I think it's TMac because the expectations were higher for him. I think many people expected him to team with Yao and dominate and to contend for championships. Instead they haven't gotten past the first round in the four years they've been together.
it was the same with iverson to the national media with his cornrows and gangsta persona. he's beloved now. there's a reason the crowd chanted steve's name like crazy when he first got on the court last yr. we truly appreciate steve (or most of the rockets fans i know). but i'm a young guy so... i still argue he's the most popular player on the team to the city of houston.
Yeah, but he wasn't here that long, and most people only really hated him during his stint with the Blazers. I'd give a slight edge to Francis. Methinks Barkley might be up there too for hijacking the offense, weight management issues, and heatchecks.
Steve is less hated because we can see how much he loves houston. Even after being traded, he still took less money and came here. thats loyalty right there. He might have not been the perfect point guard but he gave it his all every night, win or lose. Also, you can't put all the blame on Steve for the way we played. Rudy T favored the ISO and thought that was our best option. If you look at the rosters we had, steve didn't have much to work with. We had a winning record 3 out of his 5 years here. I don't know what people expected for him to do with that talent. Every team goes through a rebuilding period, that was ours. At the end of the day, he ended up being apart of the pieces that brought us our main building blocks, Yao (represented the Rockets at the Lottery) and T-Mac (trade).
yeah i understand that this could have included many more players, but this is just about these two in particular. you know, the ones that didn't make it past the first round
I have to admit that I wasn't a fan when Francis played for Rockets, in fact I didn't watch basketball back then. But from my point of view Tracy McGrady is criticized for things that have no point. He takes the blame for everyone but people are brainwashed, talk stupid things. I think that fans criticized McGrady more and still are doing that because they expected more of him, more other than Steve Francis who played in a very young Rockets team with young Yao and crowd that isn't fitted like today.
I think its Tracy. Every playoff loss was blamed on him despite having Yao. Guy (DD) thought the guy was faking an injury. When he said "its on me", people blasted him even though we have yao who should get equal criticism. How many t-threads pop up on a daily basis? We knew francis was 1/2 step slow from being out of the league.
sports talk, media, this isn't even close. you guys just don't understand, steve francis represented so much more than just a point guard with a shoot first mentality who was turnover prone, he represented what a lot of people felt was wrong with the nba, pro ahtletes, his generation. his first season was after the lock out strike one (perception of nba in general), he followed a champion (high expectations) strike two, and he didn't develop his game (real reason to criticize), strike three.
Steve was hated more. Just because it wasn't visible on message board, doesn't mean that everyone who watched the Rockets really hated him.
...and that sucks more than anything else about them. but as far as the poll goes, i chose mcgrady and i think it all depends on what you're view of criticism is. I think when Francis was here people just didn't think he was all that good so he had fans, haters and in-betweens. Tmac was brought in to be the savior, he has failed, terribly. People feel that he has the ability to be the best player in the league but he's doggin' it because he's a lazy butthole. He pretty much has haters and fans not many in-betweens.
Tie. I believe it is even. Francis was loved for his aggressive play(taking it to the rack), heart and passion for the game, but he was criticized for dribbling the shot clock out(not making smart plays). TMac is just the opposite. He is loved for his playmaking ability(passing, getting other players easy baskets), but he is criticized for not being aggresive(take too many jump shots) and not having heart. Neither of them have had success out of the first round. TMac made it to the playoffs three times with Rockets and Francis once. In '04 playoffs Francis had a young Yao who was getting alot of criticism because he was too soft. TMac had the mature Yao in '05 & '07 playoffs but that didn't help. Francis played great in that series against the Lakers and some believe with the experience and another year for Yao things would have gotten better. With that said, around my parts Francis is loved more.
What a poll.. it has to be Steve .. Steve is always inspiring in his play but we failed to get us into playoffs for consecutive years due to his freelance play and it was a heartache until the enforcer came (JVG). We got into our first playoffs after that and I thought we played OK with the scrubs we had in the playoffs back then.
Steve, of course. He drove me crazy. But Rafer is closing in. TMac, third. Now for players that stayed a short time, Pippen of course.
If I made a most hated Rocket thread, Pippen would win by a landslide.. except for the Bulls fans here who think he was so awesome. That MAX SALARY, WE gave him, thank the Airness for that. The began the destruction of the Houston Rockets as we know it. Worst move ever.
