As the starter at point guard for the 1993-94 and 1994-95 championship squads of the Houston Rockets, Kenny Smith knows the merits and accomplishments of those iconic teams as well as anyone.
“The Jet” is also well aware of the popular NBA hypothetical from those days, which has taken on new life in recent years thanks to ESPN’s popular “The Last Dance” documentary on the 1990s Chicago Bulls.
Would Houston have won those titles, had Michael Jordan not abruptly taken a mid-career retirement from October 1993 to March 1995? After all, Chicago did win the three NBA championships both preceding and following Houston’s two-year “Clutch City” run in 1994 and 1995.
Many around the Rockets have long bristled at that notion, especially because the 1994-95 team had arguably the toughest championship path in NBA history. There’s also the fact that Jordan was playing in the 1995 playoffs, but his Bulls lost in the second round to Shaquille O’Neal’s Orlando Magic. Then, in the NBA Finals, the Rockets swept those Magic.
Now a well-regarded television analyst for the NBA on TNT, Smith certainly hasn’t shied away from the subject and why he feels strongly that Houston would have won, regardless. In June 2022, during a podcast episode of All The Smoke with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, Smith further elaborated on those views. Scroll on for a partial transcript of that conversation, and check out the complete episode below.