Seattle tripled Dream while playing a straight up illegal zone. They were the best at it. I will forever view the Barkley trade as a panic move.
It’s easy to forget that the Rockets lost their starting PG in the 96-97 preseason. Brent Price wasn’t exactly the same caliber player as his older brother Mark, but in 95-96 he was a top 5 3pt shooter, had a top 3 true shooting percentage and certainly a more capable PG than Matt Maloney, Emmanuel Davis, or Randy Livingston. Unfortunately, what he did share with his brother was a penchant for getting injured, and as a result, we were using scrubs at the Pg spot. It was a damn miracle that we made it past Seattle, because if he had wanted to, Payton could have stolen the ball from Maloney every time he brought it up the court. I seem to remember reading that the Rockets had a chance at signing Tim Hardaway but passed because he had torn his ACL the previous season (he also wasn’t a great 3pt shooter). That certainly would have added an extra dimension to our offense and I definitely don’t see him getting abused by Stockton the way Maloney did. Barkley and Hakeem weren’t really complimentary players (the whole left block thing as mentioned previously) but Barkley’s superior court awareness meant he could handle the SuperSonics illegal defensive schemes better than Hakeem.Unfortunately, he couldn’t defend a prime Karl Malone very well nor could our Pg scrubs (Maloney and a washed up Sedale Threatt) do a thing to disrupt Stockton. Finally, both Hakeem and Drexler were a couple steps slower than they were during the 94-95 championship. In fact, the entire team was old. All in all, the 96-97 Rockets probably did as well as could be hoped. If I were to cast blame for our failure to get to the finals that year, I’d list the reasons in this order: 1) PG lineup 2) slower Hakeem and Drexler 3) Team age 4) Barkley’s shortcomings (poor D, poor conditioning)
it was a good trade. Don't think we would have beaten the Bulls with just the title team. A fully charged up Jordan was hard to contain. We needed Barkley, we just didn't get some luck in the end to get to the Finals
The 97 Rockets record with Drexler/Barkley/Olajuwon in the lineup was the OG Capela/Paul/Harden lineup stat. That team balled. But injuries.... Horry wasn't going to do much here as a featured player. Willis + Barkley + Price was superior to Sam Cassell. It was a fine trade.
The problem with the trade is that we didn't have a point guard - had we still had Sam and We were able to get Barkley - the trade would have worked. Or if Brent Price hadn't gotten injured.
I don't know. Cassell in 97 avg 20 pts, the same as Barkley. Add Willis, Mack, Johnson plus another 4 to back up Horry would have been good. Horry was a proven ring winner. I truly believe we gave up too much for Barkley that sent the rockets to become a bad team for many years until yao and Tmac.
Do we really have to keep relitigating this? We needed to make that trade. The Rockets literally could not beat the Seattle Supersonics. They'd lost 13 straight to them including the 1996 2nd round sweep. Think about that. A team that had won 2 straight titles couldn't win a single game against an opponent. Barkley changed all of that. Not only had he beaten the Sonics in the playoffs in 1993, he brought a toughness the Rockets needed, and gave them a star power forward would could make Kemp work at the defensive end of the floor. Yes, the price the Rockets paid(Cassell, Horry, Brown, Bryant) was steep, but bottom line is it worked. They went 3-1 against Seattle in the regular season and beat them in 7 games in the playoffs. The reason the trade is bashed retroactively is that the Rockets gained an advantage over Seattle, but simultaneously sacrificed the one they'd possessed over Utah. The Jazz suddenly had far better depth and youth than the Rockets once Cassell and Horry were out of the picture(and Price blew out his knee). And obviously the Rockets bet it all on the 1997 season and came up short. Had they kept Cassell and Horry, they would've been better in 1998, but they still would've been a far cry from title contenders.
Hakeem didn't think so fondly of Sam during the championship years, and in the 1996 season. Not sure he would have come around to the idea of Sam starting to take more shots. He would not have average'd 20/7 on the 97 team... unless it came via all open 3's. I also don't think Rudy was going to adjust the offense as long as Hakeem was there. Nobody would ever question Rudy's motivational techniques... but he was never a great strategist. That was always going to be a low block team... whether it was Hakeem, Barkley, Willis, or in some possessions Drexler. Other than being a supreme post passer, Horry just didn't do enough in the regular season to move the needle... and this would remain true throughout his career. On those other teams, he was a pivotal bench player... but the Rockets needed him to be a starter and produce at that level. I also don't think its a given that the Cassel/Horry/Clyde/Hakeem team would automatically have beaten the Jazz (assuming they even get past Seattle). Utah was hungrier... and they shored up a lot of weaknesses that the Rockets exploited in the championship years (i.e. - no David Benoit to leave wide open). Even with a huge advantage at center (Ostertag!) the Rockets were beaten by the better opponent in 1997.
Good thread. It felt a little like olajuwon and drexler werent as determined as barkley at that point. Changes needed to be made and if we had kept horry that wouldnt have been enough. And brent price was not the answer Forgot about that dude. Screw that guy
The Rockets massively underachieved in both 95 and 96 in the regular season.... 47-35, 48-34. Sure, injuries and lack of depth played a huge role in that... as well as the decline of their 34+ year old star players. Hakeem and Clyde caught lightning in a bottle in the 95 playoffs... but its exceedingly rare to have a championship team with your best players being that old. Since trading them could never ever be an option, they had to optimize the last few good years out of both of them. Cassel/Horry were unlikely to do that, given the contrasting styles of both (Cassel was a ball dominant guard that rubbed most post guys the wrong way). Horry was not a trust-worthy starter... but the Rockets didn't have enough depth to make him solely a bench player. Kevin Willis would have also been a nice stop-gap, kudos to him to staying in phenomenal shape, but he was still not a superior player to out of shape/over-the-hill Barkley even at that point. The Rockets record in 95 with all 3 in the lineup spoke for itself... but given all their ages, injuries were inevitable. They had a nice deep playoff run... but the Jazz were much better than their 93-95 teams that the Rockets had success with.
Hakeem didn't think fondly of Sam? How could you say that? Sam played a huge role in the championship years and Hakeem was always friends with him.
Its been well recapped by Bullard and others on the team that Hakeem wasn't a fan of Sam at times... especially when Sam had a tendency to try and make things happen/create rather than just pass it to him in the post. The 96 year was particularly frustrating (again, according to those who covered the team)... Sam actually won 6th man of the year and did take a more active role in the offense.... which came at the expense of the other stars that also demanded the ball and didn't play much off-the ball offense. Basically, that frustration may have played a role in why they decided to trade Sam... and they went out and signed a spot-up 3 point shooter in Brent Price to be their new PG.
Why is it the same CFers who say nothing matters if you don't win a title are also saying, "But Chuck got us past the Sonics in the WC semis one year!" Chuck was too heavy and never really meshed with the team the way he could have, and the trade caused big matchup problems against the Jazz that same year. It's like some of you want to consider Barkley a part of that "championship era" of the Rockets, which he absolutely WAS NOT.
I've always thought that we tried to build a team to beat the Sonics and lost sight of the Jazz. Anyway, if we didn't get Barkley, we at least wouldn't have to hear him trash the Rockets every now and then ever since his retirement.
