I was mad about the trade. I thought we gave up too much to get him. Mainly losing Cassell was the worst part, but we gave up Horry and Chucky Brown, too. All good players. In retrospect, though, it was probably the right move. It would have looked great had we won a championship with him.
WCF and within a Malone bear hug of a possible Finals birth. We should have beaten the Jazz the following year in the playoffs but Barkley screwed up his shoulder and that was that. I consider that #WINNING...
I was about 12 and like many I was happy. But in hindsight the trade prob. cost us the chance to play the Bulls in the finals. As good as Barkley was he couldn't guard Malone. I was too young to remember how Horry did against Malone but I did remember this. But we did win 2 championships with him guarding Malone. I though it was a desperate move by CD and he should of waited a season when Barkley would of hit the free agent market.
I here ya bro but following the back2backs anything less than a parade was an underachievement. Chuck was here for a ring, not a long forgotten playoff loss.
Very excited and you know what it was worth it. Heck of a couple seasons to be a fan. If everyone recalls we were about to trade for Damon Stoudamire after that. (CBS Sportsline) NEW YORK -- Damon Stoudamire was nearly traded to the Houston Rockets on Wednesday afternoon, but the Toronto Raptors decided to put the trade on hold after better offers started flooding in from other NBA teams. The Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks, Vancouver Grizzlies, Portland Trail Blazers and Orlando Magic were in contention to acquire Stoudamire, according to several league sources who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The proposals were much better than what Houston was offering Kevin Willis, Mario Elie and a third player -- either Brent Price, Matt Maloney or Emanuel Davis -- and a No. 1 draft choice in 1998 for Stoudamire, Walt Williams and Zan Tabak. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/1998/01/22/archive/main361.shtml Sooo close to having a big 4 Stoudamire was averaging 19/8/4 that season and went to the $%@$# Blazers instead....
Damon for some odd reason never came close to what he did in Toronto in Portland. But he got paid like he still did.
The Chronicle started doing a game-by-game analysis of the big 3 in the PAPER (not internet) - that was fun. Each player got a grade after the previous night's game. The city was very Rockets-centric back then. Barkley rejuvenated the media around here. Mutombo was rumored in the deal at one point. Barkley to Indiana was also hot. Rockets, when healthy, had a better record than the Bulls I think. About 30 games into the season we had the best record in the league. I forget if that was 97 or not though. I think it was.
I used to wonder that too actually. Willis came in here and started rebounding man. Hakeem dropped off though, everyone seemed so passive. Pissed me off. And I think it pissed Barkley off too. Which is why I loved him. There was a game versus Chicago where the 2nd best active player on our team was Harrington I think. Barkley would not quit. No chance to win that game but Barkley wouldn't quit. He had at least 30.
I still remember the Barkley vs Jordan trash talk game. Barkley wouldn't shut up but dam he was going point for point with Jordan for most of the game. Willis would have helped but Seattle was just to tough with their zone defense. Barkley gave us a second option that neutralized their "D".
The Rockets had been without a true power forward there for a while. But the Rockets got Kevin Willis and Charles Barkley. Which in my opinion made the Barkley trade a mind puzzling situation. Hakeem Willis Horry Drexler Cassel 6 man - Ellie That would have been a superior team in my opinion. But Les went for the Glory trade... Barkely was such a media darling that it brought instant national media attention to the Rockets. One thins was sure, Barkely helped the Rockets get past Seattle.
I had the same feeling as Zacatecas at the time, and I still do. I have no ill will for Charles, and he was always fun, but I liked him best on other people's teams. Not the Rocks. I felt it on an irrational level, on the brainstem, that the Dream championships were done when we shipped Cassell.
Stoudamire was just a throw in. The deal was centered around the need to bring Zan Tabak back to Houston.
I could be mistaken, but I seem to recall losing to the Jazz in 1997 having less to do with Malone outperforming Barkley than Stockton absolutely eviscerating Matt Maloney
pissed. you never trade youth for age, and we went 'all in' on an all star at the tail end of his career. Not only did we give up a lot, Cassell, Chucky and Horry were at their absolute peaks value-wise. And of course you never, ever trade Chucky Brown.
It was a bad trade and a bad move. We would've three-peated had we not done that trade and kept Cassell and Horry.
Initially, I was furious about the trade. I really liked all those guys we traded for Barkley. I guess it was probably worth it though, since we did make it to the WCF.
That trade made me a Houston Rockets fan. I was 12 years old avid Barkley fan. Everybody in my country was MJ fan I wanted to be different that's why I kinda chose Barkley. Never was Suns fan, but when he came to Houston, that's when my fandom for Rockets began... And it's still here
