Now, I can't say that I don't think Les Alexander has done some great things for the Rockets and Houston. I think he has definitely done well since he bought the team in raising the profile of the club. But, it's time for Les to get a little taste of the bad times, because all he's known in the NBA is good times. 1. How can you expect sell-outs when you're paying $42 million to a scrub center who won't even try to win a game? It makes people a little reluctant to cough up $75 a seat (for good seats) to watch that... 2. Ticket prices in the NBA as a whole are just way too high. I think a lot of teams have been having this problem for a while, and it's finally hitting the Rockets. With the departure of Hakeem, already disappointing ticket sales just plummetted into the cellar. What did Les expect? While Francis is a great potential and very talented, he has not proven anything yet and while die hard fans recognize reasons to watch him, the average fan (unfortunately) doesn't give a damn about anything but WINS. Sad but true fact of life in sports in America. 3. The instability of the team over the last few years has hurt the Rockets fan base. When fans can't be assured that their favorite players will be there tomorrow (forget about next year), they start losing interest (unless you are winning, then they are paying attention). 4. The Barkley experiment was a dismal failure in the end. He ran off Mario Elie and Clyde Drexler (two guys who deserved way more from the team than they got at the end), and basically Hakeem allowed himself to be reduced to a support role for Barkley. I think that also left somewhat of a bitter taste in fans mouths. Bottom line is that Les has made some bold moves over the last 7 years. Not all bad, but the result has been a mediocre team that is pushing an unproven star as its marquee player, with a bunch of overpaid scrubs bringing up the rear. Sounds a lot like the rest of the league. Only problem is, we're not used to that in Houston - the Rockets made the playoffs almost every year for 10 years. Les is going to have to step it up and make some smarter moves if he wants to see more fans at the arena. And the fans are going to have to suck it up to go watch a mediocre team for $75 bucks a pop. I don't see the latter happening anytime soon.
With the exception of ticket prices, you can't lay any of the other blame you mention on Les. He has stepped to the plate to allow his employees to make some bold moves. He allowed them to get Drexler. He allowed the overblown salary that allowed them to get Pippen (which was perceived as a good move at the time - hindsight's 20-20). Also, the Rockets gave up next to nothing to acquire Pippen, so the future wasn't hindered. He allowed the bold move to get Barkley. He allowed the move to get Francis and create arguably the most exciting backcourt in the league. He allowed the trade for Griffen. He's not constantly putting himself above the team (see Mark Cuban). He has done what most fans would like their owners to do and that is to sign off on the moves that his employees ask for without putting himself in the limelight. It is not his fault that some of these moves did not work out as well as planned.
Hate to break this to you, but Les Alexander is not the GM, nor is he a owner ala Mark Cuban. Carroll Dawson and Rudy T gave Kelvin that contract and Les simply approved it.
Bottomline my ass. I consider this offensive to my Rockets knowledge. There is no need to sum up history as fairly as you did then lay this rotten egg of exaggeration at the end...and call it your <i>bottomline</i>. That just shows me how you truly believe, and that the rest of your fairness to history was just to suck us into your bottomline statement that you really wanted to start with. NBA coaches and many on this BBS consider Mobley a better go to player and pure scorer than Francis....and you are totally dismissing Kenny Thomas like just because someone is 6'8 he must be a scrub. Thomas is easily one of the fastest PFs in the game, smarter than Francis, and plays with more disciplined intensity than anyone else out on the court. Mo Taylor is 24 yrs old and scored 16ppg after the all-star break at ~50% FGA, and the only thing most of the BBS considers overpaid about his contract is the length. bottomline: There is no reason to talk to us like we don't know this team just because you want to make some big point about how you are as ignorant as the rest of Houston in believing we are one player with a bunch of "scrubs bringing up the rear."
