True, it was hard to balance 3 superstars on the court at the same time. It's hardly Rudy's fault for that. What would any other coach do when you have 3 of top 50 best ever playing together? IMO, Barkley/Clyde/Dream was the best team ever assembled in the history of the franchise. Only thing was that they were older and injury prone. I truly believe that if they stayed healthy that year, we would have had another championship banner up there. He did have a lot of praise for Clyde and Dream before coming to the Rockets. He said it was an honor to play with guys of this caliber. The following year, he took a BIG pay cut to free up money for Pippen. He played for only $1 mill that year. He actively participated in trying to mentor other players like Cat and Steve who were rookies at the time. He's always been a team player with the Rox organization and he should get credit for that.
Yeah, we grabbed Chuck to get past the Sonics, only to have him be Karla Malones whipping boy the next few years. I dont believe I ever saw anyone..............ever............try to defend Malone so poorly, and was absolutely inept at defending the pick and roll. Dont you guys remember just screaming at Barkley for not flashing out on the P.G. and helping our defending P.G. ? He would just stand there on the picker and and let Stockton use the screen to have open floater in the lane. TIME AFTER TIME AFTER TIME. The only reason I like having Chuck on our team was for 1. The press he brought Houston 2. His rebounding skills.
You are right, I forgot that Charles did that. He really did want to win a ring, I give him credit for that. At first I thought Barkley would fit in to our system of inside-out. In practice it didn't seem to work as well. He seemed to hold the ball way too long and we didn't get as many good shots as when Hakeem would make a quick move. He was a great rebounder but his D was a liability. I would take the first Houston team over the others. The chemistry on that team was great- everyone knew his role and played it great. They were dominant the whole year.
Charles is just having fun with Ming, Ming actually threw a few shots back at Charles. I like Ming's attitude, he didn't take it seriously he just took it as fun and a challenge. As I posted in another thread Charles was saying that Ming should get the ball more. I think part of Charles cracks about Ming not scoring 19 points in a game has more to do with his cracks of Francis and Mobley not giving him the ball and his playing time then him cracking on Ming's skills.
Amazing how Dream could carry a team of non-All Stars (1st Championship) the the finals. THen suddenly you add CB4 and it's his fault we don't beat the Jazz. Charles did not lose any series to the Jazz. The team lost. Blame CB4 all you want bottom line is the team got beat. If Karla was tearing up CB4 that bad why didn't Dream slide over (everyone knows he was agile enough to pla the 4) and take Karl. Well because RT thought CB4 was doing as good as job on Karl (combined offensively and defensively) as anyone. Blame CB4 all you want but he did not lose any series for the Rockets, the team did.
If Barkley had never been a Rocket, would you guys still like him? I never liked him before the trade. I suspect most Rockets fans felt the same. I don't think that was a good trade. It might not have anything to do with objective basketball assessment. Maybe it's just b/c I didn't like him as a person. But I still think that Barkley wasn't a good fit. He and Hakeem had the same sweet spot (the left low post) for scoring. When he was there, Dream played out of position, and vice versa. I think the team got that far simply on sheer star power. But they were not fitting well together to be a championship team.
all i remember of barkley being a rocket is : -the league changing rules on backing down ur man, so charles had to change his game -he became an outside shooter WTF?? -he was injured a lot anyways, yao or no yao.. i wanna see chuck kiss some kenny ass
I like him more as a rocket. No doubt. Because the TNT show kicks ass and Houston gets a ton of play. But I always thought he was pretty funny.
Charles is funny! He picks on everyone! He keeps Kenny in check (but it looks like Kenny wants to learn how to box so he isn't pushed around by Charles). At least Charles says, "Yao, I love you man!" in jest.
Sir Chuckster for four players? Actually, it was Charles AND Price AND Willis as the salaries made the additions of the other two happen, and were brought in together. That said, I believe to this very day that if Brent Price had kept his knee together, he was playing perfectly for the team at the time of the injury, that the Rox' would have played the Bulls in the Championship for the 90's! He was sticking shots and sticking his head anywhere a loose or passed ball was...he was hustle and guts and knew he was NOT to get in Hakeem/Clyde/Charles' way. As for Chuck -- if, excuse me, when Yao scores 20 will Barkley back back back down due to 20 not being 19???
stop hatin on charles. Charles was my favorite player before he retired. I became a rocket fan when charles was traded to houston. the franchise in my favorite player now. I'm still a rocket fan living in the kings territory
