Today in NBA History – Aug 19

1996 – The Phoenix Suns trade Charles Barkley and a 1999 second round draft pick to the Houston Rockets for Robert Horry, Sam Cassell, Chucky Brown and Mark Bryant.  This trade teamed up three 50 Greatest Players in Barkley, Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler.  The Rockets, led by these three players, finished the 1997 season with a 57-25 record, falling in the Conference Finals to the Utah Jazz.

Today in NBA History – Aug 8

1930 – Jerry Tarkanian is born in Ohio.  Tark the Shark was known for his coaching career at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) but retired with a career record of 990 wins – 228 losses (81.3%).

1979 – Rashard Lewis is born in Louisiana.  So far, Lewis has averaged 16.1 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.8 assists per game over 14 seasons in the NBA.  He has played for the Seattle Super Sonics, Orlando Magic and Washington Wizards and made 2 All-Star appearances.

1992 – The United States “Dream Team” won the Gold Medal in the Olympics in Barcelona.  The team won by an average of 43.8 points and is still considered the greatest team assembled in any sport of all time.  The roster included:

• Charles Barkley
• Larry Bird
• Clyde Drexler
• Patrick Ewing
• Magic Johnson
• Michael Jordan
• Christian Laettner
• Karl Malone
• Chris Mullin
• Scottie Pippen
• David Robinson
• John Stockton