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Chronic: Rockets see fans buying into next year's team despite loss

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by Rockets34Legend, May 9, 2007.

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Rockets34Legend Contributing Member

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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/4787626.html

Rockets anticipate few changes in marketing
CEO Brown says selling team without major shuffling is no problem

By FRAN BLINEBURY
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

The most infamous promotional campaign in the history of the NBA — perhaps in all of professional sports — was produced by the Philadelphia 76ers in the autumn of 1977.

The TV spot hit the airwaves just a few months after a star-studded, flamboyant team that included Julius Erving, George McGinnis, Doug Collins, Darryl Dawkins, World B. Free and Joe Bryant blew a 2-0 lead and a championship to the Portland Trail Blazers in the NBA Finals.

It was a simple, close-up shot of a fist with one raised finger, wearing a red, white and blue wristband. As the team logo came into view, a deep, confident voice vowed, "We owe you one!"

The Sixers didn't win the NBA title the next year. Or the next. The debt was finally paid in 1983.

Four days after their latest flameout in Game 7 of a first-round playoff series against the Utah Jazz, the Rockets aren't writing any promissory notes. Just continuing to sell hope for a brighter tomorrow.

"You know, a couple of balls bounce our way, and we're playing Golden State," said Daryl Morey, who is about to take over the general manager's reins from Carroll Dawson. "The biggest thing you can't do is assess your team on a few bounces of the ball in one game. That's when mistakes are made. We've got to look at the larger needs of the team. It's on (team owner) Les (Alexander) and myself to get that job done."

The other task is selling the same product as a viable championship contender without significant changes. It is a virtual certainty that Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming will return as the foundations of the team, and coach Jeff Van Gundy has one year remaining on his contract while he ponders his future.

Together, that threesome has lost twice in the first round of the playoffs in the past three seasons after holding a 2-0 lead in a best-of-seven series. Yao and Van Gundy have lost three times in four years in the opening round.

The Rockets franchise has not advanced past the first round of the playoffs since 1997. Only Denver (1994), Orlando (1995) and Memphis (1996) have longer periods of futility.

"If, after the introspection that we all go through, the belief is that we're going to go with these same guys and we're going to be better than ever, we can sell that 100 percent," said Rockets CEO Tad Brown. "Without question."

Brown and the business side of the Rockets organization are coming off the most successful season of sales since the post-championship afterglow of 1994 and 1995. There were a record 25 regular-season sellouts at Toyota Center and four more for each home game of the Jazz playoff series.

Now, even in the wake of a crushing loss on Saturday, Brown said the reaction of the fans has been mostly positive.

"Oh, it was a surprising end to what was a fantastic year," he said. "Our fans and our customers realize that we're right there. We need to get over the hump.

"The overwhelming majority of feedback we've gotten is: 'Great year. What a great time. Toyota Center was really live. The team gave it their all.'

"You always get a much smaller group of fans who, no matter if you win 60 games and lose in the Western Conference finals, is not going to be happy with anything short of a championship. We get some negatives, for sure. But right now, I think those are being directed at the players and the coaches. There is a good feeling overall about the organization."

The basketball side has a good feeling about itself.

"At the highest point of the season, when our players were healthy and we played together, we were a 60-win quality team," Morey said. "We obviously have areas to improve, but we have a solid foundation and a lot of flexibility. We have the full mid-level (salary-cap exception) to use. We've got draft picks and player assets that will either perform for us or can be used in other ways.

"Generally, you can make mistakes in either direction. That is, you can think you're too close and tweak and tweak and not get there. And you can make a mistake on blowing it up and drawing too many conclusions on one game, one series. If you look at the history of the league, more mistakes have been made thinking you need to blow it up."

So no major surgery. No defiant fists in the air. No promises of owing anybody anything.

"We have a lot of ways to improve on what we think is a 60-win quality team," said Morey. "For me, the sales job is really easy."

#1 Rockets34Legend, May 9, 2007
Last edited: May 9, 2007

MartianMan Contributing Member

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I wish I was that optimistic.

#2 MartianMan, May 9, 2007
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"If, after the introspection that we all go through, the belief is that we're going to go with these same guys and we're going to be better than ever, we can sell that 100 percent," said Rockets CEO Tad Brown. "Without question."

Now, even in the wake of a crushing loss on Saturday, Brown said the reaction of the fans has been mostly positive.

"The overwhelming majority of feedback we've gotten is: 'Great year. What a great time. Toyota Center was really live. The team gave it their all.'

