Education. It's important. http://www.nba.com/history/players/barkley_bio.html After one more season in Phoenix, which ended with Barkley averaging 23.2 ppg and 11.6 rpg but a 41-41 team record and a first-round playoff loss, he was traded to Houston. Barkley was the Rockets' second-leading scorer that first season behind Olajuwon, with a 19.2 ppg and a resurgent 13.5 rpg, the second best of his career. Injuries limited him to just 53 games, but the team had a 57-25 record and made it to the Western Conference Finals, where it fell to the Utah Jazz in six games. The trio of Olajuwon, Drexler and Barkley would play together one more season in 1997-98 -- but at diminishing returns. Barkley's production slipped to 15.2 ppg and 11.7 rpg and the team played to a mediocre 41-41 record. This rare constellation of superstars had a short two-year life span as, after losing in five games to Utah in the first-round, Drexler walked away into retirement. One last gasp for that ring was breathed into Barkley when, before the 1998-99 season, the Rockets acquired Scottie Pippen, the owner of six rings earned with Chicago. Barkley played 42 games in the lockout-shortened season and the Rockets went out in the first round of the playoffs to the Los Angeles Lakers. The mixture of Barkley and Pippen proved to be oil and water. In the offseason, the two exchanged harsh words through the media and Pippen was dealt to the Portland Trail Blazers. Barkley returned for his announced farewell season, but it ended prematurely because of a ruptured quadriceps tendon in his left knee. For the next two years, speculation continued that Barkley would return to the court. However, he remained on the sidelines for good. Barkley remains an integral part of the game as a critically acclaimed and popular studio commentator on TNT's coverage of the NBA. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/lw6dCKwKvRA&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/lw6dCKwKvRA&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
http://clutchfans.net/feature.cfm?FeatureID=30 Clutch: Hey Charles, can I ask you a few questions? Barkley: Sure, man. Clutch: I write for a website called Clutch City Online and a lot of fans asked about the new rules. I know it's being casually referred to as the "Barkley Rule", but we wanted to know how you think this is going to affect your game and the Rockets game this season, being that the Rockets always do a lot of post up. Barkley: I don't think it will affect me at all to be honest with you. I think it will give me an advantage because I know exactly how quick I have to make my move.... and it only counts if you're dribbling the ball, so if you're facing up it doesn't matter so I don't think it affects me at all. Clutch: Who do you think is the "Team to Beat" in the West this year? Barkley: There is a lot of good teams. I don't think there are any great, great teams. San Antonio is very good. I think the Lakers obviously are going to be better. I like our chances after that. Clutch: We have a lot of Rocket fans here in Austin and I know many wanted to know what you think of Austin so far. Barkley: (excited) Oh it's nice man, I had never been here before. I'm having a great time. I am. I was excited to see the city and it's been... Clutch: Hit Sixth Street? Barkley: Yeah, I went to Sixth Street last night. It's an interesting street. You can get in some trouble down there. (laughter). Clutch: Great. I saw some of practice yesterday and you looked great yesterday. I appreciate you taking the time... Barkley: No problem man.
is this in response to the "era thread"? i loved barkley.wasnt boring. last 10 years has been a nightmare with injuries and heart breaking losses.
i just want people to know their facts. it's turning into Jersey Shore here, we got to turn this back to the 3rd Coast.
I know alot of people hated the trade for Barkley, but personally I thought it was worth a shot. The team seemed to lose a little bit of it's fire before the deal. Yes it's easy to say Horry went on to some big games and several more rings or even Sam had a very nice career after the fact, but we had the jazz beat before Barkley went down. I'm a little more pissed at Drexler for seemingly cashing it in after getting his ring and trading for Barkley
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Great post tinman....so many new Rockets fans have not been educated enough on what being a Rockets fan is. I started watching the Rockers in the early 80's and I took it upon myself to learn more about the Rockets history as I got older. So many new fans these days don't know their own teams history and how good they really were. We need to shine a light and guide them
I still can't believe this guy in the pic who can run the fastbreak, shot the 3pt..... Barkley, to be honest, in his heyday was one of most overlooked all -round player in the NBA histroy.
Makes you wonder what would happen if we never traded ET and Will Smith. :grin: It was the right trade at the time. But what people need to remember is that not all trades work out.
I still remember his first game with us against the Suns when he pretty much outrebounded the entire Suns team - his line was something like 20pts and 33rbs. For a guy that size, that was just incredible. Too bad the injuries caught up with him that year.
The only picture that came to mind is that he sat on the court floor with his ruptured knee, and with his almost crying look up on his face(IIRC, not so sure about this). I was young and still yelled at TV set for his great performances down the stretch every time I watched the game. Well, nowadays he's kinda disappointed me since his comment on Rockets had never been positive.
Wrong again. This is just a case of hearing what you want to hear. if you ACTUALLY watch Inside the NBA, Charles goes back and both on the Rockets and gives credit when due. For example, Charles wants either Aaron Brooks or Carl Landry in the All Star Game and Charles has mentioned a million times how he respects the job Rick Adelman has done. Stop labeling and making assumptions and start REALLY WATCHING before you say anything.
Thanks for remembering. That team started off great and you can tell that Barkley wanted a ring really badly. Ugly uniforms, but great times.
We did that trade to get over the Sonics, which we did in '97. If there was any team in the league that had our number, it was them. 93 - Sonics win in a 7 game series where every team won the home game. 94 - Denver being the only 8th seed to knock off a 1st seed (Sonics) Still remember where I was when I watched Deke on the ground holding that ball; Sonics would have given us fits trying to make the finals 96 - Swept us 4-0 Barkley got us over the Sonics, it was the Jazzholes who we couldn't get over the next few years. Had he not had that freak accident in 98 with his arm, we would have been the 2nd 8th seed to knock off a 1 seed. He was owning the Jazz that series until he got hurt. I still got his poster hanging up.
Barkley's second year I think he came in out of shape (I didn't care) and eventually came off the bench in favor of Willis. Until one day on an NBC game Barkley was like nevermind I am starting again since we are losing games. Isn't that correct? Good times. Should have beat the Jazz from the 8th seed but Barkley's shoulder fell off and gave up one of the biggest 4th quarter comebacks in playoff history. Everyone forgets... we nearly knocked off the #1 future WC champions...
It was an interesting time to be a Rockets fan. The sad thing was we got the big three together just as all their careers tipped over from being at their peak to being on a fast decline. I think Chuck did what he thought he had to on the team. I think once we'd won two titles there wasn't the same hunger to win and push themselves from some players. I remember getting up late at night over here in Sydney to watch that series against Seattle. "We are going to win Saturday....thats it!" :grin:
