Ad in the Houston Chronicle - First Draft - Need Your Feedback!

Hey everyone. Been a while since I posted. But I've been lurking, lurking, and lurking, and this compelled me to post again.

In another thread, munco had an excellent idea of posting an ad in the Chronicle. There was a request for someone to take a stab at a "serious letter," so to speak.

Here's my crack at it. Sorry for the new thread -- I know we have lots -- but if this ad goes up, I'd like to get as much of your input as possible. (Mods, if that's inappropriate and you need to merge, apologies.)

What do you think? I know it's long. Okay, it's loooong. But it should fit in a full-page ad.

Or if this isn't quite what you're looking for, I might pitch directly to the Chronicle as an Editorial. (I'm a freelance writer for the NY Daily News, so you never know...)

Suggestions? Comments? Feedback? Complaints?

(Also, I sorta suck at writing headlines, so feel free to throw out some better ones).

_____________________________


Why the Rockets Flunked the Draft
(…and what they can do to fix it.)

We are Rockets fans.

We stand behind the team. Always have, always will. From Moses to Moochie, from Scottie Brooks to Scott Padgett, we've loved every superstar and every scrub. (Well. Maybe not Scottie Pippen.) We're diehard. We care. We spend more money on season tickets than we do on rent.

And we're mad as hell.

On draft day, the Rockets had a golden opportunity, the kind that comes along about as often as sweet-shooting, 7' 6" centers from China.

The opportunity? Rudy Gay. Projected by many to be the draft's first overall pick, the young, athletic slasher--with a rock solid jumpshot, to boot--somehow tumbled all the way to the Rockets at #8. And it just so happens that the Rockets' glaring need, according to both Jeff Van Gundy and Carroll Dawson, is "youth, athleticism, and shooting."

The excitement! The exuberance! We could hardly believe our good fortune: in a thin draft, we somehow landed the most explosive player with the most upside, a player that happens to perfectly match our needs.

And then, to our horror, we learn that the rights to Gay have been traded for… no, surely we didn't hear that right…for…wait, did he just say… for…Shane Battier?

That couldn't be right. Straight up, this deal made no sense. It's cartoonishly lopsided. Surely another player must be involved?

And there was. We gave up another player: Stromile Swift.

Who let you into our War Room, Isaiah Thomas?

Now, Shane Battier is a nifty little player. He's scrappy. He'll grab loose balls, he'll play solid defense, he'll hustle, and he'll be a heckuva guy in the locker room. Which is just what you want in a role player. Not what you want in your lottery pick.

When we first heard this trade, we were outraged. And then we thought about it. We thought about it some more. We studied the stats. We broke down the salary cap.

And we're still outraged.

For these five reasons:

1. Gay's floor is Battier's ceiling. There's one knock on Gay: he has risk. And it's true. Some say he lacks passion, some say he's raw, some say he might not live up to his potential. Fair enough. Gay has risk. But here's the rub: his "risk" is that he won't be an All-Star. There's no risk of him not making the team. There's no risk that he can't hack it as a role player. Consider Battier. He posts a ho-hum 10 points and 5 rebounds. If you poll all other 29 GMs, none, none, would guess that Gay would average less than 10 points. This is the equivalent of Keira Knightley asking you on a date, and you turning her down for an evening you KNOW you'll enjoy: microwave popcorn and Netflix. (Even if the "risk" pans out, that Keira Knightley is a lousy kisser or whatever, it's still better than Netflix.)

2. The Rockets could have gotten more. Let's say they didn't want Gay. Fine. Trade him. But here's what gets us. Don’t you think if you spent more than oh, say, two seconds negotiating--literally two seconds--you could have found a better deal? Why act so impulsively? You're telling us that of all the teams in the league, out of the entire pool of player, Battier was the absolute best we can do, and we knew that after literally two seconds? We couldn't even get another draft pick? AND we threw in Stromile Swift?

3. This smacks of shortsighted decision-making. Gay is only 19. Six years younger than Yao Ming, eight years younger than T-Mac. Which means that as our two superstars enter, reach, and leave their primes, Gay will just be entering his. Isn't that how a responsible GM would build a franchise, looking at the long view and mapping out a plan? Give the fans a little credit. We're more concerned about the next decade than we are about 1 or 2 wins next year.

4. This was the Rockets' last-great chance to get a young All-Star. When healthy, the Rockets aren't a lottery team. Period. This year they were slumming it. They'll make the playoffs next year. And the year after. And the year after that. So since this is likely their only chance--for perhaps a decade--to draft a lottery pick with gobs of upside, why not do it? Especially when the guy with the most talent just falls into your lap?

5a. The excitement factor. Sure, this isn't the primary reason to draft Gay. But it's there. Gay could give us a decade of highlights and spectacular play. He could be special. Now? For the next ten years, every time we see a highlight of Gay, our stomachs will again tighten with disgust.

5b. We were really looking forward to all those "Gay Pride" banners. C'mon. That would have been fun.

In our draft-day chat room (yes, we're that geeky and that obsessed), one fan said that this was sort of like the Texans skipping on Reggie Bush or Vince Young. Another fan countered, "No. This is worse. This is like the Texans trading their #1 pick, along with Dominick Davis, to Green Bay for Ahmed Green."

Will the Rockets make the playoffs next year? You bet. With or without Gay, with or without Battier. We're sure of it. But since we're already a playoff team, that's irrelevant, and it won't validate the trade.

The good news?

There's still time. This trade can't be finalized until July 12.

Mr. Dawson, sir, you have just over a week. Fix it.

Oh, and Mr. Dawson? One more thing. If you're interested, there's a seat for you in our Fantasy Football league.

Go Rockets.

Faithfully,
Clutchfans.net

 

munco -- Excellent point about the lack of UConn flops. We'll add it.

DallasThomas -- good point. Originally, the idea was to do an ad from Clutchfans, but you're right, it doesn't necessarily reflect every opinion. Also, this is inferior to anythign that Clutch would write, so I don't want to besmirch his good name.

Maybe it should just be signed: "Devoted Rockets Fans" or something generic like that.

 

Agree 100% and respect your opinion. If I could edit the OP I would -- mention of Clutchfans should definitely be snipped.

(DallasThomas -- for what it's worth, I'm normally in your boat, and I'm rarely reactionary. This is the only roster move in 15 years that I've been hotly upset about.)