Please! Charles Barkley did more with less than probably anyone in NBA history. Barkley was about giving his all to win; Quitten was about pointing fingers when things didn't go his way.
Off topic, but, what was the gist of the Drexler/Barkley fued? Does anyone have a link to a thread of that time that details it? Just trying to brush up on my Rocket's history.
No questions that Scottie Pippen was a great defensive player. He was a "point forward" who could run the offense. I really liked his fluid style- he could move well in a crowd. In short the guy was a witch with the ball- unreal- at 6' 7" he could handle the ball as well as anyone. That being said- he took his problems to the media. He made the trade value he had near zero. Every team - GM in the league knew he did not want to be a Rocket. Much worse, by taking it to the Media he burned his bridge- there was no turning back. It did not hurt Pippen as he had a long term contract locked. It decimated Rockets strategic planning for two seasons as the Anderson deal and later Steve Francis trade were geared for Pippen and the fast break. The Francis trade of course came after the Pippen meltdown, but the planning of the deal had been in the works since May '99. I have often wished we could have gotten Jermaine O'Neal in the Pippen trade, but Portland-GM Bob Whitsitt knew he did not have to give much for Pippen. We got a lot of filler to meet the contract values. Pippen did serious damage to the Rockets. We gave him a huge contract and I feel the Rockets were betrayed. He was welcomed here and treated well. He spit on all of us. Pippen was a great player in his time...... I will always hate him for what he did to us......
Easy, Sorry that you don't think I'm a bright guy. I will try harder to become smarter for you. I'm glad that we are here to humor you. What is the world if there is no laughter? I don't respect Rudy's coaching. That doesn't have anything to do with the man. Coaching is what he does, that is not who he is. He just doesn't coach well. I don't wish the guy any ill will. I respect your opinion that he's the greatest coach of All Time. I just strongly disagree with that assertion!
Pippen Opposers, New word. Chron reported that SP averaged 21/5/5 in Blazers last two games. Sounds like he's far from washed up that some of the posters have declared. ESPN said he wants to play two more years. He's in great shape and he wants to win another ring and play for a good coach. That scratches Rudy. He's led the Blazers to 10 wins out of the last 11 games. Looks like he's Playoff Bound!
I think that had Pippen gone to the Lakers after the Rockets, the Lakers would not have won those championships because Pippen, Kobe, and Shaq would have butted heads, let their ego fight each other's, and blame each other for the team's shortcomings. Very similar to what happened here. A few weeks ago, when Wallace tried to jump a fan as they were exiting, you can see Pippen in the back about to come in and break it up, but he dodges the objects thrown at him and runs in to the tunnel. Maybe Wallace is such a jackass that he does not need anyone to back him up, but he is still your teammate. Pippen should have grabbed Wallace and pulled him away. I know it sounds unrelated, but even that shows you he's not a team player.
I do realize he's still a good player. I don't take that away from him. How about saying something about his words to the media, 19? I do respect players who want to win, and he was soOooo respectful until he said those things about Charles. He shouldn't have spoken that way about an MVP, and at least show some sympathy to Sir Charles about being the only MVP not to ever win a ring. He also told on MJ, when MJ was such good friends with Sir Charles. (I wouldn't tell anyone else the secrets you tell me, 19 ) C'mon... since he is out of your school, which I also respect, I would hope you can talk to SP about thinking wisely before saying something like that about top 50 players of all time. And you know how the media just blows everything out of proportion. SP just needs to be patient... he didn't show it when talking about other people. I used to like him, but after his yapping, i do not like him anymore.
I think the short of it is this... Clyde was a hometown hero, he had won a championship with the rockets and his level of play was among the best on the team. He lead by example. I think the problem lies in that SP had done NOTHING for the franchice but steal $14 million large. It like when you talk bad about your family. If you are a part of the family its ok, but if you are an outsider and you do, then the whole family busts your a$$. Pippen was never a man about what he was doing. He was just looking for someone to blame. Barkley made sacrifices for this team, and produced on the court no matter what his outside work ethic was. Add that to the fact that he took that $1 million in salary so we could get Pippen. Pippen will NEVER be a major factor in another championship run.
On a slight tangent.... When Barkley played for us, he was well past his prime. But I'll always be glad he was a Rocket. I remember one recurring thing every time I watched him play for us: he made the game fun to watch. Even when we lost, he added fun to the game. Whether it was punching out the opponents mascot, or flopping on to the press stand. I have never seen, and still haven't seen another player bring that much fun to the game. To hear Pippen bash him and Dream is like watching a stranger spit on your best friends. Throw that into the mix of reasons for Pippen-hating. He may have a good work ethic, but that's the only ethic he has. -- droxford
i hated pippen before he becaume a rocket. I thought he was overrated, if four guys are gaurding jordan than anyone can score. Even Longley and Kerr looked decent in a bulls uniform. a friend of mine became a pippen fan, so i started to dislike him. Pippen was verry arogant. when he came to the rockets i feared the worst.He was bad for the chemasty. When he let that bal bounce of his foot : was verry angry. i already didn't like hte guy. but i can forgive somebody if he fails playing hard. But he started to blame everybody but him. i was verry happy when he finally left houston. so that is why i hate him. i hate him more than enybody else.and i do not hate many people
Am I the only one who didn't have fun watching Barkley on the Rockets? The chemistry just wasn't there. I remember that chemistry was the biggest asset of the Rockets during the championship years, but after Barkley came nobody even talked about chemistry anymore. I don't remember Pippen bashing Hakeem either. But Barkley was not really comfortable being the #2 option, and the paint was too crowded with Hakeem and Barkley in there. Barkley also held the ball too long and shot too many 3's. It was a good team, but I don't think they ever got in sync on offense. And we all know how good Barkley was on defense.
D, I'm honored! Thanks for posting. Only 5 posts, I see that you are very observant. Thanks for keeping my secrets! You are keeping me out of the Federal Pen! SP left here and went to the WCF with the Blazers. I'm not in agreement with everything SP has done. We didn't go to the same college. My university held the NBA Draft Camp in Chicago. He was poised for greatness then. SP even made Mugsy a 1st Rounder, they were on the same team. Will, thanks for the offer. I have a better offer if the Rox don't make the Playoffs. Calvin Murphy as the new coach and the Rox IN the Playoffs!
Sadly no, but we won't hold that against any of you. Whatever they were doing, it was working. The Rockets came out of the gates smoking hot that first year, about the last time all of the big three were 100% healthy. Both were good midrange shooters, so when one was in the paint, the other was around 18-20 feet waiting for the pass out. In a way, they were more like #1a and #1b, both were pretty much interchangable. First, the play was for him to hold the ball. As he backed his man down the defense would see he was getting to deep to stop him, so they would send someone to double him. Then he hit an open teammate. He was an excellent passer and the playu worked more often than not. Second, alot of people complain about his threes, but he never really shot that many, and he never seemed to take the team out of the game with a stupid three. There were several daggers though. It was a great team that was cheated out of a title. Also, Barkley's defense, though not fantastic, was underrated. His main weakness was help defense. I think he was a little hesitant to help after the Paxson three that eliminated him in '93.
Uh. . . did I ever say that Rudy was "the greatest coach of All Time"? I don't even remember ANYONE on this board that has said that. You see, your Rudy hatred has skewed your view on what people actually say. I have no problem with people criticizing Rudy. I don't agree with some of his decisions myself. What bothers me is that almost every one of your posts has the same theme: Rudy is bad. Until you show me you have any thing intelligent to say other than some variation of the "Rudy is bad" theme, you won't look close to anything smart to the majority of the members here. This board has the smartest members I've ever seen in any sports BBS.