While I don't agree with your overall point, I think there is some validity in it. My thinking is that people don't want to see flash as much as they want to see smart WINNING basketball, and right now the Rockets are all flash and no brains. DaDakota
Fellas/Ladies...you may disagree with this but I happen to think that REGARDLESS of the quality of the team, some cities just do not support local sports teams. There are exceptions I'm sure but here are a few examples... NY (you knew this was coming)...the Knicks, regardless of how good or bad they are ALWAYS sell out. In fact, the waiting list for season tix I believe is about 5 years. NJ...the Nets have always sucked. They never drew a crowd. Guess what...they are pretty damn fun to watch these days and they still have an empty arena Miami...their arena is empty now that they are horrendous and the arena was empty when they would win the Atlantic division every year Sacramento...always has been a tough place to play (even when they were bad) because they pack that place every night Houston...I dont have to tell you Houstonians what goes on there regardless of the team I'm sure I am leaving some out and I'm sure, like I stated before, there are some exceptions to the rule. However, I think that for the most part, it has to do with the overall support the city gives to the home teams and not so much to do with the product. If you think about it, take the examples I listed and think about the other pro sports teams in those areas and it seems as though the support is about the same for all sports regardless of quality of the team
Wow Axeman, do you only come around to complain about the Rockets? The Barkley deal gave us another shot at a championship considering Cassell and Horry were probably gone. Barkley didn't run Elie out, Elie ran himself out when he pouted the rest of the year after almost getting traded. Even Hakeem almost got traded in the early 90s so Elie had to reason to whine or cry. Barkley was a big reason Mobley is as confident as he is today. That "scrub" center grabbed 14 rebounds the other night. He stunk for about 4 days last week, but for the most part he is playing well this year which I'm glad to see. I'm curious though, when things got tough and Drexler left Houston you say that Barkley ran him out. Did Barkley run him out of the Cougars job to? The only reason this team has been unstable the last few years because we have been REBUILDING! The team got old, and it was getting old and expensive before Barkley arrived. But if you and the other fairweather fans want to bail on this team while they're rebuilding because you can't have "the good 'ol days" every year be my guest. You can't win every year, and this year is still young.
Axeman, I agree with your post up to where you call the "Barkley experiment" a "dismal failure". Before aquiring Barkley we were a team that tiptoed around the Sonics. Any fan that followed the Rockets throughout the 90's knows that the Sonics had the Rockets in their back pockets. Barkley provided another option that the Rockets desperately needed to beat the Sonics(remember the first matchup with Barkley on the team? we broke, I believe a 13 game losing streak to them where Chuck had 20+ rebounds). Barkley also helped get the Rockets to within one shot of a third straight Finals appearance. Without Barkley it is highly likely we would not have been as competitive for as long as we were. As far as running Elie and Drexler out, PLEASE!!! Elie ran himself out, just like Pippen did(ok, thats and exagerration, but its not far off) and Drexler retired right when his game began to decline.
I guess I say the Barkley experiment was a "dismal failure" only in hindsight. I agree that the short-term gain was HUGE in that we got past the Sonics. And, we came two games away from the Finals. But, looking back now, and I felt this way from the beginning, I think they would have done better to keep Cassell and Horry, and just add Kevin Willis. Bringing in Barkley changed the chemistry so drastically that they never really recovered. Hakeem lost his position as number one offensive option which I think was a BIG mistake. When Barkley was hurt that year and the starting frontcourt was Hakeem and Willis, we simply ROCKED. Hakeem was back in his role as the man and the team chemistry was so much better. But I digress... I just read Clutch's headline about how pitiful the attendance is at the Rockets games, but I just don't think the fans can be all to blame for it. Les is not all to blame either, but he's feeling the most pain for this. It's the reality of the league these days that ticket prices are too high, salaries are out of control, and fans are not going to pay huge money for mediocre basketball. Les was able to stave that off for a few years by having such megastars on his team. Now, he's getting a taste of what most of the rest of the league has been feeling for years now. I think Les has been a wonderful owner, but this will be his real test. Can he stay interested and keep the team competitive in this environment? Can he handle owning a mediocre, losing team for maybe 4 or 5 years while he's shelling out $7 million a year to Cato? These are going to be a rough couple of years for the Rockets, but I do have faith that they'll get it done in the end.
