I loved the trade. Was about 13 at the time. Who knows what could have happened if Drexler took the last shot with about zero time remaining like he should have or if Malone wasn't allowed to get away with a bear hug.
Had no idea this kind of stuff was going on with Horry! No wonder they tried to trade him twice-- once successfully.
Not only that, the guy wasn't all that good. An awkward player who had trouble getting his motor going. He was instrumental in those title runs. In several other title runs. Don't get me wrong. But I never had regrets about trading the guy. He wasn't a difference maker unless you surrounded him with stars.
I forgot the years but he is my analysis when we got barkley First yr Beat the Sonics and faced the Jazzholes in the WCF. Eddie Johnson hit a game winnning 3 in Game 5, but lost to John Stockton last sec shot in Game 6 2nd yr I think we were the 7th or 8th and faced the Jazz in the 1st round. Game 7, we were up 15-20 pts early in the game. Then Barkley hurt his elbow. Tried to play and shot the ball with his left hand. That was HEART when he knew he couldnt move his right arm and still tried to play. Rudy took him out after the left handed shot and the heart and soul of that team was gone for that night....Rox blew the lead and Drexler retired..... By the way, the Jazz team we used to beat in the championship years always kicked our ass in the regular season....Jazz got ALOT better those yrs when we had Charles.....Horry was a good player at the end of the 2nd championship, but used to get F&^%K in the a$$ by mailman....it was used and abused..... After that it was scottie Quitten and the yr after that was SF3 era.....those were some loooong yrs with SF3.... Wish the rox were half as good as those old rox teams....
I wasn't following the Rockets back then or the NBA for that matter, but to me it is a bad trade. I think I would've been very angry since Barkley was a pain in the but with a big mouth and the enemy. He didn't show the Rockets any respect for beating his Suns in 94 (not sure about 95). To me trading for him back then would be the same as trading for a Boozer / KG now. We already traded our horse in OT for Drexler (which is also a trade I don't like since Maxwell wasn't our biggest problem) and let Herrera go - which is still the biggest mystery to me. Herrera did a very nice job in OT's absence in 94-95 and as a back-up. The minute Rudy fell in love with having Horry at the four was when everything really fell down. Yes, it worked spreading the floor and he was great in the 95 playoffs but in 96 not so much. Horry should've moved back to SF, Herrera should've been resigned and start at PF and Elie could've been our 6th man. Kenny was on the downside so moving Cassell to starting PG would've made sense. He did put Cassell as a starter when Kenny went out and eventually moved back to the bench. Also a big mystery for me, why Rudy T didn't show confidence in Sam to start. In 96-97 we could've tried to get another PF in case Herrera hadn't worked out the way we hoped. He did fine in San Antonio but declined quickly after that season. So our starting unit in 96-97 would've been: Cassell - Drexler - Horry - ?? - Dream. Now in case we couldn't find a replacement, they could go with the Elie/Horry tandem at forward. I know this team wouldn't made a lot of noise but still good as hell. By the trade deadline of 97 we could've tried to get something for Horry or Elie maybe but no way we give up Sam. I think I wouldn't have mind seeing Horry go since Elie could play SF. However Cassell was terrific throughout his 3 seasons with the Rockets. He never received a legitimate shot and confidence to be the starting PG. Alexander never showed any patience which is what he should've done with the 94-95 Rockets, the whole Drexler & Barkley deal and luckily last year and this year we couldn't get Stoudamire / Melo / Bosh. The guy is horny for stars, I'm just glad we got lucky in the 90s with Olajuwon (who told the organisation he wanted a young core around him, not Sleepy Floyd and them) and the GM at the time. Now we're lucky Yao went down or else the team would've been blown up big time just to win now.
