missmyzte
11-11-2006, 11:55 PM
Big-shot Rob talks about Robert Horry
By David Aldridge
The Philadelphia Inquirer
PHILADELPHIA - When Magic Johnson was playing, a reporter asked him once what he'd be doing if he were, say, 5-foot-9 instead of 6-9. Johnson's answer was revealing: He said he'd probably be next to his father on the assembly line at the General Motors plant in Detroit.
We love questions - and answers - like that. Which got us to wondering recently about another call and response involving the Spurs' Robert Horry.
Horry is a six-time NBA champion - that's right, he's got six rings, as many as Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen won, more than Larry Bird and Magic. And not only has he never missed the playoffs in 13 seasons, each of his teams has won at least one round every year.
His career features a half-dozen of the top clutch shots anyone has hit in the playoffs, from his Game 3 Finals killer against the Sixers in 2001, to his Western Conference finals-saving buzzer-beater in Game 4 for the Lakers in 2003, to his Finals-changing dagger in Auburn Hills, Mich., for San Antonio in 2005 against the Pistons.
But when he was asked last season if he'd rather have his sparkling career as a winning role player, or one in which he was "the man," a guy who put up numbers - but for a team that never won anything - Horry, remarkably, chose the latter.
And he still feels that way.
"That means you established yourself," the 36-year-old Horry said recently. "You did work. It's a sense of self. Not that I've had a bad career. But you think about it. Twenty, 10 years down the line, nobody's going to know me. But people are always going to remember Charles (Barkley), Patrick (Ewing), Dream (Hakeem Olajuwon) - well, Dream won a championship, but all these (other) guys that didn't win a championship, (like) Karl Malone. These guys are major players.
"I think it boils down to being great. Everybody wants to be great. And all those guys were great. You'd rather be a great player than just an OK player who won a bunch of championships."
The Horry Question is a Rorschach test for NBA players. It gives you a great sense of how they view themselves.
Said Heat forward Antoine Walker: "It's definitely a hard decision. Everyone wants to be a Hall of Fame player in this league. ... I enjoyed my time in Boston taking big shots, game-winning shots. But when you get to this stage in your career, you want to do more than get out of the first round, out of the second round."
"At this point in my career right now, I'd say (being) a role player," Mavericks guard Devin Harris said. "Learning how to win and learning how to win as a team, you have to look at that as valuable information for later on in your career."
Said veteran forward Keith Van Horn, who is sitting out this season: "I would definitely want the championships. To have an opportunity to win, that's why you play the game. You play the game to get your team to win. If I want to play an individual sport, I would play tennis."
For his part, Horry - who's deciding whether this will be his last season - knows he's been more than just a lucky guy along for the ride. You don't make all those big shots if you don't have steel in your spine and you're not smart enough to be in the right place at the right time.
Yet, he still deflects credit.
"All the shots I made, I had to depend on somebody else," he said. "You look at what Jordan did, what Reggie Miller did. You know those guys were going to get the ball, and they still got the shot off and were successful. Even though you had people (say), `Don't leave, Rob,' that's different. You've got something creating, and (his) guy comes by, and your instinct is to help."
When he does retire, and five years go by, it will be interesting to see how many people think Horry's career is Hall of Fame-worthy.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/15990047.htm
By David Aldridge
The Philadelphia Inquirer
PHILADELPHIA - When Magic Johnson was playing, a reporter asked him once what he'd be doing if he were, say, 5-foot-9 instead of 6-9. Johnson's answer was revealing: He said he'd probably be next to his father on the assembly line at the General Motors plant in Detroit.
We love questions - and answers - like that. Which got us to wondering recently about another call and response involving the Spurs' Robert Horry.
Horry is a six-time NBA champion - that's right, he's got six rings, as many as Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen won, more than Larry Bird and Magic. And not only has he never missed the playoffs in 13 seasons, each of his teams has won at least one round every year.
His career features a half-dozen of the top clutch shots anyone has hit in the playoffs, from his Game 3 Finals killer against the Sixers in 2001, to his Western Conference finals-saving buzzer-beater in Game 4 for the Lakers in 2003, to his Finals-changing dagger in Auburn Hills, Mich., for San Antonio in 2005 against the Pistons.
But when he was asked last season if he'd rather have his sparkling career as a winning role player, or one in which he was "the man," a guy who put up numbers - but for a team that never won anything - Horry, remarkably, chose the latter.
And he still feels that way.
"That means you established yourself," the 36-year-old Horry said recently. "You did work. It's a sense of self. Not that I've had a bad career. But you think about it. Twenty, 10 years down the line, nobody's going to know me. But people are always going to remember Charles (Barkley), Patrick (Ewing), Dream (Hakeem Olajuwon) - well, Dream won a championship, but all these (other) guys that didn't win a championship, (like) Karl Malone. These guys are major players.
"I think it boils down to being great. Everybody wants to be great. And all those guys were great. You'd rather be a great player than just an OK player who won a bunch of championships."
The Horry Question is a Rorschach test for NBA players. It gives you a great sense of how they view themselves.
Said Heat forward Antoine Walker: "It's definitely a hard decision. Everyone wants to be a Hall of Fame player in this league. ... I enjoyed my time in Boston taking big shots, game-winning shots. But when you get to this stage in your career, you want to do more than get out of the first round, out of the second round."
"At this point in my career right now, I'd say (being) a role player," Mavericks guard Devin Harris said. "Learning how to win and learning how to win as a team, you have to look at that as valuable information for later on in your career."
Said veteran forward Keith Van Horn, who is sitting out this season: "I would definitely want the championships. To have an opportunity to win, that's why you play the game. You play the game to get your team to win. If I want to play an individual sport, I would play tennis."
For his part, Horry - who's deciding whether this will be his last season - knows he's been more than just a lucky guy along for the ride. You don't make all those big shots if you don't have steel in your spine and you're not smart enough to be in the right place at the right time.
Yet, he still deflects credit.
"All the shots I made, I had to depend on somebody else," he said. "You look at what Jordan did, what Reggie Miller did. You know those guys were going to get the ball, and they still got the shot off and were successful. Even though you had people (say), `Don't leave, Rob,' that's different. You've got something creating, and (his) guy comes by, and your instinct is to help."
When he does retire, and five years go by, it will be interesting to see how many people think Horry's career is Hall of Fame-worthy.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/15990047.htm