[CHRONIC] Rockets fans accept mediocrity — and that's exactly what they get

From Solomon's twitter....

@JeromeSolomon: @dmorey Wow, little sensitive aren't we? I didn't say it was your fault the team had one of its 10 worst seasons.

 

And he still got it wrong! LOL

 

And Morey didn't say it was your fault the Chronicle's circulation is tanking...

 

What an idiot. I counted 20 worse seasons during the history of the Rockets, and two other 42-40 records, with one of those teams making it to the playoffs. Soloman is, I repeat, a clown pretending to be a journalist.

 

I don't think Morey is arguing whether it's his fault or not the Rockets were 42-40, I don't think Morey cares whether Solomon blames Morey personally, or Les Alexander or any of the staff. Solomon is attacking the organization and saying it misled fans, that's what Morey is responding to, not assignment of any blame for the record.

 

Since Morey came on board, the Rockets have been the smartest run organization in the NBA. It really is that simple. Not simple enough, apparently, for queen to get it. Truth is, though, I think he does get it, but writing a column praising the organization isn't going to get as many hits as writing a column that bashes both the team and the fans who support them.

 

Solomon is either one of two things:

1) If he believes this verbal vomit that he put down on paper, then he's absolutely one of the least-knowledgeable journalists I've ever come across, and his words should never be heeded. Facts clearly mean nothing to him, and everything on this planet is either black or white. Anybody who looks at this Rockets team and sees mediocrity has no ability to gauge situational circumstances.

2) If he doesn't believe any of this, and he just wrote it down to muster up discussion, and get hits on his site, he has absolutely zero ethical obligations to his profession, and he's a weasel who is willing to say whatever it takes to make a buck.

Either way, he has alienated the front office, the players, and the fan base in the city where he works, and I hope he enjoys the bed he lies in. Good luck EVER getting even just a simple interview from anyone associated with the Rockets ever again, Queen.

 

I wonder if PTI or Around The Horn will mention this?

 

I doubt it

 

Exactly. We had our shots and we didn't do as well with them as, say, San Antone or the Lakers. You can chalk that up to luck as much as anything else. Regardless, the point is that while others drafted surefire Hall of Famers (e.g., Duncan, Kobe, Nowitzki), we drafted some perennial All-Stars. There is a difference.

(Yao may yet make the HOF, of course. But let's be honest: he's no Kobe or Duncan or Dirk the Jerk.)

 

In fairness, the Lakers did not draft Kobe, and both the Spurs and the Mavs had to be absolute bottom-dwellers to be in the position to draft Duncan and Dirk. Granted, I do sometimes imagine a universe where the Rox had drafted Richard Jefferson and Rashard - and we are probably talking about a completely different set of results over the last decade. However, all we have is now, here, today, we can't change the past, all we can do is get behind the most wickedly devious GM in the game today and trust him to make the decisions which eluded this franchise under the previous regime. Yeah we all have a soft spot for CD, but man, some of those picks and decisions were cringe-worthy.

 

ok, this calls for all caps:

HOW DOES THE HOUSTON CHRONICLE ALLOW SUCH A NEGATIVE REPORT ABOUT A HOUSTON SPORTS FRANCHISE???????????????

QUEEN SOLOMON, HOUSTON HATES YOU MORE THAN YOU HATE THE ROCKETS.
GET THE *&#! OUT OF HOUSTON!!

Now that my little rant about that piece of *&%! sports writer is over, we will see who is right by this time next year when we are in the playoffs winning series one by one.

Guaranteed.

 

Damn, Nero, you put the smack down on Solomon! And deservedly so. I'm trying to give you rep points but can't (maybe my rep status is too low, or maybe I'm too computer illiterate to figure it out).

I'm still at a loss as to how wise old Solomon can rate this season one of the 10 worst in Rockets' history. Granted it wasn't a major success, but one of the 10 worst? It's not as if we showed up on Opening Day as heavy favorites, with the title ours to lose (a la LA), and then tanked. Expectations were crap - most preseason polls had us no better than #23 in their rankings - and we exceeded them. No, we weren't a Cinderella team like Butler in the NCAA Tournament, but to top .500 with players who would hardly be considered starters by most other clubs (no offense, Chuck Hayes, we still love you!) is nothing short of a minor miracle.

If we perform next year as all of us are expecting (55+ wins, a trip to the WCF if not further?) you can bet your arse the Chron and King Solomon will get an earful from us. Till then, all we can do is continue to believe in ourselves.

