Why has Barkley not sued the Rockets over that $3 million? Why have the Rockets not sued for libel?

Les should cut a check for 3 million dollars in the name of Barkley and give it to the flood victims in Houston. This would be good PR for both the Rockets and Barkley and solve the issue in a humanitarian way.

 

I guess a mans word means nothing to you then.......

 

The Kings had no expectations... the Rockets did. Much like fan interest... there's anger/disgrunteledness/and harsh criticism of the team, and then there's apathy. The latter sets in when they've disappointed you to the point where you don't care anymore.

The Rockets got to a level where last year where expectations were valid... the fact that they've come crashing down makes the criticism valid. (and this is before you look at the context of how they came crashing down... out of shape players, poor effort, coups to get coaches fired, internal bickering, etc. etc. etc.... all the things the media and public love to hate).

I've loved this team my whole life.... and I've never been more down on them than I am now. I doubt I'm the only fan who feels this way. Thus, I'm not surprised if the media and NBA observers (who don't really have any true allegiances) would see it that way and then some.

There's unbiased AP/news reporting media... and then there's the media that gets paid to make observations, give hot takes, give commentary, and sometimes be downright controversial to spark discussion. The latter now compromises the vast majority of the media... Sportscenter went from strictly a highlight show to a pseudo GMA/Today/Talk show/product placement show/social media commentary show.

ESPN has a run of 3-4 hours of programming that is nothing but sports commentary, just done by different observers (First take, highly questionable, ATH, PTI, Rachel Nichols hour, etc.).

The Bulls don't get this treatment because they're not even in the playoffs... they're in the apathy section of what the news cares about. And regardless, the Rockets deserve every bit of criticism that comes their way... I don't care if ESPN or TNT isn't spreading it around to the other teams that are not relevant right now.... the only thing that matters are the teams currently playing and how they look vs. what were their expectations going in.

For years, Houston fans complained about the lack of exposure, lack of coverage, lack of stardom for their stars... and now that they have it, albeit in a negative connotation, they want everybody to stop talking about them. Its comical... and unfortunate. I get it... you're hurt by the attacks on your team... but instead of being mad at the media, I suggest you be mad at the team that put themselves in this position to begin with.

 

You reap what you sew.

Don't give me an excuse that Harden being injured was the main reason for him not taking care of himself.... not when he was seen to be soaking up the nightlife almost continuously throughout the whole off-season, with or without a Kardashian connection, and fitting a reputation that he's had ever since he came in the league (likes the nightlife, doesn't worry too much about off-season conditioning, plays his way into shape as the season goes on).

If he knew he was unable to play ball in the off-season to stay somewhat in shape... you'd think he'd find another way to compensate, instead of doing nothing but the things that do cause people to get out of shape, gain weight, and start to regress. Being an athlete is his livelihood... he gets paid $100 million of dollars to be an athlete... so yes, he does have an obligation to take care of himself, even in the off-season. The second it effects both your play and wins/losses (and in this case, a coaches employment)... all sympathy goes out the window.

Its no coincidence that the best season of his career comes off a summer where he was forced to be disciplined/grounded due to team USA obligations. Perhaps they get that again this summer thanks to the Olympics.

Also, being out of position... committing carless turnovers... missing assignments/etc. are all examples of a team lacking mental focus and lacking consistent effort. You don't have to be the biggest/strongest/fastest to give it your all every night... more often than not, the Rockets don't play hard, they don't play smart, they have chemistry issues galore, and I don't think they really care at this point. Sure, they suck.... is that all it is?

 

Barkley isn't going after Les though. He is going after Tad and Morey. Why not make up dumb names to call Les? The execs and players Barkley is going after weren't even here when he was given all the chances in the world to end his career by walking off the court.

Les is low class, but not close to Barkley.

 

I've met Les on three separate occasions. Great guy. Barkley, on the other hand, while entertaining, is not someone of great character. He's been arrested at least twice, once for a a despicable DUI, which put innocent lives at risk. I'll never forget the time he spat on a little kid during a courtside fight with a fan. Also, he was pathetically out of shape most of his time in Houston. Just a very undisciplined guy. Why should I believe someone like him over Alexander - a very disciplined, hard-working, self-made guy who started with very little and turned himself into a billionaire?

 

If that's your opinion on him... which seems to be shared by many others here... why does everybody care so much what he's saying? (including high level executives in the Rockets organization).

Just ignore him... or remind yourself that he's a poor character individual, and his words mean nothing.

 

Agree with this 100%. I've met Les twice and he was very nice and personable to my wife and I.

 

I think his show is the highest rated playoff show on TV. If not highest rated sports show. He has a huge podium and is constantly going after our team and front office with a stated agenda. You seriously don't understand why people care what he is saying? Ernie isn't even trying to reel him in at all.

 

Yes. And why do people tune in to see what he's saying? Do you think they value his opinion?

