In the Sunday chronicle Sam Cassell commented that the trade of he and Robert Horry to Phoenix for Charles Barkley resulted in a 5 year wait for a talented point guard in Steve Francis. He described the changes in line ups as seaching, searching, searching.... We spent great resources in the trade for Barkley to give us and Hakeem Olajuwon another shot at a title-to get us by Seattle. Many comments have been made recently for Rudy's head during the losing streak, but I feel that Rudy did the best he could to put a winning lineup on the floor. I think Barkley also influenced the trade for Scotty Pippen-also to get talent to win one more time with Hakeem. We recently spent big bucks on Moochie as a backup point guard. Cassell is near the end of a 6 year 21 mil contract. We could have had a starting point guard during the Matt Maloney years for the same or slightly less money than Moochie. I heard on KILT 610 radio about a month ago or more - Charlie Palillo stated that Hakeem wanted to get rid of Sam Cassell because he was a ball hog-i.e. Hakeem Olajuwon instigated the trade as much to get rid of Cassell. I think Rudy's only problem has been trying to bend over backwards to put a winner on the floor with Hakeem. Now that we are in a new era- let Rudy develop this young team.... I have high hopes he can and will produce us a winner.
It amazes me how many blind Rocket fans STILL think Cassell is an elite PG. Not to mention how many fans still think the Rockets would have been any good without trading for Barkley. We got one of the greatest PF's in NBA history in exchange for 2 scrub big men (Chucky Brown and Mark Bryant), a selfish PG who plays no defense at all (Cassell), and a backup PF (Horry). Not enough people realize the window of opportunity to win in the NBA is small. The Rockets went all out, and nearly did it in 97. Considering where the team is right now, I sure as hell don't regret trying to win in the mid to late 90s.
kidrock, Cassell is one of the better point guards. 19.7 ppg, 6.4 apg 47 % shooting. Solid numbers. Francis's first couple years didnt even produce those numbers and we were saying how Francis is one of the best GUARDS in the league. Cassell just doesnt rebound as well. I think Francis is one of the best guards in the league, but, to say Cassell is not an elite PG is unfair.
Rezdawg-Statwise, Cassell is a Top 5 PG, no doubt about it. However, the guy is a cancer on every team he has played for (Rockets, Suns, Mavs, Nets, Bucks). All in all, I don't view Cassell as a great player. His assist total is very inflated because he has guys who can hit jumpers. Cassell very rarely actually drives to the basket and then dish. Most of his assists come from him passing from the perimeter to an open shooter. Also, his defense is as bad as Moochie's. I don't think I've ever seen Cassell move his arms when playing defense. Suffice it to say that Barkley helped the Rockets out more than Cassell and Horry would have back in the late 90s.
I was more worried about him saying "Is Steve Happy? Does he want a bigger market?" Sam and Steve are in business together, I hope he is not speaking of things to come. DD
Don't yall remember the game a couple nights ago. Everytime we tried to win, Cassell would take over the game and settle the crowd. He's amazing, he IS one of the elite PG's in the NBA. No doubt about it.
I have heard many people, including Ray Allen and George Karl, as well as several announcers, say that Sam Cassell is the undisputed leader of the Milwaukee Bucks.
Stevie (and apparently Sammy) model We R One, a denim clothing line. Steve is in numerous ads in SLAM, for things like Reebok, ESPN, and We R One. Nice clothes, BTW. I have some.
I think the Rockets did the best thing trading Cassel for Chuck. At the time , Hakeem and Clyde were still good, but Seattle was killing us at the 4 spot. Remember , at the time, Kemp was one of the top 4's in the league and Chuckie Brown and Mark Bryant wasn't going to cut it. Before we got Barkley, Seattle had won like 13 straight on us, something had to be done. They really didn't want to trade Sam, but Phoe demanded him because they knew he had a high trade value. Also, Horry was due to get paid and he was becoming very avg. It was about to be time to give him money and at the time, he would demand P.J. Brown money 7yrs 42mil. It was part economics, part trying to get a trophy while you still have good players. We gave up one pretty good player in Cassell, 1 avg player in Horry, and 2 scrubs Brown and Bryant to get Barkley. i thought it was good then , I still think it was good now. After that though, we had trouble with Utah though.
No one has mentioned yet that the trade for Barkley opened up cap space to allow us to sign Willis as well. Willis was instrumental his first year here, until he imploded during the playoffs.
Cassell dropped 33 pts on San Antonio and kicked their butts in their own house. When Cassell was anounced at the Compaq Center at the Bucks game, he got lots of cheers. Somethings never change.
Man, Cassel was ice cold in that bucks game. As always he hit EVERYTHING in the 4th quarter. Kidrock, what the hell is the matter with you? He was burying threes in the finals his rookie year. Did you even watch that Bucks game? Did you notice him keeping them in the game in the 4th?
If Cassell is so great, why does he get traded so often? Why was he on the block in Mil. last year? For a supposed great player, something does not add up.
Who cares how many times youve been traded ...look at kidd. He was on the block cause supposedly cause that contract dispute that is still going on. Cassell is one of the better pg's in the league. Elite I dunno. Yeah most of his assists are to jump shooters but that what the Bucks are ....jump shooters. He still gotta spot them. He's in the top 7 or so still which is pretty darn good. How many pg's are complete players on both end anyways ? Not too many. All this talk about him not playing D or whatever, what pg plays great D besides the Glove and Kidd anyways. The guy has hit clutch shots and can score. Yea is D aint all that but he makes up for it to still be a top 7 pg.
I don't see too much of a difference between Cassell and Marbury. Yet I'm sure 90% of people here will bash Marbury before bashing Cassell. He is a very selfish player who will not win anytime soon.
I only brought up the article because it is telling of Rocket policy searching for a point guard after trading Cassell. I do not think Cassell is as good as Steve Francis. I do think that the Rockets spent great resources looking for a point guard. We had a mediocre point guard in '97 when the Rockets got past Seattle in Matt Maloney. I agree we needed Barkley to get past Seattle. Rememeber the '98 draft when we drafted Dickerson, Mobley, then later Bryce Drew. We later made a deal for Mark Price' brother- Brent Price. This was a lot expended. I am grateful that we now have Steve Franchise.
If we hadn't made the Barkley, Francis, Pippen trades and built through our draft picks we would have had a pretty good lineup now and in the future. C - Griffin PF - O Harrignton SF - R Horry SG - Dickerson/Mobley PG - Cassell We definatley would have been a more balanced team and could have won alot of games when Griffin grew into a true Center.
