Just a thought, but isn't it the case that the Rockets lost a bunch of talent when we traded some of our finest young players for soon-retired Drexler and Barkley? And we turned down multiple trades offering young talent to keep Hakeem in town? Heck, we even threw away a 2nd rounder just to have Kevin Willis for a meaningless year only to let him go at the end. I don't know, but losing one star after another for nothing seems to me a big reason why the Rockets have been out of the playoffs for a while now and the rebuilding process has been so slow...
there's two sides to that coin; you get cap room when a big salaried superstar leaves or retires; that's why glen rice is soon to be a marketable commodity.
We lost Thorpe for Drexler and went from a team that was floundering to a team that won the championship, all after Valentine's day. Drexler payed 3 more full seasons, and might have stuck around for another if he didn't hate Barkley. For Barkley we traded Cassell, Horry, and two veteren scrubs. Both Cassell and Horry's contracts were up at the end of that season, and we weren't going to resign them both. Barkley played 3 full seasons and 20 games of his final season. Kevin Willis cost us nothing, he was a free agent. We got two full seasons, and traded him for draft picks. We didn't lose all these guys and not replace them. Drexler left, we went traded for Pippen, who was better at that point in their carreers. Pippen left and it got us Francis. Barkley leaves so we bring in Mo taylor, again, better at that point in their carreers. We lose Dream, we daft Eddie, which every body loved at the time. j
things always look different in hindsight. w/ barkley we were going for a ring. it just didnt work out, but id do it again. kind of like the randy johnson trade w/ the stros. we gave up some guys that ended up being really good, but we were going for a ring. didnt work out, but thats just the way it goes...no regrets!
The rebuilding process has been SLOW? Oh brother... I wonder what that makes Dallas' rebuilding process then.
