. They had played their careers and had long and respected careers for their teams. Their legacy as a great player was already set. Then they went to chase a ring at the end. It seems, to me at least, more for their own personal benefit than for anything else. What Lebron did and what Durant has done is to try to chase a ring in the middle of their career. In their prime. I guess most people have gotten over it for Lebron now because he has won multiple championships, but if Durant wins a ring with Golden State will he really be known as a champion? Or as a coattail-rider? He will be seen the same way people saw and were mocking Kevin Love this year. He gets a ring but he doesn't really earn it. I don't know. I admit that is a pretty arbitrary distinction to make between a vet and a supserstar in their prime. But it still looks like an incredibly weak move on Durant's part just the same that it looked like an incredibly weak move on Lebron's part in 2010.
Yes exactly. I get so mad when people say that the only reason the Rockets won was because Jordan "retired". Especially in 1995, when Jordan played over half the regular season and the entire playoffs. I point out to them the Rockets' record against the Bulls during the regular season prior to those years. They say "yeah well playoff Jordan was different." Maybe. But playoff Jordan lost. In the playoffs. Because they had no one to stop or even slow down young Shaq. The same guy that Olajuwon would end up outplaying. Don't tell me that Luc Longley or whoever else the Bulls had could stop Olajuwon.
At equal age to Durant, he left PHI for Phoenix. At age 33, he gets traded to Houston. Not a good comparison. That's more a comparison for Ray Allen going to Boston. The "exact" same thing is Barkley leaving PHI to play with Jordan, Pippen and the Bulls at age 27. Which he did not do.
Except Barkley didn't join up with Hakeem and Clyde less than a month after blowing a 3-1 lead to them in the conference finals. Nor was he(nor Hakeem/Clyde) in his(their) prime. Plus it was a trade and so the Rockets gave up two of their best 4 players to get him.
Ages when he joined team...& rockets top six scorers that year... Barkley-33 Hakeem-34 Drexler-34 Ellie-33 Johnson-37 Willis-34
No, it is not "the exact same thing." Not even close. But I remember Barkley did say, "If you can't beat them, join them."
Barkley analogy is not as accurate as the Lebron/Miami analogy. No one will be making that comparison in the future, any more than they did when Lebron went to Miami. Only reason such a lame analogy is being made is because Barkley criticized Durant.
