The outside perception of this team and organisation

They're 100 % correct.

 

I think players did not like the FO treated them like trade chips. How many players have moved through the Rockets? And the way we disbanded the Scola-Lowry team? Especially Scola after he had re-signed this was the only team he wanted to be with? Or Brooks' coming and going?

Morey is ruthless when it comes to non-stars. It's coming to bite us now.

 

You are embarassed by that crap? Wow. I guess you are too easily embarassed then.

I personally love when i say to other nba fans I meet that im a Rocket fan and they look at me strangely. But guess what? The most beloved teams around the world the Lakers and the Bulls have done more dirty and ugly and corrupted things than all the rest of the league. They are the ones who deserve to be hated on. Not the Rockets.

 

How exactly is that? Players still love to come to Houston. A star in his prime was recruited and taken away from la. Stars give us meetings and put us into consideration. I never heard of one player except Martin who wouldnt like to come to Houston. Scola himself almost signed with us this year. ( before masai promised him more playing time).

No. Forget the bspn narrative. Morrey is up front and players want to come play here. The one who has bitten the way he treated players is: a) Hinkie b) Vivek.
Those two teams players dont want to go play at., if they have a choice.

 

The way Lowry described McHale as a coach you would be thinking he was talking about somebody else. Could it be that McHale does preach what he learned from Aurbach and being a Champion Celtic but Harden just wasn't having it that way? I'm on the fire Morey bandwagon right now.

 

Have to agree with malakas on this one. That report is just espn hating on the Rox again. Embarrassed to be a Rockets fan?!? Disappointed in their performance...YES, but embarrassed to be a fan....HELL NO!! Ask Philly, Phoenix or Sac fans about embarrassment.

As for the way the FO treating players like trading chips, every team does it. If they can make a trade to better the team, they do it. It's just that the guy with analytics said it, so let's hate on him.

 

Absolutely, yes. You don't earn the respect as one of the greatest post players ever or honor of being a top 50 NBA player ever by being "Milkhair" as the idiots on this forum love to describe him.

Red was the greatest coach of all time...and even Red couldn't be successful in the eyes of this forum.

 

1) Naturally rivalry hate from SA/DAL/GSW/PORTLAND/LA
2) Lakers/Orlando fans hate us because of Dwight Howard leaving those teams on a bad note
3) OKC hates us for taking James Harden and Pat Bev. injuring Westbrook
4) Other fans in general just hate us because of Harden's playstyle (FT drawing) and the perception of Howard (multiple kids and Kobe calling him "soft")

These kind of hate spreads fast through online and through social media and some ppl just end up bandwagoning on the hate probably because they live with some sort of insecurities regarding their own life.

Also, Rockets fanbase isn't large enough to defend themselves in the first place in media outlets like Reddit, twitter, ESPN comment pages, etc. Basically people will just **** on you if you're a Rockets fan by default. CF is pretty much the only safe place online to be a Rockets fan.

It's pretty sad but it's been this way since Harden got here and been worse when Howard signed here and now that we're blowing up, ppl can't wait to jump on us.

 

I forgot to mention that Morey also made some statements as well as Les canning McHale which led to adding more fuel to the fire.

I personally don't really give a **** but I do think it's a bit unfair that we seem to get the most hate compared to the other teams. We're always seen as the bad guys in playoffs but now that we're not even making the playoffs, it's just a lot worse.

 

You guys really do take popularity in sports way too serious. There are plenty of teams out there that are constantly the butt of a joke like the Kings or Knicks. Even the Lakers now are constantly scrutinized. That's the most popular sports franchise ever other than maybe the Yankees.

So stop getting your panties all in a bunch. Houston and the Rockets are not so unpopular that you're going to get made fun of at school & bullied at the playground.

There are narratives about this team that are mostly false (James Harden isn't fun to play with, Morey is analytics only with no personality skills, the Rockets blamed McHale solely, etc.) IMO, but most people would LOVE to have the history & success that the Rockets have had over the years, and the cynical media makes a living off of kicking someone when they are down, and passive aggressive bullying.

So again... stop crying, and grow a pair.

 

Sure, they want to come play here, until they don't.

 

Harden, Howard, and Beverley are some of the most hated players in the NBA. Having just one of those players on your team will turn people against you. Having all three on your team will make you the most hated team in the league.

Firing a coach eleven games into the season after having your most successful season in two decades does make the organization look bad. I mean who does that? That's something you would expect from the Kings, so the Rockets deserve the criticism.

 

To be fair, this team, as a whole, hasn't done anything since the mid 90s that has been considered a success. If winning a championship is the end-all, be-all, hanging one's hat on a WCF berth isn't good. You couple that nugget of success with the fact that the media portrays our two best players as anything but great, and you get a firestorm of frustration.

Certain posters here, when trying to argue their point about something, still put pictures up of Hakeem. While there's nothing wrong with nostalgia and talking about the greatest player in Rockets' history, there's something wrong about needing to go back 20 years to do so.

So has this team had success and lots of rich history? Yes. Has that success occurred in the past 20 or so years? Not really.

It's tough to go from a WC finalist to a fringe playoff team. Fanbases of the Kings, 76ers, etc, have been used to being crappy for a number of years now - they're desensitized. Aside from the usual Barkley rant, the media isn't going to exactly crap on how the 76ers lost yet another game, or how the Kings are doing something wrong in the FO. It's the norm, now. But again, when you have a WC finalist from the previous year be this bad, this year? Things are magnified immensely (McHale firing, the play of Harden / Howard / Lawson, etc.)

 

Harden with 200+ more ISO's than Melo and 100+ more than the GS organization? Yep Moreyball sucks

 

Also it doesn't help that a lot casual fans that watch the NBA on TNT are subjected to 3 NBA personalities bashing on the Rockets every time our game is assigned to their network. Shaq always hating on Dwight every chance he gets. Barkley b****es about how Rockets are terrible and Morey is a jackass and Kenny never defends his ex-team that got him 2 rings. All these things make casual fans think we're some sort of evil organisation in the league.

 

So they are saying Morey's trade value is at an all time low? Les should kick himself for not trading Morey for Buford when he could. Now he'd be lucky to get Cho.

 

Er they give the Rockets meetings. And take them into serious consideration and visit with Morrey. What did you expect? To get every star you ever want to?
Even sitting in the table with a star is a privildge. Most of them only have meetings with pre selected teams. Toronto thought it was a huge victory to even be able to sit with Aldridge.
Unless you are a huge market team like the Lakers and Knicks.
Even the Spurs haven't been able to attract a major star FA in decades, except this year.

No. Having just one of them doesn't make you the most hated team in the NBA.
Bev is hated but it's just one roleplayer. Noah, Barnes, Scumleavy are hated too..doesn't mean someone will hate the whole team because of one roleplayer.
Harden is unpopular just because of his style of play and Howard is a victim of the media.

But on the other hand, a team like the Clippers is constantly been promoted and shoved down our throats, with CP3 the genius, Doc the mastermind and Griffin the golden boy and if you ask most hard core NBA fans EVERYONE hates them. FlopCity.
The only time they didn't hate them was with the Sterling fiasco.

in the last 20 years Rockets had Yao. Yao may not have won a ring for Houston but globally he has made history and been one of the most emblematic figures who created thousands of new NBA fans. Everyone knows Yao.
That's not something you may find in a history book, but his real effect on the NBA is very real and huge and by connection the Rockets.

 

First off - the Rockets VERY EASILY could be right back in the mix for deep playoff team if they RETOOL correctly around Harden & pick a good coach to get the best out of Harden.

Harden has THREE MONSTER seasons for the Rockets before this year that drove the engine for this team, and gave us three pretty significant seasons WE SHOULD BE PROUD OF. However it was hard to enjoy fully because we were spoiled by Morey's transactions, and kept on waiting for a super team with three or four superstars. Fan over expectations are what ruined the experience for you guys. That experience was something fans of most sports teams would love to have.... of and then there was the Damian Lillard shot which put a damper on a pretty amazing season. A season we should have been prouder of.

Also - How long do you think the Mavs (a very well respected franchise outside of Houston) will hold proud their ONE championship and the storied career of Dirk Nowitzki?? If the Mavs fans & the city of Dallas are allowed to do so with their short success I think Rockets fans can bask in the glory of the 90's for a few more decades.

Being a sports fan is supposed to be fun. Let's stop being miserable all the damn time. We have alot to be proud of with our teams history, and we still have many reasons to be optimistic about a Harden centric team that is retooled.... that is assuming Dwight does get traded.

 

Well I have 2 roommates, a Spurs fan and a mavs fan(harsh words get thrown during playoffs) and both of them just continually say JB is the dumbest coach they've ever seen. I think it's so obvious who the real problem is but we still blame James who gets almost a triple dub every game the past 2 weeks and Howard who is quietly having one of his better seasons, but we still want to trade Dwight

We need to start a chant at games to let Morey know JB doesn't fly with us