Robert Horry won a combined seven championships with three different franchises, and he will be remembered as one of the best role players in modern NBA history. Horry will not be remembered for his hot takes.
Horry made an appearance on ESPN's The Jump on Monday, and he started discussing how the 1990s Houston Rockets could have defeated the 1990s Chicago Bulls even if Michael Jordan was playing. Horry said he didn't think the Bulls could stop their dominant center, Hakeem Olajuwon.
That's a reasonable take and not unexpected considering Horry won two titles with the Rockets. But then Horry continued, he decided to make an absurd claim about Olajuwon and Tim Duncan.
Olajuwon was nearly impossible to defend, and no one would argue with Horry about how dominant Olajuwon was as an offensive player. But then Horry said Olajuwon was "20 times better than Tim Duncan," which is just a preposterous take.
Horry played with both Olajuwon and Duncan and won rings with both. He justified his stance on Olajuwon by questioning Duncan's work ethic. He might be the first person to ever criticize Duncan's work ethic.
"I played with both," Horry said. "I know the work ethic of both. I've seen it live. I've seen these two guys in the gym. I know what Dream brought to practice and I know what Tim brought to practice.
"I know Tim brought work ethic to practice, but to be a superstar you need to go to the extra level — not saying Tim's not a superstar, but I'm saying what Dream brought to the game was amazing, and I don't think people understand how good Olajuwon was."
Horry then tried to back up his claim by saying Olajuwon was a much better free throw shooter than Duncan, and that was part of his reasoning as to why he felt Olajuwon was better. For the record, Olajuwon shot 71.2 percent from the free throw line for his career, and Duncan shot 69.6 percent. That's not much of a difference.
Duncan has more NBA titles (5) than Olajuwon (2). He has more Finals MVPs (3) than Olajuwon (2). He has more regular season MVPs (2) than Olajuwon (1). He has more First Team All-NBA appearances (10) than Olajuwon (6). He has more NBA All-Defensive First Team appearances (8) than Olajuwon (6). The list goes on and on.
Perhaps Horry got Duncan confused with David Robinson? Either way, this was a ridiculous take by Horry, and it probably won't be taken seriously by many NBA fans.
(h/t CBS Sports)