Big Shot Bob, an All-Time Great?

Yesterday I was watching a game from that controversial 2002 Western Conference Finals series between the Kings and Lakers.  At first, (spoiler alert?), Sacramento was on the verge of blowing the Lakers out, in Los Angeles.  But by the time all was said and done, the day was saved by a clutch shot made by Robert "Big Shot Bob" Horry.  In fact at the end of the game, he was the one who the broadcaster interviewed, not Shaq or Kobe.

Robert Horry has more championship rings than any player in NBA history outside of the 1950-60s Celtics, who won like every year.  He has more than Jordan, more than Magic, and by looks of things, neither Lebron or Steph are going to catch up with Big Shot Bob.  Yet, you never hear Horry's name mentioned when it comes to all-time greats or even in terms of being considered for induction into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, where even the likes of Tim Hardaway, who like never won jackshit, have made it.

I think part of the reason is because Horry was never a franchise player or even considered like the second-best player on the various teams he played for.  But if you don't know his history and see this relatively-unknown dude's name up there higher on the championship list than Kareem or Pippen, you'd probably think that he was riding the bench and was jut fortunate enough to find himself on good teams.  But even then, how many benchriders have seven championships, in any sport and furthermore amongst three different teams?  If such a person exists, you'd have to conclude that he or she is at least a good luck charm or something.

But that wasn't the case with Big Shot Bob.  He was a starter with the Rockets when they won championships in 1994 and 1995.  He was primarily a bench player during the Shaq + Kobe threepeat, as he was when he won championships with the Spurs in 2005 and 2007.  But he played a key and sometimes even savior-like role with all of those franchises.

For instance, it is widely considered that the NBA rigged Game 6 of that 2002 series between the Kings and Lakers.  But let me say, if that is in fact the case, that the NBA would have never been in a rightful position to do so if Horry didn't make that clutch shot in Game 4.  Because if he had missed it, Sacramento would have had a 3-1 lead over LAL.  And you know, it's a lot easier to pull off the rigging of one nationally-televised game that everyone is watching than having to do two in a row.

Horry may not have gotten sneaker deals and commercials and allstar nods and shit like that, but he was one of the more popular players of his day to actual NBA fans, as he was the most clutch shooter of the 2000s.  And his ability to make clutch shots was, I believe, founded in his overall fearlessness.

It takes a high degree of courage, for lack of a better way of putting it, to consistently make three-pointers during some of the most-crucial moments in NBA history.  But that same 'fearlessness' sometimes resulted in Big Shot doing dumb shit, like that time he threw a towel in the face of Danny Ainge, who's not only respected in NBA circles but also was Horry's coach at the time.  And it's like to this day, he still doesn't give AF.

CONCLUSION

So we may never see Horry in the Hall of Fame.  If you were a superstar player, you'll definitely make it into the Hall.  If you were a player with mainstream name recognition  who hasn't won any championships, you can also make it.  But if, as a key role player, you won two championships with one team, three championships with another and yet two more with a different franchise, obviously that's not good enough.