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Steve Dilbeck: What matters most to Horry is that he was a Laker
This is not right. Forget about the logic, the timing, the odd evolution it took to become suddenly obvious.
It simply feels wrong.
Robert Horry's career as a Laker is apparently over.
Just like that -- with an odd mix of clear foreshadowing and unexpected suddenness -- Horry has gone quietly into the good night.
Without fanfare and with little tribute, the forward who arguably was the third most important player in a run of three consecutive championships, who hit one of the most celebrated shots in team history, is just gone.
Slipped out the back when few were noticing, like he simply was some other player, some extra hand whose time had come and gone.
There was no outcry, no sports-talk shows overcome with outrage, no real ovation for what he helped bring to the Lakers. One major area newspaper ran his exit on its back page.
He deserves better, deserves to hear his accomplishments lauded, a few hands wrung at his passing as a Laker.
Horry acts as though he couldn't care less, like he's almost more comfortable without anyone making a fuss over him.
"You know how I like to do things," he said by phone. "Just do my thing and go about my business."
That's part of this nonreaction, of course, Horry's own laid-back approach. Add a slightly disappointing regular season, a disastrous postseason, the team's need for a makeover and the evolution of not picking up his option and re-signing him at a lower rate to probably not re-signing him at all, and you have the end of a 6-year Lakers career that has received too little attention.
He's not some name in the small type in the daily transactions page. This is the one Laker counted on to defend the super power forwards of the Western Conference.
The player who hit the stunning 3-pointer at the buzzer to beat Sacramento in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals in 2002. The defining shot of the Lakers' run.
Horry came to the Lakers as a 6-foot-10 small forward but moved to power forward with the addition of Rick Fox. People thought he couldn't defend the West's power forwards, but he put on 20 pounds of muscle and played them well, sometimes flustering the Tim Duncans and Chris Webbers, sometimes just playing great defense.
He might not have started during the first two titles, but he was the one on the floor in the fourth quarter, the one playing the key minutes.
He was a refined team player playing in the oversized shadows of superstars Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant and OK with that, the ultimate role player who understood Phil Jackson's triangle and what the coach expected.
When Horry looks back on his career here, what do you think will be the first thing that comes to him? Not the shot, the purple and gold confetti, the parades.
"That I got to play with my dream team," he said. "I got to play with the Lakers. Growing up I was a big Lakers fan. I got to meet Jerry West, Magic Johnson and hang out with those guys.
"The second best would be just winning the championships."
They wanted a fourth, of course, and the Lakers gave them a chance, returning the team almost unchanged. Horry was in the last year of his contract, the Lakers holding a $5.3 million option for next season.
But he never could regain that postseason magic, missing 36 of 38 3-point attempts.
"I think I put too much pressure on myself knowing that I really wanted to win a fourth championship bad and really wanted to play good because I wanted them to pick up my option," he said. "I haven't had that kind of pressure on me in a long time.
"I know I put too much pressure on myself, because I was having headaches during the playoffs and everything."
His fortune, and the team's, might have changed when he tried to duplicate his most memorable shot, but his buzzer-beating 3-pointer against the Spurs in Game 4 almost symbolically went in ... and rolled out.
"I can't help but replay it," he said. "I have so many people come up to me and say something about it. If it goes in, if we win the championship, you never know what they're going to do about picking up the option.
"But I think they still wouldn't have picked it up, just for the fact they could get somebody else and have other ideas."
The option was declined Monday. The Lakers, knowing fans demand change after falling to the Spurs, are courting Karl Malone and are expected to talk to P.J. Brown and Juwan Howard.
If they sign one of them, that still leaves only Slava Medvedenko and rookie Brian Cook as backups. Horry might find a tight market flush in power forwards not offering him the kind of money he expects.
"Then again, nobody might want me," he said. "I might beg them for a job."
He certainly deserves more than just passing on through, like he was Samaki Walker or Tracy Murray. The thought of him returning to Staples Center as a Spur is just plain distasteful.
Yet when he does return, in whatever uniform, you'd hope the Lakers would give him a nice tribute.
"To be honest with you, I don't even think I deserve one because I've never been a 15-plus scorer," he said. "All I did what what I needed to do to help the team. I wasn't no superstar. I was never an All-Star. I don't deserve any of that stuff."
