Soccer is taking over in Houston. I think they just had 40,000+ at Reliant a couple of days ago for some exhibition game. And the Dynamo have their new stadium opening later this year, so I see Soccer being the number 2 sport in the very near future in Houston.
Maybe if we're 30+ then Stern will give us a top pick. Rumor has it that's what netted us Yao back then. Stern might scoff at responsible efforts to improve our product, but the threat of huge losses of cold hard money will surely grab his attention.
Hispanics make up a massive chunk of Houstons populations, and on the whole aren't basketball fans, not all of course, but in general not so much. So our fan market isn't as big as our raw population would suggest. Combine that with a franchise that has hasn't made a postseason run (the best way to generate fan interest) since 1997. The one small run we did make ended with yao out for all of he following season, so no chance to build on that momentum. The Astros managed to maintain a consistently solid attendance for 13 years until the recent derailment. In baseball any team that can make the postseason can win a title, so I, and a lot of fans felt the Astros had a chance at a title most every year from 1994-2006. Not always a great shot, but a shot. With the exception of a very brief 2 day period in 2008 early in the lakers series, i havent felt the rockets were ever a title threat since stockton hit that shot. It really tempers a town excitement. Combine that with us just not being a great hoops town to start with is the perfect storm of dis-interest.
That's not a good argument. Los Angeles has a huge hispanic population and they do just fine and the same goes for the Spurs. This team just isn't exciting. We've put out the same médiocre roster three years in a row. You have your diehard fans that will go no matter what but all of them cannot afford to. We need something that will make those borderline fans want to come watch and we just don't have it. The short sighted thinking of Mr. Alexander might end up costing him in the long run.
Theres 13 million people in the greater LA area, twice as much as houston. Plus the Lakers and Spurs have been perennial title threats, come with a real arguement dude.
That is a real argument. You yourself just said that the Spurs get fans because they are competing despite having a huge hispanic population. Logically you should be able to figure out that we aren't drawing because we aren't that good and not because of the hispanic population. How can you possibly argue that hispanics won't go see a winner when the Spurs are proof that they will?
No big name doesn't help either..when we had Yao and the Franchise we had good attendance despite playing ugly, 2002-2004 and then with Tracy the first 3 years 2004-2007 and then again when Artest take in 2008-2009. Do you guys think it's also because we don't have a flashy team? I mean the Franchise did bring some dunks, crossovers and alley-oops with Cat & later Cato. Everybody knew his name post slam-dunk contest and he played hard. Casual fans need to be drawn in by wins, entertainment or big names imo. Now we have have some wins, but games are not that entertaining imo and a I don't think Scola / Martin is perceived as a big name.
You know what just for the hell of it let's assume that every single hispanic in Houston hates basketball. Hispanics make up 44% of our 2.1MM population so if you take them all out that leaves us with about 1.2MM people in the city which would make us the 9th most populated city in the US and the 6th most populated city with an NBA team. How would you argue against our bad attendance numbers given that?
Two of the most talented athletes in T-Mac and Hakeem have spoiled Rockets fans. Since 86, we’ve had Hakeem, Moses, Barkley, Pippen, Francis, Yao, McGrady, and even Artest. Rockets fans have always great players to generate interest. Now we have a middle of the pack team just good enough win first place amongst the losers. Either win a lot of games, or lose a lot of games. If the former isn’t possible, do the latter and try to draft a great player. Early draft picks generate a lot of interest because they can turn your team around. Had the Rockets acquired Gasol, this wouldn't be a discussion. Management needs to adjust, take the losses and carry them forward. It's Morey's job to convince Les that camping is the best way to go. Especially considering we lose our pick if we make the playoffs. The Rockets don't have a chance of contending any time soon if they don't tank, and this draft is loaded so even the tenth pick will be good enough to keep most fans while moving forward. Edit: Not going to any of the games this season is a way for me to say I am unsatisfied with this current roster. I don't support management's decision to make the playoffs. I would like to see the Rockets bring more championships to Houston.
This ^. Blindly following something you love isn't always a good thing. If the Rockets sell out every game Les will just continue to let this team tread water and that is the opposite of what I want as a fan. Madden is a perfect example of what happens when you just allow someone to put out a mediocre product and support it no matter what. Consumers have allowed EA to put out the same average product for years now and the game is likely not to get better until people just stop buying it.
You want people to show up? Give us a winning product. Thats why we are one of the few states also not bank ruped, why?because we dont spend money on crap. Why am I going to go watch a team with kevin martin on it. Im tired of being a big market and putting crap out tjeir spend some damm money like a true big market. Bring us a winning team, stop drafting crappy players. Lets draft players with the prpper size at their position. Lets take risk for crying out loud. You want tickets being sold?well tham give us a reason to go.
The Mavs, Spurs, Suns, Lakers, and Clippers should have just as many if not more hispanics, especially San Antonio and Phoenix. The Suns are have more losses and have a higher % of Mexicans, but they can pull in more fans.
While i feel your anger about the current state of the Rockets I feel like you are misstating facts a little bit. The franchise has never been a cheap team. We paid TMac and Yao max money. We were willing to offer Bosh max money last year and were likely going to give Nene a big contract so spending is not really the issue with Rockets As far as the draft goes under Morey we have drafted pretty well. Yes we continually draft under sized players but if you go back and look at we were picking you will see that Morey hasn't really let any great players slip by him. The problem with this team right now is that we refuse to go completely in one direction. When the Pau trade fell apart we should have either made another big move or blew it up and traded away Scola at the least and probably Martin too. Instead we chose to be average which is the worst thing you can be in the NBA. If we and the Knicks both make the playoffs with no major trades made this will be a disaster of a season.
When i came over last season i had 3 games in a row in the same seat behind the commentators. The guy to my left turned up to one game. And in that one he missed nearly the entire third quarter. Then another game I was getting looks from some of those around me because I was going crazy and getting into the game. The only time i felt there were proper fans was sitting with rocketgirl and my first game when I was in the highest elevation. It was pretty pathetic..
Wow, it sounds like your really a big fan. Maybe you forgot that we lost two superstars back to back and we are still trying to bounce back from that. I think we are doing a great job so far, sure I want a better team but considering that we lost two superstars back to back I think were doing good. You might as well stop watching the Rockets because KM is the best two guard we have had except for a healthy Tmac. Almost any team in the NBA would be glad to have him. It seems weird to me that you even watch the Rocket games after reading your post. You wouldn't pay to go watch a game but you watch them on tv?
Or stop talking about needing one so much and start proping up the winning team you already have, and don't talk about trading them asap, people are not stupid....well, not all of them anyway. DD