(On an unrelated, cool-story-bro note: I ran into Van Gundy's wife and kid a few days ago. Nice people. I keep running into ex-Rox families: two months ago I ran into Steve Francis's wife and son.)

 

And now Jerome's tweets are being directed towards Clutchfans. This is only going to get better as the day goes on.

Clutch told the Chron to get some fact-checkers and Queen blasts off a tweet directed at Clutch telling him to learn the difference between fact and opinion.

Like it or not Queen is getting EXACTLY what he wants, a little run in this typically slow time for non-playoff teams. He has learned nobody likes him over the years and has accepted his non-sense filled journalism will play well into his antagonistic role in Houston Journalism.

 

Yeah sadly I gave into temptation and responded to him. Sometimes I can't control myself.

 

Which says more about the chronicle for keeping him on the payroll than it does about his lazy screeds.

 

Wait...so Jerome is saying that he wasn't talking about the 42-40 record, even though he does mention the 42 wins, but just that in his opinion, this season was one of the 10 worst?

Since we are not going by records, potentially, there could be 36 win or 40 win seasons which were better, and conversely, there could be 43 or 44 win season that were worst, right?

So, is Jerome saying that Jerome went back and reviewed the entire history of the Rockets organization, and then ranked the seaons from best to worst, and decided this season, by whatever criteria he uses (whether it's personal enjoyment, some measure of "talent" or something more objective like points differential or whatever) was among the bottom 10 from all these years?

I am wonder how much knowledge Jerome has of the Rockets team from, say, 36 years ago. One would think that if this is about Jerome's subjective opinion, he would have had an opinion about the 1974 team, the 1977 team, the 1980 team, etc.

This man is a disgrace.

 

My favorite part of this thread.

 

He's saying on his twitter that he's followed the team for 39 years (making him how old at the beginning of that time) and that it's his opinion that it's one of the 10 worst.

He's back pedaling to try and support his statement.

 

Well, I posted a comment on his blog, I don't think he will approve it. Not the best argument here, but I'm satisfied with it:

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So making the playoffs = good season? Does that mean that Orlando was happy about how their season turned out last year? What about Boston?

When you're saying that this is one of the 10 worst season the Houston Rockets have experienced, start off by saying that this is your opinion. Don't try to paint it as a fact first, and then defend it later on by saying it was an opinion. If you really believe that the 1980-1981 season (40 wins) was better than this season (42 wins), then there is obviously something other than winning percentage that you're taking into account (I assume it's the fact that they won the West in 1981). Don't you think that a conference where 40 wins is enough to make the playoffs is a weaker one than the West this season, where 50 wins is the bare minimum?

Let's take out two of the top players on other teams in the league and speculate about their fans expectations. The Thunder minus Durant and Westbrook? Every fan is watching college basketball in search of a prospective Thunder. The Lakers minus Kobe and Gasol? Not as bad as the situational Thunder, but certainly not a playoff team. The Suns minus Nash and Stoudemire? Once again, lottery bound. If these teams had lost those players due to injuries, would their fans have reacted to a ~.500 season while missing the playoffs? Most likely, they'll think it was a productive season. Seeing how well their role players step up when the light is shining on them instead of their stars is a good sign.

If you're strictly concerned about winning percentage, then .500 is in fact mediocre. Does that mean that those teams are mediocre? Not necessarily. It just means that they have bad luck, having their two best players out for the season. It's just part of the game. And at that point, the only option for fans to do is look at the flashes of greatness that particular season has shown, and look to the future (something you must be familiar with, considering that "next year" was the motto throughout your lord and savior Tracy McGrady's stint in Houston).

Reflecting on this past season, I see past the middle-of-the-pack 42 wins and look at Aaron Brooks, who should win Most Improved Player. I see Kevin Martin, an extremely efficient scorer who we've needed for quite a while. I see Chase and Jordan Hill, who (with a productive off-season) can make a name for themselves among their draft class. So all in all, was this a mediocre season? If you really think about it, no. However, I can see how you could see 42-40 and think otherwise. I really don't want to believe that you're dense enough not to look past a win-loss record in order to gauge how successful a particular season was, but so far you haven't really shown any trace of objectivity. Believe what you want to believe. There's a reason why Morey is the man in charge, and not you.

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This whole thing has gotten me riled up a bit, so I felt a bit compelled to include the very last bit in my comment.