I remember when this trade went down. It was a sunday, because football was on, and Hannah Storm was doing the studio work on NBC. It was halftime, and she said something like in NBA news, there was a big trade today. My ears perked up, but I didn't watch the television. She said that Charles Barkley was traded to the Rockets for Robert Horry and Sam Cassell. I flipped. It was great. Seattle really killed us. (cause they cheated with that illegal d they were playing) Who knows if we beat Seattle in the WCF in 94. Yeah, I think it's better to win now, or be close for a long time. Unfortuantely for us and the Rockets, Utah played better in game six. I think we would have handled them in game seven in utah.
Anyone that didn't understand we needed a PF to get past Seattle and stand a chance against Utah wasn't watching Rocket's basketball then. The only "if" i ever wondered about was if we had waited one more year for Barkley's contract in Phoenix to expire and then sign him. Then we would of had an All Star lineup with depth. However Dream, Barkley, and Clyde we're all showing their age. Remember whenever we had back to back games? The 2nd games weren't pretty. Anyways, like most everyone said, i would have done that trade at the time. Everyone thought we we're the only team that could beat the Bulls. If only we had fresher legs, then we could of made it through the Western Finals. That could have possibly been the best NBA Finals ever! It was the matchup everyone wanted. Houston vs Chicago.
The Barkley trade came at too steep of a price. Rockets were already thin at PG to begin with, losing Cassell just exacerbated the problem. If one had to do it over again, Rockets should have insisted on the Suns #1 pick that season_PG Steve Nash. Dream_Sir Charles_the Glide. With Elie and Nash at the guard spots. Now that could have been sweet.
You said a mouthful. It's no coincidence that the two years we won the championship were the two years the Sonics got knocked out in the first round (by Denver then L.A.). The following year proved it all as we went from back to back champions to getting swept in the second round by, who else, Seattle. So of course you do the deal. Had it not been for the Stockton shot, would this even be a question? Did I mention we got bounced by the Sonics in '93 also
I definitely do the trade again, every time. That was a great Barkley video. If not for Karla and his cheap bearhug, that Rockets team goes onto big things.
we were so close! that would have been the dream matchup, Rockets vs Bulls. The ratings would have been through the roof. that would have gone 7 games. Barkley would have outrebounded Rodman!! Charles and Clyde would get their revenge on Jordan. Dream, even at his old age, would have destroyed Longley.
I don't know man, age wise I'd say that our trio did not have as much left in the tank. The Boston trio's health is not very good at all because Allen and Pierce are both coming off of injury riddled seasons, however KG is an absolute rock who should solidify their team but I have my doubts that Allen and Pierce will stay healthy for long. They still have some decent supporting players and if they can manage to get the most from those players they could be better than our trio's team however our trio was 3 sure fire hall of famers whereas the Celtics have 1 unanimous and 2 borderline to not at all(still great players though). It will be interesting to see how they mesh and how long they can do it.
The Barkley Trade destroyed the Rockets I didn't like the deal then . . .. Let's see what happened. People Talk Chemisty. . .well Barkley was a cancer he basically forced Drexler into retirement and campaign for that *ss Clown Snotty Drippin to come here which lead to another horrendous trade. Naaaa. . .the Barkely trade started the Slide toe mediocrity Talent Drain it took us years to recover from. Rocket River
Hehe, well, the only history I want to see revised is Sampson being trade for Drexler and the no. 2 pick which we would then use to select Michael Jordan. We then subsequently win the next 10 championships with Olajuwon and Jordan getting 5 MVPs and 5 Finals MVPs each I can dream right?
I wouldn't have done the trade again. The rockets need a power foward other than Robert Horry who was more of a SF back then. We had Chucky Brown and Mark Bryant. We also didn't have a backup for Dream. Well we got that PF in Willis who was a borderline all-star. We didn't need another the Chuckster who played no defense and took the left block which was where Dream liked to camp out. Cassell+Horry+Willis>>>>Barkley,Willis,Maloney
loved the deal. I'm guessing it's one of those things where most people remember where they were when it happened. Which means it's a pretty huge moment (Other moments that I remember where I was as they happened, off the top of my head: Vernon's 3 to tie and 2 to win against the Spurs. Elie's kiss of death. Clyde's 3 against the Nuggets. Kenny's 3 to tie against the Magic game 1. Utah clock stop/start. Yao/Shaq 1. Okay I 'll stop...I could go all day)
Yeah, me too. I loved Chuck when I was younger. I was actually a Suns fan up until that point. Of course, I was only 11 years old.
The deal did not win us a championship, so in that sense, it was a failure. I'm not convinced that it was necessary to get past the Sonics either. Historically, they owned us. But, we got Kevin Willis, Cassell and Horry had more seasoning and who knows what would have happened when we met the Sonics again. Meanwhile, Barkley was a bad fit, taking space away from Hakeem in the low block, and taking touches from Dream and Clyde. They were all great players, but Dream and Barkley didn't complement each other well. Nor did Barkley bring skills that we didn't already have in Olajuwon. Cassell and Horry did complement Dream well and brought skillsets we could use more of on that team. I don't think the current Celtics situation is at all comparable. The Rockets were a great team trying to pre-empt a slide by cashing in all their young potential. The Celtics are a crappy team cashing in some of their investment in young potential in a gamble to become a good team. The KG trade won't be considered a failure if the Celtics don't win the championship; their requirements are not as high.
I was against it. I couldn't see trading for the team leader of a team you repeatedly beat in the playoffs. His lack of D and clutch play were my biggest concerns. Also, I thought we got lucky when we won the 2nd championship after we traded away OT and Mad Max quit on us. I didn't see how we'd be as lucky again after trading away Sam and Horry. We lost five key players in Smith, Cassell, Maxwell, Horry, and Thorpe from the original championship team. That was just too much.
uh maybe you weren't watching because the rockets beat the jazz in both title runs. edit: the worst part of that trade was that it made us weaker against the jazz, barkley was a defensive liability.
haha wow dude, that's the same story as me. I was about 9 or 10 years old, and I was a suns fan because of barkley. I was thrilled when I heard he was going to join hakeem and clyde.
i guess losing in the 2nd round again to the sonics wouldve been ok if we didnt get barkley then huh? we also had a 2-1 series lead in 98 in the 1st round against the jazz before barkely was lost for the series. we had to mortgage our future because we had no up and coming superstar to surround horry and cassell with. What good would they be if dream drexler and barkley retired? Sorry but those that didnt like the deal dont understand the importance of taking advantage of a possible dynasty and making it last. Look how the bulls ended up after they split their team up. They just happened to capitalize on 6 trophies where we got 2. But we also had long playoff runs as well.
