I have been around a long time and I dont post all too often but I really am getting tired of hearing and reading the negativity surrounding the Rockets and really all of our sports teams... I am of the opinion that we are a very spoiled group of fans in Houston... I was born in 1978... While we havent won a ton of championships, we have been very fortunate in Houston to have had the pleasure to root for players in ALL sports such as: Nolan Ryan, Jose Cruz, Earl Campbell, Dan Pastorini, Warren Moon, Craig Biggio, Jeff Bagwell, Roy Oswalt, Lance Berkman, Billy Wagner, Brad Lidge, Ray Childress, Steve McNair, Eddie George, Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler, Charles Barkley, Andre Johnson, Arian Foster, Steve Francis, Yao Ming, Tracy McGrady... Now, these were just some names that came to mind quickly thinking about teams I grew up rooting for. These names span some 3 decades! For the most part, our teams have always had players that if they arent/weren't "Superstars", they are very good, if not close to stars in their respective sports. We all want the Superstar, no doubt, we are use to it, we crave it! We arent use to not having those types of guys. I mean, not many cities are so fortunate as to have in my opinion, the absolute most skilled Big of all time in Dream, then we acquire Drexler to pair him with. After those guys, we bring in a young star in Francis. Again, shortly thereafter, we surprisingly get lucky and have Yao Ming fall into our laps with the #1 overall pick. Then, we had the pleasure of having TMac before he completely broke down. Now, Yao and TMac in my opinion were great until their bodies broke down. They cant help that and in all actuality, had they held up, who knows what would have been. None of us will ever know. But you cant just lose guys like that, unexpectedly, and expect our organization to snap their fingers and BOOM, there is Dwight Howard, Kevin Durant and LeBron James all playing for the Rockets. It just doesnt happen that way and its not that easy. I wish it were! Like they say, it takes two to tango. Other teams GMs have to say yes and Free Agents have to say yes and the money has to work. I know last night didnt play out like we all wanted it to... The buzz the media created was great and we all had the dream that we'd finally get that coveted superstar. It didnt happen, as of yet, and it may not. So, here we sit... With three new rookies that have talent. Who is to say one of them wont be a star? This game of basketball is really about luck. No one knows what players will turn out to be stars. Portland thought Oden was the right choice, had they gone Durant, OKC wouldnt be the team they are. And look at OKC, they built with drafted players and nobody here can tell me they KNEW Westbrook, Harden and Ibaka would be as good as they are. No one can say that... Just like none of us dreamed Parsons would be as good as he turned out to be. I was pretty sure, he'd be a D-Leaguer or would stay in Europe ultimately. You just never know. But what I do know is that nobody can say the Rockets brass isnt trying and trying hard. It just didnt turn out the way they had hoped it would've. So, we just have to continue to be patient. Things are simply what they area... It is what it is.
Too many factors/too much availabilty. Say what you want and all that... At the end of the day, Drummond fell to 9. You like Lamb and know he's going to be there at 12, fine, I have no problem with the pick. But, what you've been doing for 2 seasons now, positioning yourself to be a big player in this draft..... Unable to get the #5, 6, 7, and 8 pick. And just let this dude fall to the Pistons. Un-freaking-believable. There's no reason Lamb and Drummond shouldn't be Rockets today. Ahh, but it's not for a lack of trying. Morey banked on the Sac deal, and when that fell through he caught with his pants down in front of everyone and didn't now what the hel to do. You can go to a bar and try to pick up a chick, knowing that plan b is always there back home watching cinemax. Our front office, has gotten too comfortable just going back and watching cinemax. Oh well we tried. Several execs (some good ones) are out of jobs right now because of trying and failing. But it's all good though. Good job, good effort!! SMDH...
Who's to say we could have gotten any of those other picks. I am frustrated as well, but I am going to hold out to see what we do with some of these guys like K-Mart, Lowery and the over abundance of PF's. We could still do a lot to significantly upgrade.
Are you even aware why we couldn't get 5,6,7,8? Because they were really worth one slot higher. Waiters rocketing to the top of the draft screwed up everything.
This is the perfect case of someone who doesn't have a clue what they are talking about. Sacramento wanted Thomas Robinson... they got him Golden State wanted a SF (MKG or Harrison Barnes)... they got Barnes Toronto was never going to happen because they desperately want Steve Nash. You can bash the organization for not tanking for one of those top 8 picks... that's fine, but at least try to figure out why the Rockets weren't able to trade into those top 8 picks.
Thank you so much I could not have put it into any better words than you did. The highlighted portion is for all you whiners complaining about how this hasn't already been turned around. I highly doubt Morey would take this route (win-now, while still searching for a star) knowing that his best way to get back to contending is to have high draft picks. Les is holding this all back and ultimately he will suffer by losing the very seats he's looking to save, by staying competitive.
Rockets been middle of the pack for a while now, you can say it's a bunch of spoiled fans, when really the fans have been dedicated and patient with the rockets staff for the past 4 years with nothing to show for in return. No star player, no roster full of very solid contributors(something like the Nuggets have built), no real future, no real direction, unclear circumstances. You call it spoiled, I call it wanting a team to root for and not be stuck in limbo for the next 4 years.
... wait... so you DIDN'T root for Chuck, Clyde, and Dream? That's pretty damn idiotic to say on a Rockets fan board.
Thanks for this thread! It is much appreciated! And yes spoiled could be a good word to use. Think how long it took Clippers, Mavericks, and the Knicks right now before they became/become title contenders. And before you start over analyzing my post to correct me or negate a detail that I've written, you get the point. Sports is a fickle and luck-driven thing that take times. I guarantee you moves are not final and this will not be the team that is there on opening night. Just because ESPN and sports media over-hyped us and looped us back into thinking something magical was gonna happen last night doesn't mean it still wont soon. Its okay to be disappointed and hurt to those negative fans. There are other ways to release those emotions than bag on our hometown team.
The problem is, we have destroyed the value of all of our assets that were worth anything in a trade to begin with. Between the failed Gasol trade and McHale's coaching style, we have nothing left to trade of value except maybe Scola. Everyone else (K-Mart, Lowry) have diminished their worth. Our only value now is in our draftees from this year and last. I've been against tanking while we still had a good core of players. I now really see no other option. We could bring in Smith or whoever, but there seems to be no chemistry left with our veterans aside from Scola, Camby and Gogi. Two of which we haven't signed. Nothing much remains to build on. I'm not putting the blame on any one person or entity, it just seems that ship has sailed and its time to start from scratch with the youngsters. My frustration lies with this whole situation in general, it no longer matters who is, or isn't to blame.
That's exactly my point.... Plan a gets messed up, no execution of another plan. In this league, there are GMs who get ****e done, and then some that try and come very very very very close. Sound familiar?
GS #7 was there long before the draft whether Barnes was going to be there or not. Problem was you had to take on Dorrell Wright's contract, about 4 mil per for 2 more seasons. Morey banked on the Sac-deal, and in doing so, going back to last season's draft... The Rockets have used a #14, 18, and 18 pretty much on the same position. Last I checked there's 1 team playing with 1 ball. Yesterday was epic fail, believe what you want.
I mentioned in my post, we havent won alot of championships but that doesnt mean we havent had good, fun teams to watch with some star talent (up until recently). But yeah we are spoiled by the caliber of players we have had over the years. I didnt say we were spoiled by all the championships in the past.
