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Houston Rockets: Robert Horry Blasts Charles Barkley Nearly 20 Years After Trade

By Phil Watson

May 20, 2015; Atlanta, GA, USA; Former NBA player and current TNT television personality Charles Barkley prior to game one of the Eastern Conference Finals of the NBA Playoffs between the Atlanta Hawks and the Cleveland Cavaliers at Philips Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
May 20, 2015; Atlanta, GA, USA; Former NBA player and current TNT television personality Charles Barkley prior to game one of the Eastern Conference Finals of the NBA Playoffs between the Atlanta Hawks and the Cleveland Cavaliers at Philips Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports /
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Bret Harte wrote the phrase “let by-gones be bygones” in the 19th century story “In the Carquinez Woods” and, while that might not be the first place it ever turned up, it is a phrase that still resonates in popular culture today.

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Just not, apparently, with former NBA forward Robert Horry.

Horry was a starter for the back-to-back NBA champion Houston Rockets, who were featured in the documentary Clutch City on NBA TV Monday night.

Horry, the 11th overall pick out of Alabama by the Rockets in 1992, was not a popular selection, something he recalled in the film when he laughed about being booed when the pick was announced, per the Houston Chronicle.

But Horry isn’t as jovial about his departure from Houston, which came in August 1996 he was dealt with Sam Cassell, Chucky Brown and Mark Bryant to the Phoenix Suns for former MVP Charles Barkley and a future draft pick.

Think of Barkley’s union with Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler as a big three that didn’t quite click.

He told HuffPost Live’s Marc Lamont Hill in an interview that aired Monday that he never understood the logic of the trade.

“Now they bring in Barkley, a guy who doesn’t like to practice, a guy who doesn’t work hard … And you would have added us to the mix, so it’s two vets and two young, we would’ve had a great team,” Horry said. “But no, they think, ‘We’re going to bring in Charles.’ But hell, you just realize Charles didn’t win anything in Phoenix, he didn’t win anything in Philly. And sometimes, you know, great players don’t make a great team better.”

Things turned out OK for Horry as he is one of the few role players in NBA history with this sort of a highlight reel:

Horry finished his career with more rings than Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen won with the Chicago Bulls—seven in all (two with the Rockets, three with the Los Angeles Lakers and two more with the San Antonio Spurs) in a 16-year NBA career—but he’s still salty over a 19-year-old trade.

He tried to backtrack, a little, when pressured about whether he believed Barkley wasn’t a winner.

“No, I wouldn’t say that. I would just say he brings a different element to a team,” Horry said. “And sometimes you have too many chefs in the kitchen—think about it, you had Clyde, you had Dream and then you had Charles—those are three scorers and there’s only one basketball. Most teams only have two good scorers … and I think he was just too much for that team.”

Of course, Horry’s stay in Phoenix didn’t last long … he was traded on Jan. 11, 1997—six days after an incident during a game in Boston when he threw a towel in the face of Suns coach Danny Ainge, punctuating a profanity-laced exchange between the two after Horry was removed from the game in the fourth quarter.

Meanwhile, Barkley had returned to Phoenix and done this:

Horry was suspended by the team and later traded to the Lakers with Joe Kleine for Cedric Ceballos and Rumeal Robinson.

Ainge insisted at the time that the trade had nothing to do with the towel toss.

“The incident had nothing to do with this,” Ainge said, per the Chicago Tribune. “We would have made the trade regardless. Robert was struggling in our system. He just never fit in. Cedric is a good player who can give us some scoring.”

That incident with Ainge did show that Horry had some fire—stupidly misdirected at times, but a fire just the same.

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    • That seems to have flared again this week as he ripped the work habits of a player he never actually played with.

    Come on, Big Shot Rob! You’re better than that!

    There have been some silly enough to throw out Horry’s name as a candidate for the Basketball Hall of Fame, but it’s hard to justify that sort of honor for a guy who averaged seven points and 4.8 rebounds per game and only averaged double-figures for a season three times.

    Now if they were ever to open a Hall of Clutch, Horry might be the first inducted.

    Just don’t invite Barkley to the ceremony.

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