Rober Horry won seven NBA Championship rings throughout the course of his basketball career, one more than the great Michael Jordan himself. In his long career, Horry played with four different teams and won championships with three of them. He has also played with some of the greatest players and top big men the league has ever seen. Horry has played with the late great Kobe Bryant and with elite big men such as Shaquille O’Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Tim Duncan. The 52-year-old was on the “All the Smoke” podcast with Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes recently, where he declared that Dream (Hakeem Olajuwon) was the best big man he has ever played with.
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Horry played for the Houston Rockets, the Phoenix Suns, the Los Angeles Lakers, and the San Antonio Spurs. Of all four, it was only with the Suns that he didn’t win any championship. He won two championships with the Rockets (Hakeem), three with the Lakers (Shaq), and two with the Spurs (Duncan). Having played with three of the best centers in NBA history, Horry has been able to see them in action on and off the court. If anyone has the merit to rate them, it is him.
Robert Horry proclaims Hakeem Olajuwon the best big man, ahead of Shaquille O’Neal and Tim Duncan
Speaking with Barnes and Jackson on the All the Smoke podcast, Horry pointed out that he has played with arguably the top three big men in the league and won championships with all of them. However, despite Shaq and Timmy being on his list of top centers, Hakeem by far tops the other two. Horry also added that one of the reasons why Hakeem is underrated is because he didn’t talk much. This is what Horry said;
“All the other teams I played for, one common denominator was big men. Think about Shaq, Tim Duncan, and if you said right now name the top five big men, I played with three of them. [Hakeem Olajuwon is] number one by far… To me what he put together, Defensive Player of the Year, MVP in one season, all-time leading shot blocker, his history and what he has done for the game.”
After Dream retired, he has barely been in the media or given any interview, living a low-profile life. He has been seen in the past teaching Kobe Bryant and LeBron James his Dream Shake, but not much apart from that.
Hakeem won two NBA championships in 1994 and 1995 and was declared Finals MVP in both seasons. Olajuwon was the first player in NBA history to have won league MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, and the NBA Finals MVP in the same season.
Shaq said Robert Horry is the real James Bond of the NBA
Shaq has played with Horry and has won Championships with him in Los Angeles. However, despite Shaq’s dominance on the court, it is Horry who seemed to have a last laugh against everyone.
Recently, Dr. O’Neal shared a post that said, “Robert Horry was the real James Bond of the NBA.” Horry had zero Finals MVPs and zero regular season MVPs, but he has seven championships in total.
Imagine being at the right time at the right place all the time. Horry had exactly the same career. Somehow, his being on the move, got him playing a role on Championship caliber teams. He also has more clutch highlights than many other players in the league, a reason why he is called ‘Big Shot Bob’.
