Media Games and Hate

Exelent Post

 

Yo Yo this should be sticky so that whenever a trade or decision would be made we never forget this

We as fans are submerged by emotions so we can believe anything especially in theses crucial moments!

 

just to to latimes sports section online and read the comments about dwight leaving.. just a bunch of people telling themelves whatever they need to hear to keep that LA resident ego inflated..

 

There's a lot of **** that goes up on Clutchfans, but the insight and community presented in threads like this represents the best of Rockets fans in my opinion. We need more quality posts and conversations like this!

 

The funniest thing to me is that everyone at ESPN was saying before free agency "Houston is the best fit" and when he comes here, they are saying he is running from the bright lights.

 

I'd heard it but didn't believe that a large organisation like ESPN would actually make stuff up.

From this last 'saga' and your precise evidence, there's no doubt that ESPN makes **** up. Kudos to YoYO!

I hardly watched their channel when keeping up with news from the Dwight meeting and saying no to other teams; my source was Clutchfans, because we have some very dedicated & intelligent posters who did the BS sorting for us all. Thanks to them!

Through the supposed 'waffling' on July 4th, there was no doubt in my mind that we had Dwight right at 5pm when the news broke. ESPN just made people sit through absolute nonsense for 3+ hours before they acknowledged the truth. Bunch of liars. Really sad liars.

 

I ain't mad.... karma ftw.
Now the LA homers in the media get to watch their beloved team shrivel up into mediocrity for the next 5-10 years.

 

Completely agree.
If you look at the video (Adande piece), it shows only plays where Dwight made some kind of error. Simply unprofessional.

 

That is why I would rather believe Morey when he said that Lin and Asik is not available for trades and that he prefers to have Asik in the bench than a really good PF... than the media saying that rockets are shopping for lin and asik... or the report that the rockets are trying to dump lin's contract...

 

It's been that way for years. This city will never get the amount of respect that a city like say New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami and all those other popular cities will get. People outside of Houston have a painted picture of a city full of cowboys/cowgirls that use horses as transportation while using a country accent.

If you preferred news from the local media than the national one, you were considered a homer. But how can you not when the city gets swept under the rug by most of the national media?

And I'm getting tired of the puns like "Houston you got a problem" like the guy from New York said on his twitter after Dwight Howard committed to Houston. I think his name is Frank Isola. F*** that guy.

 

Houston will be the problem for other teams for years to come.

 

This is why it's good to have competition in any business...including sports "reporting." I think I'm like most sports fans these days in that I tune into SportsCenter to catch up with the sports news of the day, at least on TV. The show is synonymous with sports highlights, and props to ESPN for building it up. However, as they try to take over the sports world with their empire, it's easier to see their biases and their loss of quality in sports reporting. They have embraced sensationalism to make money and sacrificed reporting honesty to get there. They still have a few great features (30 for 30, OTL, Simmons) but their news reporting has really gone into the crapper. Hopefully, guys like Woj will be able to stay away from the draw of ESPN, and people will start holding idiots like Stein & Broussard to a higher standard.
Thanks Yoyo for starting an interesting thread.

 

I respect you a great deal as a poster. But really? This is a subtle jab???

I think this board could do with some thicker skin. Rockets are a respected organization. People don't poopoo it. People like Shaq certainly do. But whatever, if you aren't L.A., NY, Boston, or Miami....maybe Chicago, you get poop poo'd.

 

I am SURE that ESPN made up the rumor about Asik "formally demanding a trade".

I watched all Rockets games last season. Just from what I have seen of Asik, I simply refuse to believe that there is any truth to what they said.

Their audacity to first say he was disgruntled and then topping it off by saying he "formally demanded a trade", whatever that means, is appalling.

Great thread by Yoyo again.

 

I bet Morey is working on how to get LBJ, convince him to form a new Superfriends in Texas and win a few more rings :grin:

Seriously all these jabs, pokes, slights whatever makes it all sweeter when we prove them wrong.

Rudy T. summed it best:

Don't ever underestimate the heart of a champion!

 

Great read, Yoyo.

I guess it doesn't matter what world you live in, media with an agenda is media with an agenda.

 

This belongs here.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/...htmare-the-decision-road-to-redemption-070713

Dwight must follow LeBron's path

Now that Dwight Howard is a Houston Rocket, an ex-Los Angeles Laker and a massively talented enigma whom NBA executives seem unable to agree upon, there’s only one place for the center to look for guidance on how to reboot his career.

Two years ago, LeBron’s Decision – and all the hoopla, mistakes and problems that followed – ushered in a new level of criticism and mockery for The King. But those painful months also eventually brought with them a life-changing level of self-awareness and change. LeBron may have become a villain of his own making his first season in Miami, but he also began a process of making himself into a more likeable person and more formidable player that culminated in the following two championship seasons with the Heat.

Now it’s Dwight’s time to try and balance the scales of ridiculous upside and infuriating distractions that make him a player smart NBA men are in stark disagreement over.