Oh, one more thing -- it is common knowledge that Drexler and Barkley are no longer friends. In fact, before Drexler's last season there were already rumors that he was getting so sick of Barkley's BS that he just wanted out. I do think that Barkley's demeanor and personality has been a problem on many teams. He managed to leave the Rockets on good terms but I know that there was friction in the locker room before he retired. Think back to his days with Philly and Phoenix. He left both of those teams on the worst terms, talking trash about the organizations. Also, if you recall, after the Pippen acquisition Barkley also came out and talked MAJOR trash about Elie and Drexler in a Sports Illustrated interview. And, I know Pippen is not exactly a saint (that's an understatement) , but for Pippen to just blast Chuck the way he did, Chuck had to have pissed him off somehow. It is a credit to Hakeem that he managed to keep his mouth shut and stay calm in the midst of all that BS. I think that, unfortunately, Barkley instigated a lot of things that were unnecessary and took away the old school mentality the Rockets used to have which was "Just shut your mouth and kick some ass on the court." During the championship runs it was always Barkley running his mouth while the Rockets just kept quiet and beat him down on the court. I missed those days once Barkley was here.
Oh, and by the way <b>RocksMillenium</b>, I am still a fan, and I still watch all the games. I have been to two home games this year already. I am not a fairweather fan by any stretch... The only reason I write this stuff is because I actually CARE about the game and want to see things improve. And, I like the interesting discussion.
Hey <b>crispee</b>: <hr> <i>NBA coaches and many on this BBS consider Mobley a better go to player and pure scorer than Francis....and you are totally dismissing Kenny Thomas like just because someone is 6'8 he must be a scrub. </i> <hr> Kenny Thomas is not an overpaid scrub. He is getting paid about what he deserves and I think he is a great talent and has a lot of potential. And, I wasn't referring to Mobley or Maurice Taylor when I said "scrub". The scrubs I'm talking about are Cato, Glen Rice, Moochie Norris. All of them are getting way more money than they deserve and are just taking up valuable cap and roster space. I guess I should have been more specific. The nucleus of Mobley, Francis, and Mo Taylor could prove to be a good one down the road. But, they are going to need to spend their money more wisely on other players.
Actually, you make a great point here. The NBA isn't nearly as accessible as it was before. Not only has it 'priced out' many of its fans, but it's not nearly as visible from a TV standpoint as it was in the '80s (which just happened to be a 'Golden Era' for the league, I wonder why ) Here in Houston, we are luck that every game the Rocks play is televised. In a lot of NBA cities, you're lucky if 50% of the games are televised. The NBA has been cashing in on PPV and "League Pass"-like package at the expense of exposure, which is putting it on a path that boxing followed. Boxing declined as a sport when it stopped coming on network TV, largely because it stopped being accessible to the masses, 'out of sight out of mind'. And like all things, society moved on and interest in the sport declined. I just hope that the NBA learns from Boxing's mistake, and I'm grateful that Les hasn't given in to the temptation of PPV.
The NBA runs in cycles. Nobody's on topforever, so why blame Les? The Rockets were probably never going to survive as a playoff contender after Hakeem, so I don't see the point in regretting the loss of Horry and Cassell. Very nice players, but neither is going to carry a team. The Rockets have a really nice collection of talent, it's just young and injured right now. Francis and Mobley are the best back-court in the league. Mo T is an above average PF. So is KT, imo... and I think he has more potential than Mo. If he could just shoot a bit better, I really think he could be a 16-10 type of guy. Moochie's a terrific back-up 1, Oscar Torres looks like a tremendous spark of energy of the bench, and both Walt Williams and Glen Rice are good shooters. Tons of reasons for optimism. What I am bothered by is how easily Houston fans have deserted a decent product. The Rockets aren't world-beaters... but they're not half-bad either. They should be getting higher attendance than they are.
Axeman, that's cool. Thanks for the clarification. Excuse me for taking offense to a summary of our team like i'd expect from those backwagoners you mention in your post who have lost interest and only peripherally watch the Rockets.
all i know is that i'd love to go to a couple of games this year, but unfortunately i was laid off from my job about a month ago, so i am sorry to be such a fair weather fan as to not have had a savings account set aside for tickets...like they do in NY or Chicago or any other 'Great Sports Town' fairweather fans my a** oh, and i am sure a few of my friends at enron feel the same
NO NO, dude! Obviously nobody on this BBS is a fair weather fan. I was referring to the corporate crowd that fills the lower prom at the Compaq Center. They just sit on their asses and don't ever cheer for their team. The true fans are those of us on the BBS who move down from the $10 and $13 seats to yell, scream and get rowdy in the lower level. Just had to clear that up. Back to studying for 2 exams tomorrow. Microelectronics II (338K) and Solid State Electronics (339). Gonna be a long night.