"You always get a much smaller group of fans who, no matter if you win 60 games and lose in the Western Conference finals, is not going to be happy with anything short of a championship. We get some negatives, for sure. But right now, I think those are being directed at the players and the coaches. There is a good feeling overall about the organization."
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These guys obviously don't read ClutchFans.

#3 Cannonball, May 9, 2007
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THE FIRST THING THAT LES SHOULD DO IS FIRE MR. BROWN BECAUSE HE IS A LIAR AND IS TELLING LES A BUNCH OF GARBAGE ( the most polite word I could think of) The years that JVG, Les and CD have been pulling the WOOL over our eyes is OVER
Fans will support their team if the management do the right things and respect the fans intelligence. No more romantic notions like telling us that Howard and Hayes can adequately cover the forward position-- I say Bull to that and all the hype they gave us about NOVAC the crack 3 point shooter and all the fuss about bringing V. Span from Europe to languish in the shadows. As a long time fan of the Rockets I say that we should tell LES that we want him to get us the right players to support the stars and we will not be accepting stunts like the Bonzi Wells Affair to keep us hyped up in false hope while JVG drives players into the ground because of his stubbornness
.

#4 Yetti, May 9, 2007
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nWo34Life said:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/4787626.html

The Rockets franchise has not advanced past the first round of the playoffs since 1997. Only Denver (1994), Orlando (1995) and Memphis (1996) have longer periods of futility.
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This part just really hurts...BAD. Puh-LEEEEAZE do something about this. The great city of Houston and their fans, and the long-time loyal members of the Clutchfans board deserve better.

Wouldnt get too confident over there, Mr. Morey. A 4-12 start to the next season might lose you a few (thousand) ticket purchasers.

#5 Shroopy2, May 9, 2007
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please don't keep van gundy. his offense is so stagnant and predictable. nearly all of the games that have been lost have been horrible games offensively. hope the stories are true and he declines next season.

#6 xomox, May 9, 2007
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Thankfully, the Rockets leadership is sane.

Unlike Clutch BBS posters.

#7 Mr. Clutch, May 9, 2007

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Yetti said:

THE FIRST THING THAT LES SHOULD DO IS FIRE MR. BROWN BECAUSE HE IS A LIAR AND IS TELLING LES A BUNCH OF GARBAGE ( the most polite word I could think of) The years that JVG, Les and CD have been pulling the WOOL over our eyes is OVER
Fans will support their team if the management do the right things and respect the fans intelligence. No more romantic notions like telling us that Howard and Hayes can adequately cover the forward position-- I say Bull to that and all the hype they gave us about NOVAC the crack 3 point shooter and all the fuss about bringing V. Span from Europe to languish in the shadows. As a long time fan of the Rockets I say that we should tell LES that we want him to get us the right players to support the stars and we will not be accepting stunts like the Bonzi Wells Affair to keep us hyped up in false hope while JVG drives players into the ground because of his stubbornness
.
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Get a grip.

Do you honestly think they didn't try to get a better power forward?

Do you think they had the opporunity to get Kevin Garnett and said "No thanks, we have romantic notions of starting the scrappy Chuck Hayes there forever"?

This isn't fantasy basketball, you can't just pick whatever player you want.

#8 Mr. Clutch, May 9, 2007
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Mr. Clutch said:

Get a grip.

Do you honestly think they didn't try to get a better power forward?

Do you think they had the opporunity to get Kevin Garnett and said "No thanks, we have romantic notions of starting the scrappy Chuck Hayes there forever"?

This isn't fantasy basketball, you can't just pick whatever player you want.
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No, but if things aren't working out the way it has been run for the past few years. Anyone would understand that there should be changes.

#9 pli777, May 9, 2007
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With some displine, Chuck Hayes will be a decent Power Forward in the next year's line up. Shane Battier is also definitely keeper; Head & Snyder might share some minutes; if JVG does not give V-Span more play times, I am really going to HATE the guy

#10 olliez, May 9, 2007
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Chuck Hayes wouldn't be a starting power forward on any other team in the league in my opinion.

#11 Aloe, May 9, 2007
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They have the slowest and least athletic team in the NBA and they are satisfied with it? Wow....just absolutely wow.

They won at a better clip with Yao injured than they did with him...they had the same record in the WC (28-24) as the Lakers and Golden State...they won one more WC game than did rebuild-on-the-fly Denver.

