Has ESPN Made It More Difficult For Rockets To Attract Free Agents?

Honest question here and if so why?

Note: JVG is the one anomaly at ESPN that always says nice things about the Rockets.

It certainly seems as if the Rockets get slammed by ESPN a lot more than other NBA cities. In all fairness to ESPN, it is the stories about Houston that I pay closest attention to. I do know that ESPN will occasionally slam other teams such as the Knicks but that team really has been completely incompetent over a very very long stretch of years. They have made the play-offs only 3 times since 2004-2005 season and rarely even have a wining season.

I know we all have polarizing opinions of Daryl Morey but since he took over in 2006 the Rockets have had over 50 wins 5 times, made the play-offs 7 times, advanced to 2nd round 2 times and advanced to the WCF 1 time and 0 losing seasons. Even with all of that ESPN reports on the Rockets as if they are a franchise run by the Keyston Cops. They slam Daryl Morey because he uses analytics, even though all of the most successful franchises in the league have highly comprehensive analytics teams that they rely on.

I do not hear the same types of criticisms of other teams such as the Clippers. It would be hard to argue that they have been a better-run organization than the Rockets. Since 2006 they have had 50+ wins 4 times and losing seasons 5 times. They have made the play-offs 5 times advancing to the 2nd round 3 times but never advancing to the WCFs. The Clippers are a team that had top 10 picks 3 times including a number 1 pick and having Chris Paul gift wrapped for them by David Stern.

Additionally ESPN seems to really focus on the Rockets star players in a negative way. ESPN hasn’t said a positive word about Dwight since he signed with Houston. As a matter of fact it has seemed like they have been on a crusade against him since day 1. It seems to me that they constantly criticize James Harden. Granted James earns a lot of it due to his defense but offensive minded player in the league that doesn’t play defense. Has anyone ever heard ESPN criticize Steph Curry’s defense even before the 04/05 season? How about Dirk’s defense? Oh them may mention it but do they focus on his defense so much that you forget that he was an offensive juggernaut? No. How about Anthony Davis? He blocks a lot of shots and rebounds well but his post defense (when not blocking shots) is atrocious. On top of that, his teams are not very good but I never hear a negative word about him.

Which brings me to Free Agents

There is no doubt in my mind that Kevin Durant has little to no interest in the Rockets. I truly believe that. It’s impossible to know how much of the negative press the Rockets and their star players have received over the last few years has played into that. It’s hard to imagine that it hasn’t played into that at least some.

But what is it exactly that Boston, Miami and LA Clippers have that make them more desirable than the Rockets? Lets look at the teams:

- Miami owes 50 million to a group of players that include Bosh, Dragic, McRoberts, Winslow, Richardson and Weber. Bosh may not even play and if he does what can be expected of him. Additionally Miami has a cap hold of about 30 million for Dwayne Wade. Miami can’t even offer Durant a max contract until they settle up with Wade providing he does not demand anything close to the max.

- Boston does have a nice stable of young talent in a weak conference and with cap space. But their team is certainly not great and if Isaiah Thomas is currently the best player does anyone see them being a legit contender, even with the addition of Durant? None of their players are the caliber that Harden is.

- The LA Clippers much like the Rockets are a team that has had internal issues. On the surface Jordan, Griffin and Paul look like a great fit. But it’s been said in many circles that they don’t really get along good. They have no cap space to sign a max player and they have imploded every single season. With 84 million in salary they are going to have to move a lot of players or one of their stars in order to accommodate a max contract.


None of those teams or their star players receives the type of consistent criticism that the Rockets receive from ESPN. Regardless of what is the truth ESPN annually reports free agents are interested in teams X, Y or Z but not seriously considering the Rockets. Even the year Dwight signed in Houston it was reported pretty consistently that he was interested in Dallas, GS, LA or Atlanta and Houston was always seemed to be on the outside. Even up to the last second ESPN was trying to report that Dwight was either going to GS or going back to LA. ESPN reported that stuff as if they had credible sources within Dwight’s camp reporting back to them.

This year you can expect to hear the same type of reporting from ESPN that we have heard in recent years. Free agent X,Y,Z is interested in teams X,Y, Z but not the Rockets. When the Rockets do secure an interview it will be reported as if its nothing more than a courtesy interview. When reporters like Stein or Broussard are reporting things like Dallas was higher up on Dwight’s list than Houston it just comes off to me as if they are trying to create momentum for the player to sign somewhere other than Houston.

Personally I hope Durant refuses to give Houston the time of day so Daryl Morey be forced go after some attainable free agents instead of wasting his time while good options fall off of the table. But once reports start surfacing about players like Al Horford, Nicolas Batum or Hassan Whiteside I wonder how ESPN will spin those players interest in Houston. Furthermore I can’t help but wonder how ESPN’s consistent bashing of the Houston Rockets and its star players has affected their interest in coming to Houston.

 

I completely get this kind of reaction. But I'm not so sure I agree with it. If we are referring to last season as a bad year then I actually think it says more good stuff about the organization than bad stuff.

The team finished .500 and made the play offs... in a bad year.

Now if we were saying that last season was a good season for the Rockets then I would be more inclined to say the organization is not very good. If last season were considered a good season what would that say for previous seasons?

I get your comment and feel the same way frequently but If the Rockets come out and have a 50+ win season in 16/17 then last season was nothing but an anomaly.