The response from DM and Tad Brown are very classy, I like that. Remember when NY media was underestimating Rockets in our first championship year? Oh, man, Hakeem went on to Twitter and bit the s**t out of media and doubters. Oh, wait, sorry, he answered that on the court. So when you do NOT have anything to show on the court ... well - welcome to the Houston Morey's formerly known as Houston Rockets.
Everyone has the RIGHT to say what the f*** they want to say Screaming A is an ASS Clown Rocket River
I like it He is protecting the brand and fired clear shot at Barkley. Good to see some fire from rockets org.
Would you guys rather have a boring organization who lays down when they're being trashed? Nah, not me. I enjoy the back-and-forth. I think the players respect it to, given their competitive spirit. Free agents will want to come to an organization that defends its team
He is totally fugazi. Not even a tad brown at all. He needs to be about Shane Battier or Tyson Chandler brown to use that name.
Kind of shows the lack of class, or maybe emotional intelligence this FO has. Barkley ****s on a lot of things, that's kind of where the entertainment of Inside The NBA comes from. He says something way out there, and the crew can make fun of him, and he can laugh at himself as well. Nobody really takes things personally though, except for the Rockets.
Two ways to look at it. One - on a strictly surface level: It's stupid to think that Barkley is allowed to troll whoever he wants, but it's off limits to snap back at him. One - out of the context of the competitiveness of pro basketball: Brown is running a business and Barkley is doing things that negatively affects his business. As the CEO Brown should go after people affecting his business.
Seems the board has very mixed reactions on this. I like it. We have been dogged all year, rightfully so, but Charles was just being a troll last night, and he got called out on it. I don't know how an organization sticking up for it's brand and players can be considered a bad thing. Also, this kind of stuff happens. These guys are human. If someone is being blatantly obvious about hating on their team, it is natural to fire back. Hell the Raptors GM said "f*** Brooklyn" at a televised event a couple years ago. I like the jab as long as it stays at that. If they went out of their way to argue every single little thing, that would be different. Taking a jab at the biggest Rockets troll on TV, I'm cool with that.
I would rather have an organization that holds their highest paid players accountable for extreme lack of effort on one side of the ball, and takes into consideration that some personalities and talents don't mesh, and one that values coaching. Thus, the media and fans of the world don't have a reason to **** on said organization. The only bad thing we say about San Antonio is their women love Churros, and the Warriors are a bunch of dirty assholes, I'd rather that be the only Rockets criticism. And I'm sorry, but when Shaqtin' a Fool regularly shows James Harden half-heartedly reaching for a steal to show he's "Hustling" on D...
From what I remember, there were 2 narratives about Barkley and Drexler behind the scenes that drove them to hate each other. Drexler was a fitness junkie that cared about his diet and health, and considered that one of the most important factors to winning at hoops. On the other hand, Drexler was notoriously bad at practicing, like Allen Iverson bad, just without the public attitude. Drexler in his book would write about showing up just before games. It was this philosophy that followed him later in life in his stints as a coach, on Dancing with the Stars, and in other endeavors. I think many people question Drexler's work ethic on the job. Barkley, on the other hand, was a work hard/play hard guy, with a huge public personality. He gave tremendous effort on the court and had great basketball IQ. He was also a drunk, partier, strip club lover (which is fine), and notoriously out-of-shape going into every season. He was a hard worker on the court, but didn't have that focused dedication off the court that could have made him an even greater player. So while he had many drawbacks that impacted the failure and breakup of that team, Barkley definitely hustled on the court. Regarding Tad Brown, didn't our insider trash him many years ago bc of how unfairly he got the CEO position as Les' buddy and pushed out his predecessor? We need a clutch bbs historian to confirm this.
Anyone else notice the video on ESPN this morning about this actually didn't mention this at all and only talked about Steph Curry. We don't reserve much respect, but come on ESPN. This is twice they have totally ignored us in our own series.
If someone trolls you, you're usually not supposed to get "trolled" right? Well, the Rockets FO got trolled, and continue to do so. Barkley is a TV analyst. The Rockets are a professional organization, and not Mark Cuban. Maybe they shouldn't be concerning themselves with an entertainment show and give the illusion that their only concern is to make their underachieving team better, instead of defending a team that has glaring deficiencies that even the casual fan can see. They don't need Barkley to tell them, its just funnier when he says it. Hey mama, I used my brain today.
Again, from a strictly business perspective when the team is struggling they have MANY concerns at the same time. You don't see the business implications of the TNT crew essentially saying that everyone (presumably including the city of Houston) should tune out the Rockets and that the series isn't necessary? Pat Bev saying today that a big part of the energy that the team played with was due to the crowd, so combatting someone who is trying to convince NBA fans that a team is not worth investing in (time, energy, money) absolutely has implications on making an underachieving team better.
It is on thing when family members scream and critize each other, but when outsiders do it, you circle the wagons and defend one another. The same notion applies to a professional organization and its fans. I love it that Thad Brown and Morey are dissing it back to the outsiders.
You're not giving people credit in thinking that they couldn't discern that for themselves, given that everyone has **** on the Rockets, including people on this forum. Barkley is just the easiest target. In fact, people have said worse about they're own team on this forum. You don't see Barkley ****ting on Brewer, JBB, and whoever else is the flavor of the day. They also barely made the playoffs. They're also facing a team that just made history as the best regular season team of all time. They're also barely beating a Warriors team without their transcendent MVP. ----- But I guess none of that is enough to sway someone that the Rockets might not be worth their time. It took TNT's [Not Necessary] joke, his "fake hustle" comment, and his "guarantee the Rockets would get swept", to finally sway them. ----- I'm no business major or expert, but I'm not putting faith in a business that can't even recognize their own flaws, and will go to childish levels to defend those flaws, that have been shown to the world countless times all season. Or even worse, they recognize those flaws, but will repeatedly try to convince themselves that they're not flaws. Ego trip. Delusion. Hinkie.
Of course people will discern it for themselves. But you must realize that someone who is one of the loudest a mouthpieces for/in the league constantly criticizing the brand has a negative effect on the brand's perception. It's essentially constant negative advertising (especially with Barkley). I would argue that it's them recognizing their flaws that makes it more important to defend the brand. If you had a candid one-on-one with Tad Brown about the team, he would most definitely cite team performance (along with the current Houston economy) as the problems that are most impacting their business. That doesn't mean he shouldn't do something about the other problems. That doesn't mean he's sitting in his office saying "I snapped back at Barkley... all is well with the org now"