I should add here that I am always irritated by the "Who is the greatest PF of all time, Karl Malone or Tim Duncan?" nonsense that you see rehashed on ESPN. First of all, Duncan is a center. Second of all, the best team on those Jazz teams was always the great John Stockton, who was everything that you could possibly want in a guard, and for years and years. I can't think of an NBA player whose reputation was enhanced more by the fact that he got to play with a particular player. Anyway, my point is that Charles Barkley was a better PF than Malone, and is a better PF than Duncan, since Duncan isn't a PF. Barkley was great! Unfortunately, he suffers from the idiotic "But he never won a ring" tag. Like it's his fault that he had the misfortune of playing with a poorly managed Sixers team for years, and then had to play at the same time as Michael Jordan, and then had watch Danny Manning go down that one year. Some guys, like Dwight Howard, don't win rings because they're losers. Barkley wasn't one of those guys.
Oscar Torres?? No just kiddin during my time here as a member of clutchfans I would say Carl Landry or Chuck Hayes
underrated by whom? By the general public: Hakeem Olajuwon By Clutchfans: Robert Reed, Ralph Sampson, Carl Herrera, Otis Thorpe, Clyde Drexler, Kevin Cato, Tracy McGrady, Kevin Martin, Luis Scola, Shane Battier, Patrick Patterson
BTW, did anybody ever see Otis Thorpe shoot a jump shot? May just be me, but I don't recall ever seeing him take one. He was like the anti-stretch 4. But you want to talk about a good finisher on the pick-and-roll - he was awesome!! But I think he gets underrated some, because we were able to win that second championship without missing him - even putting Horry in his place.
Probably T-Mac. Mostly because I think people underestimate just how absurdly crappy our surrounding casts were during that time, as well as some bad breaks in the playoffs with regards to injuries.
well we've reached the point in time where the people who really are too young to know about Clutch City and the early 90s Rockets. For example, some clutchfan would not hesitate to assume that the Rockets got pummeled by Michael Jordan's early 90s team and they DO NOT CARE to know how good those Rockets teams were. When you tell them that in 95, Michael Jordan was there, they still will dismiss the Rockets. The 90s Rockets will always be underrated, all of them. Thankfully, NBA stars and students of the game like Lebron or Kobe understood the greatness of those teams and the best Rocket of all time.
Thank you for pointing this out to the new fans, Bima. I hope Barkley will be appreciated more by these new fans. The only other major sports athlete (that I can think of) who has done something similar like that is Deion Sanders. Primetime played for the 49ers for 1 million in late 80's or early 90's in order to win a SuperBowl.
Vernon Maxwell. Horrendous shot selections aside, he's the best perimeter defender I've seen play for the Rockets, also the most athletic swing man prior to Clyde joining. Robert Horry. The best weak side shot-blocker outside of Hakeem and Ralph. The best at feeding the post. Luis Scola. A consummate pro. He got it done every year and none of our draft picks could beat him out.
This was always the case during his career and still is players he played against don't underrate but the media always did and history will too