One bad year, at age 32, and he's gone. Gone without roses, gone too quietly.
yakob at 1:55 AM
-----------------
This is not right. Forget about the logic, the timing, the odd evolution it took to become suddenly obvious.
It simply feels wrong.
Robert Horry's career as a Laker is apparently over.
Just like that -- with an odd mix of clear foreshadowing and unexpected suddenness -- Horry has gone quietly into the good night.
Without fanfare and with little tribute, the forward who arguably was the third most important player in a run of three consecutive championships, who hit one of the most celebrated shots in team history, is just gone.
Slipped out the back when few were noticing, like he simply was some other player, some extra hand whose time had come and gone.
There was no outcry, no sports-talk shows overcome with outrage, no real ovation for what he helped bring to the Lakers. One major area newspaper ran his exit on its back page.
He deserves better, deserves to hear his accomplishments lauded, a few hands wrung at his passing as a Laker.
Horry acts as though he couldn't care less, like he's almost more comfortable without anyone making a fuss over him.
"You know how I like to do things," he said by phone. "Just do my thing and go about my business."
That's part of this nonreaction, of course, Horry's own laid-back approach. Add a slightly disappointing regular season, a disastrous postseason, the team's need for a makeover and the evolution of not picking up his option and re-signing him at a lower rate to probably not re-signing him at all, and you have the end of a 6-year Lakers career that has received too little attention.
He's not some name in the small type in the daily transactions page. This is the one Laker counted on to defend the super power forwards of the Western Conference.
The player who hit the stunning 3-pointer at the buzzer to beat Sacramento in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals in 2002. The defining shot of the Lakers' run.
Horry came to the Lakers as a 6-foot-10 small forward but moved to power forward with the addition of Rick Fox. People thought he couldn't defend the West's power forwards, but he put on 20 pounds of muscle and played them well, sometimes flustering the Tim Duncans and Chris Webbers, sometimes just playing great defense.
He might not have started during the first two titles, but he was the one on the floor in the fourth quarter, the one playing the key minutes.
He was a refined team player playing in the oversized shadows of superstars Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant and OK with that, the ultimate role player who understood Phil Jackson's triangle and what the coach expected.
When Horry looks back on his career here, what do you think will be the first thing that comes to him? Not the shot, the purple and gold confetti, the parades.
"That I got to play with my dream team," he said. "I got to play with the Lakers. Growing up I was a big Lakers fan. I got to meet Jerry West, Magic Johnson and hang out with those guys.
"The second best would be just winning the championships."
They wanted a fourth, of course, and the Lakers gave them a chance, returning the team almost unchanged. Horry was in the last year of his contract, the Lakers holding a $5.3 million option for next season.
But he never could regain that postseason magic, missing 36 of 38 3-point attempts.
"I think I put too much pressure on myself knowing that I really wanted to win a fourth championship bad and really wanted to play good because I wanted them to pick up my option," he said. "I haven't had that kind of pressure on me in a long time.
"I know I put too much pressure on myself, because I was having headaches during the playoffs and everything."
His fortune, and the team's, might have changed when he tried to duplicate his most memorable shot, but his buzzer-beating 3-pointer against the Spurs in Game 4 almost symbolically went in ... and rolled out.
"I can't help but replay it," he said. "I have so many people come up to me and say something about it. If it goes in, if we win the championship, you never know what they're going to do about picking up the option.
"But I think they still wouldn't have picked it up, just for the fact they could get somebody else and have other ideas."
The option was declined Monday. The Lakers, knowing fans demand change after falling to the Spurs, are courting Karl Malone and are expected to talk to P.J. Brown and Juwan Howard.
If they sign one of them, that still leaves only Slava Medvedenko and rookie Brian Cook as backups. Horry might find a tight market flush in power forwards not offering him the kind of money he expects.
"Then again, nobody might want me," he said. "I might beg them for a job."
He certainly deserves more than just passing on through, like he was Samaki Walker or Tracy Murray. The thought of him returning to Staples Center as a Spur is just plain distasteful.
Yet when he does return, in whatever uniform, you'd hope the Lakers would give him a nice tribute.
"To be honest with you, I don't even think I deserve one because I've never been a 15-plus scorer," he said. "All I did what what I needed to do to help the team. I wasn't no superstar. I was never an All-Star. I don't deserve any of that stuff."
One bad year, at age 32, and he's gone. Gone without roses, gone too quietly.
yakob at 1:55 AM