That's exactly what I was getting at... you can say he's a horrible person all you want, but at the end of the day, you still care more about what he thinks/says about your team, moreso than Les or Morey.

 

He hasn't had to do much lately to do that though... its being smeared well enough on its own merit.

 

His market value was below $9m, so he had to sign it. Of course, his market was well above the vet minimum the yr before

I think what happened was the Max wasn't known because the lock out hadn't happened and the CBA hadn't been written yet.

But they probably talked about a maximum in vague terms. And this was the first time there was multiple maximums,, so Les screwed Barkley (in Barkley's eyes) by picking the lowest max, instead of the max he qualifies for -- 10yr vet max. That's how he looks at it, since only the Rockets would offer a max

 

Don't know to what extent Les reneged. But, Barkley knew or should have known what he was getting into. He took an under-market deal to bring in Pippen to make some kind of superteam. If he only did that on a promise of being made whole later, then he was cheating and I have no sympathy for him. If Les promised to make him whole later, he was also cheating. Paying Barkley the promised money would only make it worse. If there was a promise, forget the money, the league should punish the team.

 

that's why i pointed out the bulls.

again, i agree about how we as rockets fans feel. i'm just not sure why the media seems to pile on as much as we at clutchfans do, especially given what you pointed out below about them never seeming to care too much about houston in general. like i said, now even some of that same media seems to be catching on to how over the top it has gotten (like whatever clip from lebatard - who i don't listen to - was posted in some other thread).

even just comparing the regular season they didn't seem to be in our league in terms of coverage. and it's not like chicago is a backwater that reporters don't care about.

well, yeah, i don't think anyone is arguing that we'd love to be ignored when successful and intensely covered when we suck.

i can do both. i'm ambidextrous.

 

No, you can't be in basketball shape without playing basketball. Period. End of. There is nothing else he could have done to prepare himself for being in basketball shape. Look, you don't have to listen to my word on this but it was McHale's OWN words that this is what happened.

Your opinion on it is that he enjoyed partying too much and you have no proof of this. Pictures of him out with Khloe for a night or two isn't proof that he partied the entire offseason.

Yes, them sucking is what it mostly is about. Guys like Beverly, Ariza, Brewer, Dmo go hard whenever they play. It doesn't mean they can play defense though. It doesn't mean they will be in the right position.

Perfect example. Beverly and Terry can go hard 110 percent of the time but if you put them up against Livingston it is STILL a mismatch. No matter how much effort they put into it, it is still a mismatch.

 

JayGoogle is right. Just because effort has been inconsistent this year doesn't mean every single one of our troubles are stemming from effort.

 

But even the Bulls were coming off a 2nd round playoff loss, a coaching change, their best possible player still relatively unknown in terms of longevity/health... sure, nobody expected them to miss the playoffs altogether, but I also expected the Rockets to be better than them.

And like I said, they're not in the playoffs right now. They're not relevant. Do you want the Rockets to be obscure and get no mention now as well? Be with the Bucks, Kings, Nets, and Pelicans of the world? They're getting attention because them being the 8 seed, and showing daily dysfunction, is a microcosm of this disappointing season.

TBH, the vast majority of the NBA playoffs right now are utterly boring/uninetersting. Is there a single story line in the Hawks-Celtics, Pacers-Raptors, Spurs-Grizzlies, and Heat-Hornets worth mentioning? That's half the playoff teams right there. The other half are more interesting either due to excellence (Warriors), injury (Curry, CP3), controversy (Cuban, KD, Westbrook), or incompetence/dysfucntion (Rockets, lack of chemistry, from WCF to an 8 seed).

Chicago didn't have the full dysfunction though... they didn't get their coach fired, there was no question about players showing up out of shape, there wasn't much internal discord till later in the year. They had injuries, they had coaching issues, and they had performance problems... and even then, there was plenty of discussion about why the Bulls weren't doing better under Holberg, whether Jimmy Butler was a cancer, and whether Rose would ever get his MVP level back.

In the end, the Rockets, and their dysfunction, simply made for a better story... and lets not pretend that the media didn't already dislike Howard, and there wasn't some stigmas that Harden cares a lot about celebrity/limelight/Kardashian (again, things most NBA fans and media observers would love to pick on).

Sucking when there were expectations and when there's big names is far different than just sucking.

 

Of course, its not just effort... you need sound discipline within gameplans, sound coaching, and smart players on the court.

The fact remains, this core didn't really change that much from last year... in fact got more Howard and relative good health compared to most teams. Why do you think they all forgot how to play smart, sound, intense, effort-induced basketball?

And please don't try and say these guys all were giving max effort. Things may look intense now, because they're in the playoffs and they have nowhere to hide... but they were loafing it in winnable games against Denver, Dallas, Utah, Chicago, Milwaukee, New Orleans, Knicks... they *earned* every bit of their .500 record.

 

Giving full effort inconsistently... is an effort issue.