The new squad was older and top-heavy with big man Kevin Willis and 3-point shooter Brent Price.
“Our hope in having three superstars was Charles wouldn’t need to take on the full load.”Īside from Olajuwon, Drexler and swingman Mario Elie, much of the team had been gutted. “Charles could still do some really good things on the court, but we knew he was definitely on the downward side of his career,” Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. Houston Rockets forward Charles Barkley fouls Utah Jazz forward Karl Malone during Game 5 of the Western Conference finals series in May 1997. The Rockets had mortgaged their future for a chance to have three future Hall of Famers between the ages of 34 and 35 make one more run at a title, hopefully challenging Chicago’s championship three-peat. Yet Barkley’s window in Houston was limited at best. The expectations were made clear in a poster featuring the Rockets’ new “Big Three” recruits - Barkley, Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler - standing around the two Larry O’Brien trophies from ’94 and ’95: Title or bust. Just as Barkley lost his skills in “Space Jam” he worried he might lose his skills in real-life basketball while playing in Houston. Kneeling in the church, the desperate star made promises to the Big Man that ranged from unlikely to unreasonable: No more swearing.
Fresh off losing all of his basketball talent in “Space Jam” to an alien named Pound, Charles Barkley turned to God for answers on the whereabouts of his powers.