Not happening. Anyways, if the Rockets want nationwide fan respect they will have to win a ring. If the Rockets want media respect then apparently all they need to do is go 9-1against garbage competition and they will get voted number 1 in the power rankings, only to lose it and get utterly demolished by a legit team the very next night.
They need to stop underachieving. Why did those Lowry-Scola-Hayes teams have all the respect from fans and media? Because they consistently played above themselves. Gave HOU a lot of pride even though they didn't make the playoffs.
Those teams never got any respect from the media except for the "You have no chance of winning anything but thank you for showing up to the game. We will show a few highlights from your team now because Odd's makers love your team, they always finish right where they predict them to". Yeah, that.
Move to New York. Seriously though, my anti-Rockets friends have been saying Houston is legit this year. As long as we stay healthy in the playoffs and Howard's charges of child abuse clear up, there should be no reason not to be a contender.
Actually accomplish something in the playoffs. And then God forbid, do it again the next season. The Rockets as an organization deserve no respect right now. They haven't done anything noteworthy aside from the very brief success of 2009 in over 17 years.
I agree that Rockets and the players will gain the respect and cred if they will win the championship. Even the the maligned Murray's high scoring efficiency (drive or 3s and no long 2s) will be accepted and emulated by other pretenders. Honestly, I have reached a point that I don't give a damn what media think of our Rockets and stars. I am now numb from these negativity. I will continue to enjoy our good start, thou the last 2 losses stings a bit, and continued hope that the final roster will address the weak links (back-up C and wing creator). Lets go Rockets and beat these Mavs.
It varied during that time. Some fans and analyst called us scrappy and gutsy wich is a form of respect imo. Other fans and analyst said we were mediocre and wouldn't do anything significant (which we didn't).
This! It would take for Harden to stop living at the line and play defense all year. Howard would need to stop joking around, stop playing like a p***y and put up big numbers all year.
Nothing short of multiple dominating title runs. We won two titles in a row and everyone refused to give them their due saying that it was because Jordan was out of the league(cough...because of gambling on NBA games....cough).
^^this! You could simply say 'winning' but you really don't get respect until you win a ring and as some others have mentioned we are so far down on the respectometer it would probably take two.
not true they did't even want to put out a sports illustrated for us they did but it took us b****ing to get it
As soon as we start to get some respects, then we suck again. No respect for losing even from the rockets fans
At this point? To earn general respect win a play off series. To earn the respect of the Superstars/All stars you have to get to the Conference Finals or at least get eliminated by a top flight team in competitive fashion in the 2nd round. It's okay to get knocked out by the Spurs, Memphis, OKC, etc, just don't get rick rolled ala the Blazers last year (IE, they're a cute team but nobody thinks they're going anywhere). If the Rockets don't make a solid play off run this year, they (the Rockets and thus Harden and Howard) are going to end up being written off as a Regular Season team. Getting a good seed doesn't mean jack if you can't go anywhere come play off time.