I wonder just how much the drama surrounding the team has impacted our efforts in free agency. Harden and CP are already viewed as being difficult to play with. Whether it be CP's demanding personality or Harden's playing style they're not seen as being the best teammates around the league. When you throw in the added drama that was played up by the national media about the relationship between the two, MDA's contract dispute, and rumblings that Tilman has openly criticized CP's contract, you have to wonder if these pumped up issues may have discouraged free agents from even considering Houston. I know we didn't have much money to offer, but I think the sabotage effort may have worked.
Of course it has an effect, think about what your peers say about possible employers. In his vid JB even said he doesn’t knows teams and FO tell him whatever he wants to hear. Someone on here actually tried to convince me that FAs don’t care about any of that stuff. Being a teammate is tough and chemistry is big for a reason
People will not like to admit but it had an effect. CP3 is well respected around the league, Harden and Morey have question marks around them. So for Harden to clash with Cp3 tells a lot for other free agents
Depends on the personality of each free agent but sure it has an affect. Narrative is important. Its just that in this case it really is just Jimmy Butler and there’s no indication these are the main reasons he’s not coming here. It’s about location and having a team built around him that is competitive. If it was about winning a title alone his decision probably would have looked very different.
The big problem is cp3 contract ,40 mill per year for a player who barely a top 50 player. Declining ,he cant play more than 30 minutes, injury prone ,slow ,another problem is capela getting shut down by green every year ,if rockets had siakam u probably would of beaten the warriors.Rockets ate in cap hell ncuz they overpaid for cp3 and capela ,who hoes missea vs golden state
No . Can't blame outside influences when we did as much talking as anyone , didn't have any cap space , didn't have any assets . Look it's early , but the lack of movement so far tells you how teams feel about the rockets "assets" Also JB opting out basically killed any hope for us
Well, It's been working. No one has cooperated with the Rockets for some time now. I will say since Morey traded for Harden and Harden turned out to be a HOF player, the rest of the league has stopped taking the Rockets calls on substantial trades. Dwight and CP3 wanted to come here. Everything else significant has been through the buyout market. The Wolves wouldn't take 4 gawd damn draft picks for goodness sake.
I definitely think it had something to do with it. It certainly didn't help matters any. When was the last time we actually had a big name star wanting to come here? It's been a minute. I think moving forward, we will be competitive, but that's about it. I think we have a lot more drama here than people realize. Let's just see what happens.
The organization needs to change... The style of play needs to change... Then players will want to come here... T_Man
The style of play should be modified, not abandoned entirely. Cap room is a must to attract FA's along with good chemistry and a better organization.
There was absolutely a concerted effort to embarrass Houston in a smear campaign ahead of the FA start and I would not at all be surprised if it came from Pelinka in LA. Basically Pelinka and Lebron's management are all dudes who try to manipulate the market through the press. It's sneaky and an embarrassment but I think the players know what is going on in reality. That being said, I don't think it had THAT much impact on us - we had one clear target and I don't think Butler decided against Houston because of that story - when he listed his preferred trade teams last year, Houston wasn't on that list either - he just really wants to play for Riley and the Heat. The real story is that Butler at least was willing to consider Houston after Harden and Morey's efforts because clearly this was not a preferred destination for him from the start. Outside of Butler, I don't see how the anti-Rockets narrative has impacted our team yet - most of the guys who are off the table so far either didn't fit a need for us or were too expensive anyway. All of the fireworks we were hoping to see were always going to come via trade acquisition - we were never going to be a FA player with our cap space unless it was specifically via sign and trade of which Butler was really the only guy with mutual interest. I imagine we will see a handful of small signings and Morey continues down the path of building via acquisition which has a much longer window than a week after FA starts. Houston is going to be looking to add guys to this team up until the trade deadline just like last year and HOPEFULLY they will be a little more successful at it this time rather than just a few savvy waiver wire pickups like last year.
If you can shoot and are trying to stay in the league a little longer come on down to Houston , Texas. If you have a dynamic game and want to play basketball uhhhh H-town may not let you do that. Thats the impression we have made on people. If you cant show your game then you will never be able to cash in on a good FA payday like everyone else.
People around the league may respect CP3, but they know he's got a prickly personality and can be a d!ck sometimes. I don't doubt that the media jumped all over that end-of-season flare-up, and a few bad actors might have been fueling the fire. But the fact that CP3/Harden/MDA couldn't hash out some of that stuff in private speaks volumes about where this team is currently. If I'm a major FA and I'm looking around, do I really want to step into a situation where the two existing stars and the coach can't get on the same page? Add where the front office has so little confidence in their head coach that they try to lowball him on a contract extension? All of that is not a good look and likely to make any smart FA think twice.
I been saying this, Morey needs to step into a higher position and the Rockets need to hire a puppet GM and let Morey pull strings from behind. No team wants to be known as OKC (Harden) or Memphis (Lowry)
I know you’re entire existence on this board revolves around Harden bashing and I find it disingenuous of you that you have chosen a moniker that no one could accuse or call you out on you’re well to obvious ( speaks volumes about you’re deranged state of mind)agenda but put a lid on it. You need therapy to get over all these pet up anger over Harden. Btw, If Haden wasn’t respected he wouldn’t be voted players MVP almost every season.
We signed a quickly aging PG to a 40m a year contract THAT is what hurts us more than anything else. DD
