He wasn't Sam Cassell. He was a phenomenal role player with us and we never referred to him as "the Jet" in the 90s. Mad Max and OT were moreso fan favorites
And yet Kenny made the three that took it to OT against the Magic. That was a team made up of one transcendent player and bunch of others who had flaws but operated in a team environment. When you hear talk of culture and this current Rockets team, that's what we mean. Evaluating a championship team on personal stats does not reflect the role they willingly took to get that championship. The Head Coach had a huge part in making that happen. Kenny helped bring the first major sports championship to Houston and then he helped bring a second. That's good enough for me.
Kenny, Horry, Max, Bull etc roles were to knock down shots and make defenses pay for doubling and tripling Hakeem. Kenny was a good spot up shooter those championship years.
Kenny was a great shooter and was almost single handedly responsible for the comeback game 1 win that led directly to the second championship. I think the Magic win the series if they had held on to win game 1. Kenny was solid, and could at least be counted on to get the ball up court and run the offense (ie dump it to Dream and be prepared to shoot the 3 if he kicks it back out) That said, I still have nightmares about him getting destroyed by every above-average PG in the league. Gary Payton, Kevin Johnson, Derek Harper averaged like 35 a game against him.
Chuckles was one of the greatest 4s ever; he just started sailing through as ‘97 moved through. He never consistently had the Bark from calendar turn to ‘98 until ultimate retirement. Jim Peterson was pretty good. Jim Peterson thought he was Dream good. He wasn’t in Dream’s league. He needed to be moved. Pretty fair return. PS JP’s best years may have been as a color man in Wolves’ booth. It Shirley wasn’t on the court.
I remember when he was traded to Houston as I had seen him in the dunk contest with the Kings. I don't remember him on the Hawks but that was back in the dark ages when we didn't have the coverage options we have today Probably my favorite Rocket as a youth, mainly because I was a little guy who relied heavily on speed and quickness in my playground ball days. I loved him in the early to mid 90s. After he was traded and into his broadcasting career, not so much.
Man.. Buck Johnson was my favorite player back in them days.. lol The flat top and the shooting follow through was what I remember most as a kid when I liked him..
All Clutch City Rocket heroes are immune to hate. Do Rockets fans hate Clutch City? hell no, those were not only the best championships, they were the ONLY CHAMPIONSHIPS @Ziggy Kenny 4 life
Buck was in the list of players back from when I was a kid who I thought was a "great draft pick/acquisition" and would help send the team to the championship again (Buck Johnson, Steve Harris, Terry Teagle, Conner Henry, Derrick Chievous...). I don't remember Buck for much of anything other than chewing gum a lot during the game (and I'm not even sure I'm remembering that correctly), making a few boneheaded plays, and this one play below. I'll never forget watching it as a kid and thinking "really? this could only happen to Buck". Every time someone mentions "The Blade" in a thread, I'm compelled to post it :
No and No. He was never referred to as "the jet". That is revisionist history. In a pickup game, I'd take Jalen Green over Kenny Smith every day. But that's not really a fair comparison. Again No. Kenny was never an all-star. Kenny played a key role on two championship teams. He's also a pretty good analyst on TNT. Let's just leave it at that.
At his peak during our championship years he was up there with the all-time greats in terms of three point percentage. I remember as a little kid he was always my second-favorite player after Hakeem. I can only imagine how much he would've scored if he played in today's 3P-obsessed NBA. He was always more of a shooting guard in a point guard's body though, IMO.
I’d never choose Kenny over Jalen either, my thought was just that he in his prime is a better player than our guards as they are right now. Also from what I understand he was called “The Jet” since high school. Maybe others didn’t call him that but the nickname was there
Kenny has more than one year where he was a 17/7 PG thats not all star level but its an above average starter. I think his game would translate much better today than back when he played because he wouldn't have to worry about his lack of strength getting exposed with hand checking. He was known as "The Jet" at UNC so folks have selective memory saying they never heard of his nickname before TNT.
