It's about the mid/late 90s Houston Rockets teams. As far as I know, rarely talked about here in the forums.
Some quotes now. For the full article, see the link above.
As we are in the depths of the NBA off-season and waiting for a couple of big names to (maybe) be traded, I thought this would be a good time to review an old controversial big trade: The Rockets’ trade of Charles Barkley in the summer of 1996. Houston traded two key young players (Sam Cassell and Robert Horry) for a 33-year old Barkley in a bid to squeeze another title out of the Hakeem Olajuwon/Clyde Drexler core. The trade didn’t win Houston a title but was it a bad deal? Opinions vary.
The first item that comes up online searching the trade is a 2010 Bleacher Report story that describes the trade thusly: “the Houston Rockets stupidly and stubbornly gambled on a major move in 1996 after winning back-to-back titles, trading away four vital players for an old and grumpy Charles Barkley. Those four players? Sam Cassell, Robert Horry, Chucky Brown, and Mark Bryant.” The article further explained that: “Horry went on to win numerous rings while Cassell went on to lead many, many teams to some great seasons… Not only was Barkley not that good of a player by the time he joined the Rockets in 1996-97, but he also never truly fit in with the entire Houston locker room chemistry that was such a vital part of their back-to-back glory years.” Bleacher Report correctly articulated the cost but, perhaps, understated Barkley’s contributions for Houston.
So, Houston’s option was to stand pat and hope that Horry and Cassell breakout or try to get more sure-fire power to take a shot or two while Hakeem and Drexler were still near their primes. Barkley seemed like the only big name available via trade at the time (the biggest vet names traded that off-season besides Barkley were Rod Strickland and Larry Johnson).
Barkley was an undersized power forward and was not known for having a great work ethic. In theory, he seemed like a bad candidate to age well in his mid-30s. On paper, however, the stats were still pretty good. In 1995-96, Barkley played the most games (71) and minutes (2,632) since 1992-93 and his actual stats were right around what he put up the last four years: 24.8 PER, .191 WS48, 5.7 BPM. I’m not sure what a physical showed but, purely as a player, Barkley should’ve been pretty good for 1996-97.
Barkley was really good in 1996-97 for Houston but had to adjust to a third banana role on offense. His usage dropped from 27.5 to 23.2, his lowest since 1986-87 (Hakeem’s usage was 30.4, near his high-water mark, and Drexler’s 23.5 was virtually the same as the season before). Barkley got touches by rebounding like a fiend. He posted a near career high 20.7 TRB% and dished at also near career high 20.6 AST%. He may have been loud in the locker room, but Barkley fit in really well on the court.
The Rockets lost a lot of depth to get Barkley and SI described the bench as “thin as a supermodel and not nearly as pretty.” Houston filled the roles with very veteran players. The top seven players in minutes played per game were all 33 or older except rookie Matt Maloney, who won the starting point guard job out of the CBA. Maloney was not athletic and didn’t penetrate much and, instead, was a solid spot up three-point guy. He was basically John Paxson and not a true point guard (the offense ran through Drexler anyway and the Rockets were fifth in the NBA in assists and 26th in turnovers).
Health was an issue. Hakeem played 78 games but Barkley did wear down under heavy minutes and played only 53 games (the Rockets were 41-12 in those games). Drexler played 62 games (Houston was 46-16 in those games). Overall, they went 57-25 and were well balanced (7th on offense, 10th on defense, 8th in pace).
In the playoffs, Houston beat nemesis Seattle in an epic seven-game series where Barkley was a key factor in matching Kemp. Maloney played relatively well against Payton as well. In the Western Conference Finals, however, Utah beat Houston 4-2 and John Stockton ran wild (20.5 ppg, .651 TS%, 10.3 apg) and hit the series winning shot over Barkley. Barkley had a pretty good series and held Karl Malone to .494 TS%. So, no title but the Barkley gambit worked pretty well in Year 1.
Despite the nice 1996-97, the Rockets were clearly a declining asset. The key players were a year older, and Vegas was skeptical. Houston’s odds of winning a title in 1996-97 were +700 and had an over-under of 53.5 wins. The title odds rose to +1200 for 1997-98 with an over-under of 50.5 wins.
Drexler and Barkley were relatively healthy (both playing about 70 games) but the anchor, Hakeem, was wearing out. Olajuwon struggled with injuries and played only 47 games (Houston was 26-21 in those games, 15-20 without him). Both Barkley and Hakeem were good but their stats were also creeping downwards to their lowest advanced numbers since their rookie seasons (for example: 3.0 BPM for Hakeem, 2.8 BPM for Barkley).
Overall, the offense was still good (8th) but the collective age showed most on defense where they dropped from 10th to 25th.
