I became a fan when Stevie Franchise got drafted by the Vancouver Grizzlies but refused to play for them, and was traded to the Rockets.
I became a Rockets fan when Hakeem Olajuwan descended from heaven, putting Houston on the map and CRUSHING the Jordan-less NBA. Good times...
He had a good series against the Lakers in '99, but the refs wouldn't let Dream guard Shaq and Pippen got it worse from Kobe than that Colorado girl did.
from Louisiana, been a Rockets fan since 1992. Grandfather took me to every home game for both championship runs. Watched every game in Louisiana and I absolutely hated Charles Barkley, he just didn't care about his team mates IMO. I wish Sir Charles was never a Rocket.
Those Suns teams were loaded with talent, one of the best PGs of that time in KJ, Dan Majerle, Danny Ainge, Richard Dumas, AC Green, Tom Chambers... They were actually favored against the Rockets for both series if anyone wants to remember and their record during the Barkley era was 178-68. That team actually had the matchups to beat the Sonics but they ran into us instead. The difference between Shaq and Barkley is that when both were in their peak years, Shaq was no question more dominant then Barkley, therefore carried his team to more success then Barkley. In the pecking order of the greatest players in the NBA history, Shaq is above Chuck and it's not just because of the rings. And don't give me the Shaq had Kobe excuse, Kobe was still Robin in that time and Shaq was still Superman. So the fact remains Charles was undeserving of a title and the greater players of his time with the better work ethics (Dream, Jordan, Stockton/Malone) kept denying him his ring was fitting and telling. I'm just glad Stockton/Malone never won it either.
The greates thing about the NBA is the Jazz never winning a title. First game watched was the elimination game in 92 vs the Sonics.
I was here before Barkley . . During Barkley and After barkley He destroyed this team We gave up too much to get him [Horry AND Cassell] Rocket River
SCREW THAT !!! Malone Bear hugged the man and BARKLEY B*G ASS DIDN'T ROTATE ON STOCKTON!!! Rocket River
Yeah V, I didn't mean those Suns teams weren't good... they were, but in all seriousness they weren't as good as a lot of the powerhouse teams in charge back then. And yeah, I agree shaq was a hands down better player than Barkley, but how can you sit here and give Shaq so much credit while he was playing with Kobe Bryant? Yeah, Kobe was pretty young for their first title together... but even very early on he was something special. Without Kobe and a good Laker's team Im not sure Shaq would have won a title. No doubt Shaq was the main man in every respect on that team... but still. See, you didn't really address my point of how players can be great, and through little or no fault of their own never win a title. If Barkley had been a Chicago Bull in place of Pippen... he would have won titles, even if he were three times as lazy. Just saying...
Don't blame Barkley, blame Rudy T and his partner in crime CD. Actually mostly its on Rudy. Instead of replenishing through the draft and being patient and trying to pick up young stars, we put all our marbles on Barkley. Then we find out that Drexler hated his guts to the point of retiring to get away from him, so we get Pippen and think we can pick up where we left off from the WCF oust from the Jazz. Then come to find out Pippen ain't all that and he also hated Barkley's guts. All the while Dream was aging and it was apparent we needed to move on from him. Then Rudy nails his coffin with the Stevie Franchise trade. Rudy T thought he found the PG he was looking for all those years and could build around him to a championship level team, instead the trade plunged us to Clipper like mediocrity that you could tell would never even be near elite team status level, and of course that abomination of a system called ISO ball, which goes against every basketball purists' morals. I was for the first time ashamed to be a Rockets fans, as I wanted nothing to do with that streetball crap. As much as I am in gratitude for the 2 rings Rudy brought us, I felt his (alleged) dismissal was appropriate. You can only live on the 2 rings for so long. CD in my mind, just became a puppet GM for Rudy then JVG.
I had a Barkely vs Godzilla poster on my wall when I was a kid. Then again, I wasn't in Texas and was a Phoenix fan back then.
You're wrong on the Pippen/Barkley swap. The reason why the Bulls were the top defensive teams of their times was partly because of Pippen. If Chuck would have been there instead, highly doubtful the Bulls would be as great as a team defensively, and Jordan would still have had to carry Chuck to a title, cause no one will argue that Jordan would still be the main man...which leads me to the original point, Chuck didn't have the work ethic to win a title as the main guy. You can give Chuck a free pass on his ringless career, but to me it's apparent why. The adage "You get what you put in" fits Barkley to a T, as he put mostly in calories and got out a larger girth...oh and lack of work ethic + cockiness in thinking natural talent will be enough to win titles = no rings for him and tainted words whenever he talks about what it takes to win in the NBA whenever he's on TNT. Instead of the wise sage like when Dream and Jordan talk about basketball these days (when it's not about the Bobcats for Jordan) that you listen to and take to heart their words, Barkley is the crazy old uncle that you never take his words seriously and laugh and make fun of behind his back.
I've been a fan since 77, so I'm with u DD. Tinman, I think that was a significant time for the rox, they did however lose the advantage against Utah. I do agree with Chuck, Clyde kinda lost the series vs Utah. He basically couldn't guard hornecek and the guy cancelled clyde out. That shouldn't have ever happened. Clyde lost some fire and a few yr later, Dream got married to the 17 yr old. Needless to say were his energy level was at.
Always a Hakeem fan, but didn't Sir Charles joined Houston near the end of his career? Dude was hoping for a ring but no avail. Also I still remember how short Kevin Willis' arms were, it's like watching a 6' guy playing BB with Yao Ming's legs on his body...
folx kill me with this ISO ball crap what the hell were the rockets playing with Hakeem ? ISOLATE HAKEEM ON THE BLOCK [the middle] . . and kicking it to the 3 Pt Shooters what did the Rockets Play with Steve and Cat ISOLATE AND DRIVE [TO THE MIDDLE] . . and Kick it to the 3 pt shooters Major difference? Point of entry or style of Entry [Horry with a Pass from the wing . . versus someone driving from the wing] and HAKEEM had better more consistant 3 point shooters [who also played better D] Nothing more so to s**t on ISO-Ball . . is to ***** on the 93-95 Rockets too Rocket River
Not sure exactly what year I started watching the Rockets. I remember Rudy T, Dunleavy, Mo Malone, Elvin Hayes. Calvin Murphy, and Allen Level (remember seeing him drive around Champions in his red porsche)
It's always funny to see people rag on Francis for the ISO stuff... He was our best player, of course Rudy's going to give him the green light. Steve freaking Nash couldn't have gotten more out of those teams.