Across the NBA, those I talked to this weekend – front-office executives, former general managers, scouts – disagreed on just how to assess Dwight Howard at this point in his career.

Some questioned his desire to win. One front-office official said, “He’s more interested in being an entertainer than a basketball player, so winning isn’t really that important to him. I don’t think it ever will be.”

Another NBA source, told of that sentiment, countered: “Anyone with a team who says he wouldn’t want Dwight Howard on his team is as full of (crap) as they’re claiming Dwight is.”

And another, a Western Conference general manager, told me both are true – that Dwight is the most talented center in the game and that he’s absolutely a problem in most places because he doesn’t care much about winning.

“But Houston,” the GM told me, “will be a good place for him. Kevin (McHale) knows how to manage people and James (Harden) will be the actual leader of that team, which is good, because Dwight is incapable of leadership.”

It’s the 2010 LeBron Conundrum: So much talent. So many warning signs that all that talent is bogged down by other issues.

And while LeBron’s nadir happened on live television, complete with a snapshot moment perfect to capture that time in his career, Dwight’s difficulties have been more spread out. And have lasted longer. And impacted more teams. But without a catch phrase like “taking my talents to South Beach” it’s sometimes easy to miss just how dysfunctional his career has turned.

There is a strong argument to be made that the two-year “Dwightmare” passes the Decision for sheer inexcusability.

Howard held the Orlando Magic captive for two years. LeBron broke Cavaliers fans' hearts over the course of one day (though, unless he returns in 2014, that heartache will go on for years).

LeBron may have been unlikable, but Dwight has alienated both groups of former teammates, both guys who coached him, and many of the NBA’s front-office folks who have watched it all go down.

LeBron’s model for redemption and a return to popularity followed a clear path. It’s one Dwight should follow.

First, LeBron figured himself out. He became likeable again, important for a guy who like Dwight is at his best when others see and believe in the best parts of him. Likability is an asset for both men, and LeBron harnessed that by a brilliant run of ads, moving on from Nike’s “What Should I Do” spot (answer: start by not making that commercial) to the Samsung bits that show him joyous, happy and not wildly self-obsessed.

Just watching those two commericals today is a case study in a wholly different guy and persona, and an evolution Dwight Howard should spend some time studying.

That was the start. LeBron also started making nice with Cleveland. He went on Letterman and took Dave’s barbs and managed to come across as human, and he seemed to both accept his mistakes and stop caring about those who wouldn’t let them go. At the same time, he started playing as well in the playoffs as he did in the regular season.

But all of this stems from the fact LeBron James took some ownership of the mistakes he made. How much, only he knows. But he is more likeable, more interesting and more nuanced to my eyes than he was when he left for Miami.
It’s no coincidence that as he worked on himself he worked on his game, something Dwight also needs to do. LeBron always cared about winning, but then he did something about it by working so obsessively on his craft. He went to train with Hakeem Olajuwon on his low-post game, he became a better 3-point shooter, he was hungry and desperate to work on being better at basketball.

Whatever you thought about LeBron, he worked to be great despite his massive talent. The issue with Dwight, many say, is that he simply doesn’t care about winning. Not really. Not truly. Not like LeBron.

Still, Dwight has some advantages LeBron did not. With LeBron, redemption was championship or bust. Dwight has the advantage of a smaller threshold for success. A Western Conference finals appearance, say, and a season – and this is big – in which he’s never the distraction or the bad guy would go a long way toward getting him on the road to his own fixed reputation.

Dwight has the disadvantage that, unlike LeBron, he’s not the most talented player on earth, he doesn’t have a natural hunger to be truly great (or so several NBA sources told me this week), and he does not seem to possess the same introspection that made LeBron both his own worst enemy in 2010 and a guy capable of changing after that.

Dwight had every right to leave the Lakers. He had every right to bolt Orlando. He has every right to be in Houston, and I for one hope he has great success there.

But that’s only going to happen if he figures out what he did wrong in those first two places and grasps, sooner rather than later, that he needs to be different in his new town for all of this to work. He needs to pull a LeBron James.

 

I guess I'm in the minority, I agree with what Sweet Lou says here. A lot of what the media says is some what legit. Where there is smoke, there is fire.

Don't get me wrong, I agree that most media outlet, especially espn, are full of it. But let's be honest folks, had DH signed with GS, will you still share this same opinion?

rocketsjudoka, I generally agree with your assessments, but I find nothing wrong with this article. Unless I misunderstood your intent.

 

Yeah I don't buy it. Dude is the consumate professional, I'm not saying he should feel indebted, thats definately not the angle I'm coming at this from, but Houston rolled the dice on him (Even though Morey was most sure of him considering himself/Lin/Harden), and I'm sure that he is grateful for the opportunity and faith the organisation showed in him. Just something seems a bit off with "formally demanding a trade." It's Dwight Howard.