Don't forget Malone's bearhug on Clyde right before Stockton hit his shot.... As I said earlier, the 96-97 team had a chance to be the greatest Rockets team of all-time; however, when your 3 main cogs are only able to be on the court together for 31 out of 82 games & you still win 57 games is pretty damn impressive. Unfortunately, the Jazz didn't have the same luck that we had when it came to injuries and thus they got the homecourt advantage, which was HUGE for them. There is no doubt in my mind that if we had homecourt over them that season, we would have been in the finals & may had won it. Now, I find it interesting that Robinson has won a ring. I mean if it wasn't for the deliberate tank job that the Spurs did in 96-97 they never would have gotten Duncan and never would have gotten that asteriked championship, I mean strike-shortened, championship.
Carl was a scrub? I don't think so. Before his shoulders went out, he was an excellent player. One of those "role players" that are so important to a contending team... hardly a scrub.
Championships are championships... like I've said before, for the asterisk argument to have any merit, it should've been said before the season started. I'm willing to bet anything that this BBS was practically blazing with excitement once we got Pippen, and I doubt there was talk that a title that year would have less merit. The only person who used that excuse before the season started was Phil Jackson, and his reasoning was pretty obvious: he wasn't coaching. BTW, for the majority of that season, the Spurs really were hurt. However, with the season over, there was little need to try and rush anyone back. What do you think the Rockets did this season? I sure didn't see Steve and Cuttino giving 100% in the final games this season (they weren't even on the floor), but you didn't have a big problem with that when we got the top pick... Carl was a scrub? Sorry for overstating that. I was just trying to show the huge difference in comparing David Robinson to Charles Barkley and Carl Herrera to Karl Malone. Carl was a quality role player, but he was never near the quality of David Robinson in '99.
Remember the 93 playoffs when Barkley served up a jumper right smack in Mr. Robinson's face in the series clincher to knock the *purs out of the playoffs? Barkley led the Suns to the Finals once at least. No team with David Robinson as its best player ever made the NBA Finals. Barkley played at a level in 93 which David Robinson never approached. Robinson only has a ring because of Duncan carrying him to one in 99, the half season. Do you seriously think a team with D Rob as its best player was ever going to win a title?
I think a lot of people are letting their blind hatred of the spurs get in the way of an objective opinion about Robinson. Like others, I hate the spurs as much as anyone. But Robinson was clearly a superstar in his own right over the majority of his career. (Conversely, he is no worse now than hakeem, or barkley would be, on the court. They all creak when they move, when they are actually healthy enough to play.) Prior to the rox championship years, I remember HATING to play the spurs because of Robinson's abilities more than anything else. His athletic ability allowed him to drive to the hoop and score or draw a foul unlike any center i'd ever seen, and he was a new breed of centers that could consistently nail jumpers from 14 or 15 ft out. On his own, he helped that team achieve some great things, though a championship, or even reaching the finals, was not one of them. Yes, Barkley did get to the finals, but I would argue that he easily had a better supporting cast around him than robinson did in those earlier years...hell, even now, that phoenix team was more talented than the spurs team with duncan. With that said, I think Chuck may have had a slightly more distinguishable career, and i essentially base that on impact on the game overall. All in all, don't let your disdain for robinson cloud your thinking. And, don't let the *ss-kicking dream gave him in the playoffs think of him as less a player than he was. He was great as well for a while, and hakeem was simply a buzzsaw those two years. I have no problem with this retirement announcement. With the decision made, he'll get to just play, and appreciate all of the little things that make the game special to him in his last year, plus the spurs don't have to wait around on his decision to make personnel moves. (I can't BELIEVE i just posted that much defending the little mermaid! Oh well....
Rockets fans can Hate Robinson the Spurs for the ridiculous, arrogant sense of entitlement that went along with the red carpet the whistles laid for Mr. Navy and his shipmates. That and the pious Church lady diatribes inspired evil, seething hatred everywhere but backward-headed, myopic Spurville. Choke on your whistle on the way down, Admiral! Pride goes before a fall, and I can't wait to see your ship sink, sucking your whole crew to the icy depths with you.
Cat: I don't know why I continue to argue with you on the Spurs, but a couple of points: 1) The Spurs were sure as helluva a lot closer to a championship back then when they did their tank job than the Rockets were. 2) The Spurs had been in the playoffs the season before their tank job and the Rockets hadn't. 3) What RaptorsDynasty said....I thought I would never type this, but I actually agree with him on something here. The fact remains that David Robinson was a soft player that had to rely on a younger and better player in Tim Duncan to get him his "ring". That younger player only came through a deliberate tank job (yea, maybe the Rockets tanked, but it wasn't as obvious as the Spurs) and that one, lone championship came in a shortened season. If Robinson is so great and that much better than Barkley, then why Cat, has he (Duncan) not won more championships??
This is such a sad thread. Full of immature armchair jocks running a lot of empty smack against a man who has done nothing but tried to be a positive role model. If you have a problem with that, well don't complain the next time a pro athlete gets busted for trying to have his pregnant girlfriend capped, drugs, theft, and whatever else. Sure, Robinson isn't the only good guy in pro sports. No one has said that he is. I have plenty of respect for other pro athletes, such as Hakeem. He's another classy star athlete who recognizes the impact he has on his community. Most Spurs fans I know are rather ambivalent about the Rockets. If you guys are that obsessed about the Spurs...well, it's only a game. In regards to the 'tanking' comment...coming from a fan of a team who provided an impetus for the draft lottery, that is rather rich. So go ahead, regal us with how 'tough' you are and how awful it is for a man who tried to do the right thing.
I find it sad that Spurs fans can't tell the difference in a team that was making the playoffs every year tanking to get a sure thing in Duncan to a team that hadn't made the playoffs in 3 seasons tanking to get a great unknown (possibly) in Ming. That is all...
Barkley had more support when he was with the Suns (KJ, Majerle, Ainge, etc.), that's the only reason he went to the Finals and Robinson didn't. Robinson was clearly the 2nd-best center in the league and a top 5 player (in a better league than now) the entire time he was in the league. He led his team to the Conference Finals as a ROOKIE (they would've went to the Finals if not for bonehead Rod Strickland). This was a team that completely sucked the year before. His team won 62 games in '95 and would've went to the Finals if not for Hakeem and the Rockets. He was without a doubt one of the best defensive players to ever play. We have some real dumbasses on this board.
TheFreak and MrSpur, I have more "armchair jock" posts than you two combined, so I think I have much more experience in recognizing "some real dumasses on this board." If I'm a dumbass for saying Robinson has no balls, so be it. Just don't get out of your armchair to further stroke my jockey cockiness, because I'll just purr some more.
Sorry for the dumbass remark, should've used a different word...was feeling a little too feisty at the time I guess.
I'm devastated that you would think I'm a dumbass, dude! But apology accepted... It just irks me to no end when people diss Barkley because he has no "rings".