I guess the "new" math for a 60 win team is to go 30-0 against the EC and increase the WC record to 30-22.

If the arcane attitude displayed in the article is truly representative of Rockets' managerial feelings, I hope they keep Van Gundy and the entire crew of concrete Converse-clad clods they've collected. That's the only way some posters around here will see the absolute truth of the terrrible job Rockets' management and coaching has done on the concept of talent.

Mr. Morey...with all due respect...the talent gap is a whole lot bigger than a few bounces of a basketball.

2007-08...."Win Now - Pt II"....

#12 GATER, May 9, 2007
Last edited: May 9, 2007
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Cannonball said:

These guys obviously don't read ClutchFans.
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Ya man. If we were in charge we would have fired Morey 2 years ago

#13 Ziggy, May 9, 2007

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Didn't all the empty seats, regardless of whether they were purchased, tell them something?

"Rocketball" once was exciting but the current team is "Medicineball" with no hope of a cure.

#14 thumbs, May 9, 2007
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dam, jvg is back next year. he better come up with something this summer. he owes us an apology. i don't think he ever takes the blame. nvm, its going to be like hell against next year. same play over and over again. rafer-47.99 minutes per game. go to yao. end of play. tracy has freedom to do whatever he wants.

#15 Pringles, May 9, 2007
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Orlando actually won a playoff series(2 as a matter of fact) in 1996. That's the year they were swept by the Bulls before Shaq left for L.A. Either way, to be in that select group along with them, the Nuggets(who were awful between the time Mutombo left in 1996 and Carmelo arrived in 2003) and the Grizzlies who only came into existence in 1995 is pathetic.

Every single time the Rockets front office pats themselves on the back for the job they've done and thinks they're on the right track, they need to look at that stat. Hell, the team we just lost to, the Jazz, have managed to rebuild their roster into a potential Western Conference Finals team only 4 years after losing Stockton and Malone.

#16 count_dough-ku, May 9, 2007
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4 vs 5 matchup that went 7 games and down to the final minutes, and best season record in a decade.

My don't we suck.

Crybabies. Buck up and be a real fan or get the f**k off this board.

I can't wait until next year. GO ROCKETS.

#17 oomp, May 9, 2007
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oomp said:

4 vs 5 matchup that went 7 games and down to the final minutes, and best season record in a decade.

My don't we suck.

Crybabies. Buck up and be a real fan or get the f**k off this board.

I can't wait until next year. GO ROCKETS.
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Just because you disagree with the way management is building the team doesn't mean you're not a real fan. Take it from a notorious sunshine poster like myself. Even I'm extremely frustrated with the way things are now.

Let's face it. This series wasn't nearly as close as it seemed. We were lucky to win our 3 games and were BLOWN OUT in the 3 games at Utah. Like Shane said the other day, we've really only played 3 quarters of good basketball this entire series (4th quarter of our 3 wins).

This is the second time in 3 years we've managed to blow a 2-0 lead in a series, and this time we did it with homecourt advantage. I'm sorry, but all is not well in Rocket land.

Oh, and it doesn't help that we have the 4th highest ticket price in the league....

#18 ima_drummer2k, May 9, 2007

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oomp said:

4 vs 5 matchup that went 7 games and down to the final minutes, and best season record in a decade.

My don't we suck.

Crybabies. Buck up and be a real fan or get the f**k off this board.

I can't wait until next year. GO ROCKETS.
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There's another way of looking at things.

In 2005, we won 51 games, finished with the 5th seed, and took a 2-0 lead in our first round series before falling in 7 games.

In 2007, we won 52 games, finished with the 5th seed, and took a 2-0 lead in our first round series before falling in 7 games.

3 seasons after pairing up T-Mac and Yao, the only progress we've made is winning an additional regular season game and having home court advantage in our first round matchup. Neither of which meant squat in the end.

#19 count_dough-ku, May 9, 2007
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I'm not saying it's been sunshine and lollipops at my house since Saturday night. All I'm saying is we lost in probably the toughest matchup in the first round. Whining about how the team sucks does nothing.

Management is not to blame. Goood teams lose. We might not have been playing our best, but it still took the Jazz almost 7 full games to get us.

If I was going to lay blame on anything, it would be that Bonzi sucked up a spot on the bench for someone who could have helped us. That was a mistake and we won't have to worry about that next season.

I'm still excited about next year. I actually feel like I did after the OT loss to the Sonics in 93. All we need is a few tweaks and we could be really good.

#20 oomp, May 9, 2007

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