Kelvin Cato for me after all that money I think he STILL owes us our 10 and 12 a night and Im waiting..........
I have to take a minute to defend Buck Johnson since part of my screen name comes from him. I will concede that he never fulfilled his potential, but the guy wasn't all bad. He could block shots pretty well. I remember him stuffing Michael Jordan. I was at the game, and sitting a few rows behind none other than Curtis Blow. I asked Curtis Blow who he was there to see. He claimed the Rockets, but I'm sure it was because Jordan was playing. Anyway back to the topic. Johnson had a monster Tomohawk jam that he could throw down(but did so too rarely). He could shoot fairly decently. And he could slash to the basket on occasion. The only problem with Buch is he didn't do any of the things he could do with consistency.
Barkley! To this day, I don't know why Rudy signed him. Dream and Barkley loved the same spots on the floor. Every possession, one had to defer. In the end, Barkley was a liability on defense and in the locker room.
Signing Barkley finally got us past the Sonics ~ it was a great move. ____ I haven't read this entire thread, but if Pippen isn't the most hated then I would be shocked.
Most disliked current player: JHo. (dead weight) Most disliked unknown: Shandon Anderson (never did like that guy) Most disliked ever: Scottie Quitten ('nuff said)
without lookin at the other posts it has to be hands down scottie pippin no one else even comes close
lol i loved barkley though, even if he annihilated our teams chemistry. i still can't get over him throwing hookers, and everyone else out the second story floor of various bars Barkley
Wrong!!! The truth is the conflicts were way underhyped because of the classy character of Clyde Drexler who avoided disclosure of the subject, had the maturity to try to absorb the issues, but in the end no longer wanted to play with Barkley and had an out when given the opportunity with U of H. Barkley on the other hand, had no class nor maturity. You are absolutely right, however that there were disageements, flare-ups, personality conflicts, avoidance issues, tensions...which inevitably led to a obvious lack of team harmony, team effectiveness that was not even close to the chemistry of the first and second championship teams and killed the hopes of a 3rd championship . For gosh sakes you just connected the dots yourself by what you acknowledged. You only had to watch it...you could see it, you could feel it. Come on 1 + 1 = 2
barkley is one of my favorite all time rockets and i don't knock him one bit because i don't think we make it as far as we did in 97 without him. Well, quite frankly, I couldn`t possibly disagree with you more and simply do not share your affection for Barkley. I realize I am answering the subject of this thread according to "my" least favorite. Barkley is not in my thinking the least liked Rocket ever at large, but he is by me. It is not his obvious talent that I have issue with, but what is clear is that we did not even go as far as we could have with him given the inherent talent he had. Why? Because of Barkley`s character, habits, arrogance, and stupidity, he has always been driven to be the dominant, controlling figure, thriving on attention to the point of having to create it to get it even when it is distracting, at best, damaging and destuctive, at worst. He was like some needy, neglected kid, starving for approval. While I can have compassion for people that have those dynamics, it is that very type of self-consummed Angst that disrupts and explodes NBA basketball teams. In the case of the Rockets, Barkley did not enable us to go as far as we could go, or be all we could be, he undermined and prevented it...just like he did with Phoenix and Philadelphia. Had we seen his ability be sublimated to Hakeem`s overall leadership with different habits, maturity, and character, we may have had different results. It`s the one Rocket era that leaves me with an empty feeling wondering what might have been, particularly for the waning years of Hakeem and Clyde, my forever favorite player and my second favorite. Maybe if that trade had never happened, or a different trade had happened...Who know`s? What I do know and what should be a reminder to you about this guy you think was so great is that in his retirement and from his TNT analyst position, he has shown no loyalty to Houston or the Rockets, whatsoever...
Quitten Eddie Griffin Steve Francis Kelvin Cato Moochie Norris Those are really the only ones that stand out for me. I don't understand why some of you dislike Barkley so much. As mentioned by several people, if it wasn't for him, we would have NEVER beaten Seattle in the playoffs.
What I do know and should remind you of, is that the Rockets forced Barkley to wear pajamas while he was here. I understand why he has no loyalty. (p.s. He has no loyalty to anything. He never talks well about Auburn, Phoenix, Philly or anywhere. That's why he's a good analyst. He doesn't take sides. Also, Kenny Smith is the same way... unless you bring up Hakeem.)
We got past the Sonics. But I don't recall the Sonics winning anything. What success did we have after beating the Sonics?
Clyde really showed his effort when he was at UH... After his lack of care for the UH job, I really wonder if he really was the great guy everyone perceives him as. I'm not saying he's the devil, but I think he was able to get away with a lot of things because of his reputation. OTOH, it's easy for people to pin the blame on Barkley. Fact is no team will win anything with Matt Maloney as a starter. But let's ignore that fact and just blame Barkley because it's easy to do.
