Please lock if already posted but didn't see it anywhere... I got home from the game late last night and noticed in my twitter that Morey had sent Soloman this tweet... dmorey Love@JeromeSolomon-he wrks hard on columns but so do writers w/more readrs.I like writers who wrk hard&win the Pulitzer http://bit.ly/6TVEnv Didn't think much of it till I read the below article that Solomon wrote yesterday bashing the Rockets and perception we are the hardest working team in the NBA. http://blogs.chron.com/jeromesolomon/2009/11/the_james_brown_rockets_play_h.html Weekly wrap: The "James Brown" Rockets play hard. So what? I caught some of the radio broadcast of the Rockets' game against Atlanta last night and almost threw up from taking in Craig Ackerman's scrappy-little-team-that-could description of the game. He's averaging 21.1 "scrappys" and 10.8 "little team that coulds" a game this season. (Hey, at least somebody around the team is averaging a double-double.) Then late night I read my man Jason Friedman description of the "Hickory High" Rockets' loss. Laying it on a little thick aren't we fellas? But that's OK. Those guys are good at what they do, and they are on the team's payroll. The rest of the local media needs to get a grip. I almost can't even listen to sports radio discussions of the "James Brown" Rockets (the hardest working team in show business). Even writers have given into the spin. Yes the Rockets play hard, but so do all those teams that are ahead of them in the standings, as well as a bunch of them that are behind them. It's OK for the Rockets to sell the "we try harder" line to fans, but the media - writers, columnists or radio amateurs - aren't supposed to lap it up. I understand why Daryl Morey tweets after the game that the Rockets wouldn't even be in a game against the Hawks if they didn't play hard. But the Hawks wouldn't win that game if they didn't play hard. I like teams that play hard too. What I really like are teams that play hard and win. Teams that play hard and smart. Teams that play good, hard defense. Hard-playing teams that have stars who step up when it counts and can make up for teammates' deficiencies. Right now, the Rockets play hard and sometimes win. They play hard and occasionally smart. They play good, hard defense every now and then (once a week or so). They play hard for a team with no stars who can step up when it counts. The play hard for a team that has too many players with too many deficiencies to be a contender. Did I mention that they play hard? I can see why Morey was pissed off about this junk, Solomon has never been one of my fav columnist but this is beyond dumb IMO. Sure all teams play hard but the biggest difference is the Rox can afford to not play hard other teams have the liberity to relax and still pull out a victory. I'd love to hear Solomon's reaction and Morey's explanation on his thoughts to this junk.
Solomon is just not a very bright individual, how he has a job w/ the chronicle i'll never understand, I throw up in my mouth a lil every time i read one of his pieces, which i've done an admirable of not doing recently....until just now I read 2
What's the upside for Morey here? Even if he has a point nothing positive is going to come out of fuelling an antagonistic relationship with a local reporter.
Antagonistic relationship with a local reporter? Maybe if it was Feigen. However, Solomon is an idiot and doesn't count. So the guy writes negative columns about the team, that's the worst that could happen. The Rockets will be either good or bad depending on how they play things out on the court. No one should be fearful to call out a reporter on the stupidity of his column.
Solomon is an extreme Tmac apologist.....he is being hypocritical in that he supports "His boy", over the franchise at every turn. But, I don't have any issue with this column......he likes star players.... DD
I don't see how you guys are calling Solomon's comments "dumb" or "crap" when, essentially, Morey confirmed the comments with a cute, barbed retort. Solomon' point has merit: we do try hard, but don't have the talent to be the best...though we sure do try. Daryl basically said "I know you are but what am I!". Lol.
Morey's right, using Solomon's logic why read him if everyone works equally as hard when you can read a more talented writer.
This is the 2nd time Morey's gone after Solomon. The first was about Solomon complaining about the volume of the music at TC. I wonder what stated the feud. This "article" was a pretty harmless rant. If Morey wanted to jump on someone, how about Justice's article today, or Blinebury just about any time. I'm not defending Solomon, but if Morey's going to take the time to shoot down op-eds & blogs there's far more incendiary stuff out there. This almost seems personal.
If he doesn't count then he should be ignored. Longterm negative PR is the downside the upside is what exactly? Morey feeling like a smart guy for outwitting a nitwit? How does that benefit the team?
Soloman is just upset because while he is sitting on TMacs nuts, TMac is complaining that the Rockets have not activated him yet. The Rockets pass the eyeball test. Hey Jerome....Watch the Damn Game! The Rockets have a number of great young up and coming players that are playing well. The Rockets have one of the true elite benches in the game. The Rockets play like a team (something that is a pure joy to watch....thanks to Bill Walton for that quote). The Rockets do hustle and only play at one speed something that not all teams including some Rockets teams in the past have not always done (remember TMacs defense on Jamario Moon last season?). Right now the Rockets are going through what is probably as tough a stretch in their schedule as they will have all year with wins against LA in LA, Utah in Utah as well as wins against Portland and Oklahoma(currently holding a play-off spot). Most writers thought the Rockets would not win 30 games this year and were lottery bound. Hollinger, Dwyer, Simmons all predicted against the Rockets making the play-offs and yet here we are sitting in the 6th spot going through the toughest stretch of games. Sorry to disappoint you Jerome.
Justice's article was complementary of the Rox today and for the most part almost everyone in the Media loves this team, as noted by Solomon, but the thing I got from Morey's reaction was the assumption that this team isn't special for all the hard work they put in. Morey sees that in the NBA a lot of teams don't go full speed ahead most of the time but this Rockets team does and has to. Basically Jerome is saying so what they play hard but there not winners so who cares. I say alot of us here on CFs and in Houston along with many fans who get to see this team from other cities do care and are realizing we do have something special. :grin:
I'm definitely of DM's side but maybe JS is tired of the Rockets org always saying "we have $40 million sitting on the bench so we have to work extra hard every game" while Tmac is saying he's ready. I mean if they want to sit Tmac that's fine, but stop saying their 2 stars are injured unless they give him a chance to play first.
Common sense seems to evade Solomon. The issue isn't that there are other teams out there that play hard and win or other teams that play hard like us. The point is that this is a team with no big name players on it, a bunch of 2nd rounders and role players, etc. that's hanging with the Hawks. I mean seriously, the Hawks roster is loaded with high picks and coveted players and they can barely win against a team full of 99-cent store players. Or a better point would be a 99-cent writer in Jerome Solomon missing the point altogether while trying to be a stud journalist.
Its 15 games into the season. What are the Rockets supposed to do when their INJURED stars are out? They're not allowed to have a plan in mind to develop the talent they do have? They're not allowed to give young players the chance to compete, manage the assets they do have and add a star to that later? I have no problem with his assertion of hard work PLUS talent=wins and championship contention. I dont like how he thinks since the media is over-promoting the hard working Rockets theme, it means the fans are thoughtlessly lapping it up too. Like we're letting the Rockets organization put the wool over our eyes believing what they have on the court is "all you need". He's basically saying dont support this product the way you're doing it, support it with higher standards. Understandable but we already know that. It just takes a little more time to do all the other things so while we're being PATIENT, we just got to enjoy whats currently out there. Morey owned him anyways, so whatever.
i don't like the way you categorize our players. plus, even 99c stuff could work very well in a big recession.
Not relavent to the thread title but Hollinger has us above the lakers and 6th out of all of the NBA teams I didn't see it posted anywhere. http://espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/powerrankings