Barkley did have some rough moments with his fellow stars. Larry Platt’s “Keepin’ It Real,” details troubles from early in the 1997-98 season: “After last week’s last-second loss at Portland (Barkley missed two layups with the game on the line), Olajuwon complained about not getting the ball down the stretch. Barkley told Eddie Sefko, a beat writer for the Houston Chronicle, that Hakeem is ‘a big baby.’ Drexler chimed in, taking Olajuwon’s side, unable to resist the opportunity to needle Barkley publicly.” The three stars then did a press conference after this spat affirming that there was no dissension on the team.
Later in the year, as the team really struggled, the Barkley/Drexler beef simmered again. Platt wrote that: “[t]he buzz is that Drexler and Barkley are feuding and can no longer play together….Drexler is, after all, an adherent to the crossover ethic that Barkley finds so phony. One team source blames Drexler: ‘Clyde is jealous,’ the source says, pointing out that Barkley’s flamboyance naturally overshadows Drexler’s quiet, classy demeanor….But those close to the team, including Barkley himself, scoff at the idea of significant friction between the two stars. In other worse, it’s nothing a winning streak wouldn’t straighten out.” It was clear that Barkley and Drexler were never buddies but any talk of a big rift in the locker room was overblown.
Even though he was still pretty good, Drexler retired after the 1997-98 season to coach the University of Houston (he would go 19-39 in two years before resigning). Houston replaced Drexler with a 33-year old Scottie Pippen to team with Barkley (now age-35) and Hakeem (age-36). The Rockets had also found a few useful active young guards in rookies Michael Dickerson and Cuttino Mobley.
The Rockets were a solid mid-seed but really struggled against the best of the West (3-9 against the top four seeds in the West) and fattened on non-playoff teams (Houston was 20-4 against them). The Rockets were a five seed and drew the Kobe/Shaq Lakers in the first round. The Lakers took the series 3-1 but the games were relatively close. Both Barkley (23.5 ppg, 13.8 rpg, 3.8 apg) and Pippen (18.3 ppg, 11.8 rpg, 5.5 apg) played well but Hakeem (13.3 ppg on .426%) was crushed by prime Shaq (29.5 ppg, .523%).
Pippen became disenchanted with Houston’s post up offense and demanded a trade after the season. Barkley, who took a pay cut to help get Pippen, considered the demand disloyal and said so publicly. Pippen, who has never been afraid to nuke people who annoy him, did just that to Sir Charles stating that: “[Barkley] can never expect an apology from me. If anything, he owes me an apology for coming to play with his sorry fat butt.” Pippen was able to force a trade to Portland shortly after this.
Houston still wanted to try to ride Barkley and Olajuwon for 1999-00, this time adding rookie star Steve Francis to the mix but the wheels finally fell off for the older stars. Barkley blew out his patella tendon 20 games into the season and Hakeem played only 44 games and was also ineffective. The injuries didn’t really matter to the Rockets’ overall performance anyway. Houston was 7-13 when Barkley got hurt and finished 34-48 for the season. Barkley retired and went on to an announcing career where he’s made a better salary than he did as a player.
The Barkley Era yielded one bona fide title run in 1996-97, a few decent moments the next two years but no more playoff wins. Barkley played mostly very well and there is little evidence that he was a source of serious trouble in the locker room. The Drexler fight was exaggerated and the Pippen fight appears to have been 90% Pippen trying to force a trade to a better team.
Had the Rockets just kept Cassell and Horry during that time span, they would’ve been solid but not any better in 1996-97. After 1997, Houston might’ve have been better with Cassell and Horry but a title shot wasn’t realistic then anyway. An argument can be made that Houston could’ve traded Cassell and Horry for a better return later (Cassell was traded for Jason Kidd a few months after the Barkley trade) but that would be gambling that a better star was going to be available midway through the season. It was not readily apparent in the summer of 1996 that Kidd was going to be traded anyway (Kidd’s career is a whole other article!).
Barkley told SI in 1996 that “[i]f we don’t win the championship, I’ll be crushed. But I don’t make guarantees.” In that sense, the Barkley trade was a disappointment. Ultimately, Barkley was very good on Houston (and surprisingly adaptable) but they couldn’t get to a Finals in the small window when their stars were young enough to dominate and they were just okay the rest of his tenure. Still, it was worth the gamble for Houston relative to cost and the Barkley Years were never boring.
Back at the time, as a brazilian, I remember being flabbergasted seeing the news of Barkley being traded to the Rockets (and then Pippen too).
Internet was very scarce back then, we didn't have "rumours" or gossip of 24-hour news cycle like nowadays. Things just happened and hit you like a bomb in the face.
Moreover, we almost had a Bulls/Rockets finals in 1997. How cool would be that? But truth be told, the West was a bloodbath back then, with the Malone/Stockton Jazz, the Kemp/Payton Sonics, and the stacked Lakers coming up too.
It's very curious to read, too, that a 33-year old Pippen, 35-year old Barkley and 36-year old Olajuwon were considered, at a point, like washed-up veterans, compared to many guys we're seeing nowadays extending their careers and prime years.
How do you remember those Rockets teams? Looking back, did they do the right choices by going all-in?
