I seriously doubt the Knicks or Clippers could ever be labeled as stable. Clemens is from Houston. Francis was the star player in a rebuilding era, he was embraced by the city. Drexler grew up here. Arian was about money.
First of all, I love Houston. I've lived in NY and spend most of my time in other cities and I still choose to live here. This version of the NBA is embraced by the hip-hop culture more than any other sport, and aligning yourself with that culture as a basketball player seems to be far more important than it was when we were able to attract free agents. As crappy as the programming might be, wildly popular shows like Basketball Wives and Chloe and Lamar exist because of the popularity of basketball, and the sports rise to the top of hip-hop culture. That example does not exist in other sports. Houston is respected in the rap game, but is well down the list for hip-hop media markets (yes, I just made that market up). :grin:
tmac had houston on his list of teams he wanted to be traded to.. just like the reports of carmelo having the rockets on his shortlist when yao was healthy..
oh really was it? i mean he signed a fairly team friendly contract rather quickly before even fielding offers from other teams.. he was an RFA but he could have driven up the price if he wanted to..
The Big free agents that did come here, came because we already had a good team. The Rockets teams that added big names via FA were most often that one player away from being contenders. Right now this team has no direction and sadly it does not look to get better anytime soon. Unless the Rockets can get their own superstar via the draft ( Hakeem, Yao) Other people will continue to not come here. I think Les Alexander needs to sell the team to a younger owner who is more willing to go through couple or three bad seasons so that the Rockets can get some top level homegrown talent. Morey has nothing to do with the current situation. He is in the same boat that Wade was with the Astros. He has been instructed to keep the club "competitive" and try to get better at the same time. This is the same story the Astros went through (06 -09) until they blew up the team. Morey is quite capable of drafting well , his ability to draft good NBA talent even in the later rounds speaks well. I am sure given two or three years of drafting in the top 5 -8 range he will be able to get some top level homegrown talent for the rockets. Sadly until Alexander bends or sells the team we are stuck in this mediocrity train.
The Clippers, & Thunder got those all stars by being really bad and drafting them. I was never for tanking but it's definitely not working through free agency and getting low-end draft picks.
