Who are the "culture" factors?

Anyone is remediable. The key is how much he wants to win. He doesn't have to be a vocal guy. But he has to lead by example. He has to be angry at himself when he doesn't play well. He has to play hard on both ends even when he feels exhausted. He has to be willing to put aside his preferred lifestyle if it hinders winning.

If he does that, teammates will follow. Fans will love him. People will respect him.

 

and players will want to come to Houston.

 

Howard, Brewer, KJ MCdaniels even Terry. I don't think they belonged here. I think that when you have players that don't fit with you are trying to do they fight against what you want to do. So even now we need to get rid of Mcdaniels and Brewer I think because they will struggle with how the Rockets want to play. They are very athletic but cant shoot a lick.

 

That's a good question… The McHale firing did not come up in my mind as I was going off on my diatribe about "obsession to winning." HAH! I think there are other political factors in the background that we, the common folk, will never really know but in the end, yeah… I'm of the opinion he was fired because he was losing. BUT I also think Les is a bit hypocritical because if he was obsessed about winning he would not have let Goran walk because he wanted Jeremy Lin so he can strengthen his ties to China? That's pure speculation on my part though.

Regarding Harden, to be honest, that's my biggest fear about him. That he is just not a leader they can build around. He has a history of manic performances deep in the playoffs. He'll blow up one game then disappear for the next one or two games then blow up again and that's against the same team in a series. That's one thing that stood out to me about him in 2012 playoffs and Finals. Now, I believe the jury is still out on him because he's only 26 but man I have my concerns.

 

I totally agree with you on context. To me good on field/court character is different than good character in life but that's getting a little mixed up around here. I feel like the general view of Anderson, Nene and Gordon are that they are good guys, their teammates will like them, they are not knuckleheads and that's what will fix what broke last year.

 

Trip to Vegas on the boss's dime, what can go wrong?

 

Ha. True, it is Vegas. But I'll wait for anyone to try to find something that Beasley has done since in a Rockets jersey that has been anything short of exemplary conduct & behavior.

He has a 7 yr old daughter and a 5 yr old son. I think he really is trying to turn his career around. I see it as he could be home alone with idle hands, or he can be in a summer league environment where everyone is getting up at 5:45 and eating right, working out and going to team practices, being with teammates and coaches almost 24 hours a day.

 

bumbum09's great post on the need for a burning desire to win is dead on. When players have that, it doesn't matter if they aren't buddies off-court. On-court chemistry is all that matters, and that happens when everyone puts their own needs aside for the sake of the team.

His post immediately made me think of Dwight, who in interviews continually said "I just want to win" and yet made selfish demands on the coach and teammates -- whether explicit or implicit. His insistence on forcing a particular style of play on his team last year because he thought (wrongly) that was his forte killed any semblance of chemistry.

 

Some really good posts in this thread!

 

speaking of which is Josh Smith still with us?

 

One of the reasons he stated for not going to the olympics is to recruit players to the rockets.

Well, im not sure he recruited anyone.

 

Yep, it's amazing the difference when people are making though out, rational posts instead of negative one-liners. There really needs to be a push-back from the old guard of clutchfans on these type of posters, they are ruining our "culture."

 

I was all for signing Dwight. Who wasn't? But I was shocked when I saw that he got a goofy, self-serving TV show on Root Sports. JJ Watt isn't shooting a dumb@$$ TV show during the season, nor is Kobe Bryant or any other true competitor. I'm glad the guy is gone - I'm sure he wants to win, but I don't think it's his priority in life.

 

UFA - Rockets would have to re-sign him

 

Love this post.

Reminds me of when JVG gives praise to players with "high competitive spirit."

 

I wonder what kind of ship Duncan ran as the top dog.

Seemed like Pop took full control of the reins and Tim helped spread buttpaste on Gino and Parker after practices.

 

Thanks for making Clutchfan's culture better for all of us

 

Exactly. Of course everybody wants to win. I've never heard a guy say, "I love losing." That's why I don't really give a crap when a player says, "I want to win." Doh, who doesn't?

It's HOW MUCH you want to win and how much you are willing to sacrifice to win. It's about priorities.

 

Yep. Dwight didn't want to fit into the team, he wanted the team to fit around him. May be a nice guy, but he's a selfish teammate.

As for this thread: Back when there was talk about maybe creating a subforum for fans who were more interested in serious discussion, this thread is exactly what I envisioned it would be like.
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Nobody's said Les or Morey yet? Unfortunately, I think that's where it starts.