Robert Horry dishes on the Barkley trade and why it didn't make sense for the Rockets

How do you explain the 21-2 start before Drexler got injured in 97 then? A fluke? The whole "they all go to the left block" issue didn't come up until later and honestly, some of that falls on Rudy.

 

No argument on the 1996 season. It sucked. It was an injury nightmare. Dream has minor surgery right off the bat. Cassell has his elbow operated on. Drexler has his knee scoped. Elie shatters his wrist when Jalen undercuts him. And Kenny Smith looked like he'd aged 10 years during the offseason after the 2nd title. I remember one game where I believe 4 of the 5 starters were CBA rejects that Rudy had to go with because so many players were injured. It's frankly a minor miracle they managed to dominate the Lakers in the first round and even get to that matchup vs Seattle. Oh and BTW, I f'ing hated those pajama uniforms and the ridiculous design for the court(luckily they did away with that after one season).

I disagree completely about how the Rockets handled some of those players though. OT was traded for Drexler. Nuff said on that one. Maxwell quit on the team in the 1995 playoff run. You don't extend someone's contract after they do that. Kenny was washed up by the 1996 season. He bounced around to a couple of teams after the Rockets let him go and was out of the league a year later. Herrera couldn't stay healthy when he was here and when he signed with the Spurs, he immediately got injured again. He was done with that team and the NBA overall within a few years.

 

Not to mention how the hell can anybody say with a straight face that "Horry would have been the future!", when we all know what he ended up being... a role player, nothing more, that happened to play harder in the playoffs (implying that he actually didn't give full effort in the regular season).

Cassel would have been nice to hold on to... had Hakeem actually been ok with it. Not sure how any team would have been "built" around him either, but he's the only player in that trade that actually improved his game after he left.

 

Everything you've posted in this thread is the truth.

 

I saw Horry playing basketball at the gym today. (Katy)

 

Is that the 24 Hr Fitness at Grand Pkwy? I've seen Horry there a couple times over the past year.

 

Yeah. He was playing for a long time. Looks really out of shape.

 

Maxwell should have received an extension before the 94-95 season, that also led to friction, not just the Drexler thing. Of course not after he quit Kenny deserved more respect than he got. Herrera might have been injury prone somewhat, but you don't just let a PF walk after losing OT! Remember, Carl was supposed to be the starter..

 

The irony is...Horry wasn't exactly known for his work ethic, either.

 

Exactly... he was likely a better overall player from 92-95 than he was after that... where he became a part time guy who "picked his spots" (which only works on teams that can afford you to have that sort of role).

 

Well in retrospect, it's good they didn't give Maxwell an extension before that season. Can you imagine being stuck paying a guy(or buying him out) after he quits on the team? Actually I can. It's called Eddie Griffin(RIP).

What respect was Kenny due? He was washed up by the end of the 1996 season. You don't re-sign a guy who has no game left.

As for Herrera, the Rockets were grooming him to take over the PF spot, but he was too injury prone. I was at Game 4 vs Utah in 1995 when he came finally back from injury and played his first game in the series....only to immediately get hurt again and be lost for the entire postseason. You can't invest money in a guy like that. It's the same reason I'm hoping the Rockets think long and hard about matching any offer that Bev gets this summer.

 

The media at that time was blowing that notion up. So a lot of the fans bit into all the hype about Cassel and Horry being the future.

 

At the time, I wanted us just to get Deke instead of him being part of a potential 3-team deal... it would have been a revival of the Sampson-Olajuwon Twin Tower setup.

 

...Robert Horry, such a better option than David Wood or Buck Johnson.

<DROPS MIC>

 

Horry wasn't a big fan of the Drexler trade until he got the 2nd ring. So not surprised he didn't like the Barkley trade either.

 

I was hoping we would hold out to include Jeremy Lin in the trade.

 

I mean, it was an extension of the logic that landed the Drexler trade. They just doubled down one time too many.

 

We busted up a great team to get Barkley?? Barkley was a good player but what we gave up l didn't agree then & l still think it was the wrong move. After that we had either bad luck or bad timing with Pippen then Stevie then T Mack then Yao. Dang my little brother still thinks we should've took Jordan over Hakeem. I will love The Rockets forever

 

The Pippen acquisition was, by far, worse than the Barkley trade.

 

The only thing wrong with the Barkley trade was injuries. When healthy, the big three were nigh unbeatable. Any complaints about chemistry, fit, spacing, etc. clearly haven't seen the record they put up playing together. Were the injuries predictable? That is the only question that matters as to whether it was a smart trade or not, because the product of the trade when everyone was playing was the best team in the NBA.