Different strokes for different folks. I could never live in Houston again, partly because of the weather, among many other things. Minny is a smaller market, but the city is better designed, better maintained, cleaner, better park system, public transit, walkable neighborhoods, etc. I personally like cold weather much better than hot, but I will admit Minny might be a bit too cold even for me
In basketball terms, my hot take is that Houston is a small market city masquerading as a large market city--it punches so far below its weight in so many categories that stars dislike it almost as much as cities about half the size. That's a hard truth to swallow for Houstonians who have the the world's biggest chip on their shoulder, but it's still true.
a little too much I think. Mid market is probably a better description. Clearly a step below NYC, LA, Miami, etc. but also clear step above the small markets of OKC, Sacramento, Cleveland, etc.
From 2022, HOU is #9 of 30. They diced it up large, medium, and small. HOU at the bottom of a large market. By local TV audience is defined by the number of homes in the viewing area, per US census data. https://hoop-social.com/nba-team-market-size-rankings/ Spoiler: tldr list Large NBA Markets (over 2 million homes) TEAM TV MARKET SIZE* METRO POPULATION** 1. New York Knicks / Brooklyn Nets 7.453M 19,216,182 2. LA Lakers / LA Clippers 5.735M 13,214,799 3. Chicago Bulls 3.472M 9,458,539 4. Philadelphia 76ers 2.997M 6,102,434 5. Dallas Mavericks 2.963M 7,573,136 6. Toronto Raptors – 5,928,040 7. Golden State Warriors 2.653M 4,731,803 8. Atlanta Hawks 2.649M 6,020,364 9. Houston Rockets 2.570M 7,066,141 10. Washington Wizards 2.566M 6,280,487 11. Boston Celtics 2.490M 4,873,019 12. Phoenix Suns 2.158M 4,948,203 Medium NBA Markets (1.5 – 2 million homes) TEAM TV MARKET SIZE* METRO POPULATION** 13. Minnesota Timberwolves 1.887M 3,654,908 14. Detroit Pistons 1.863M 4,319,629 15. Denver Nuggets 1.798M 2,932,415 16. Orlando Magic 1.731M 2,608,147 17. Miami Heat 1.693M 6,166,488 18. Cleveland Cavaliers 1.512M 2,048,449 Small NBA Markets (less than 1.5 million homes) TEAM TV MARKET SIZE* METRO POPULATION** 19. Sacramento Kings 1.459M 2,363,730 20. Portland Trailblazers 1.315M 2,492,412 21. Charlotte Hornets 1.291M 2,636,883 22. Indiana Pacers 1.183M 2,074,537 23. Utah Jazz 1.100M 1,232,696 24. San Antonio Spurs 1.031M 2,550,960 25. Milwaukee Bucks 922K 1,575,179 26. Oklahoma City Thunder 755K 1,408,950 27. New Orleans Pelicans 664K 1,270,530 28. Memphis Grizzlies 620K 1,346,045
If you went off Merchandise sales that would be more telling on popularity. Of course, with China being Houston's #1 fan you could assume the Rockets are near the top just behind the Lakers. If you were to go with just National sales only, Rockets would probably be like #24
Sadly the Rockets don’t serve all their market anymore. Some have to really work hard to see a game. The games aren’t even playing in local bars and grills. Hard to grow a product that is shield from portions of it’s fan base.
Technically true we are low end large market/upper end mid-market. I think the perception by star players over the years suggests Houston is definitely in the bottom half of media markets, though. Even during peak Harden years, we were not a preferred destination. I don't know what can be done to ever change that--I don't think it's in the hands of the Rockets organization, really. Think about things like, what is the first impression of the city coming in on I-45 from the airport? When you're chilling at a friend's home in River Oaks and drive to a club down Westheimer, what is your experience of the city? Once you're at the club and want to hop over to a place nearby, what does that look like? How does that compare with other large-market cities? If you've traveled a lot or lived in other places, you know what I'm talking about. Between the billboards advertising personal injury lawyers, 1970s strip malls, exposed power lines, appalling state of the roadways, busted-ass overgrown sidewalks, vacant lots filled with weeds, huge ugly parking lots in wealthy and dense neighborhoods that should be packed with amenities--I could go on, but you get the idea. Houston is, to be frank, ugly, poorly-maintained, and unglamorous. The city hasn't managed to put together even one, single coherent, attractive, well-designed entertainment district. These things matter. Star players don't want to be earning tens of millions and on TV every night but have to feel like they live in a developing country.
There are absolute tons of professional sports atheletes that live in the Houston area even though they don’t play for a Houston team. I would say top 5 destination for players to live in. Would love to see the stats.
Agreed if they are trying to win. If they decide to rebuild though, picks will be more useful to them, especially if the picks they are getting are their own.
https://www.wfaa.com/article/sports...s-tx/287-0cb05da0-e4de-4e62-b2e3-b40219adc1d0 Lots of pro football players live in Texas. Whole bunch of NBA players as well
NFL is a little bit of a different animal. A lot of these players are moderately wealthy guys looking to maximize their cost of living. Average NFL salary is under $3M and a lot of those players don't have long careers. Also, Texas is just a huge football state in general, so a lot of guys are going to have roots in the state. If we're talking about how attractive the city is to NBA stars making huge money, who don't have to care about cost of living, I don't think it's really the same.
Well, the Rockets have only 15-18 spots plus those 2 way contracts.....players have to search for other employers.
I don't agree with that to be honest. He's shown he can be a 3rd (or better) option offensively and he's one of the best defenders in the NBA in his mid 20's. He can give 5-8 prime years to a rebuild at a very reasonable price. They would keep him and dump everyone else imo. They are a team that can attract FA's and forced trades, they don't need to clear two max cap slots and they won't rebuild the years.
Thats fair if you believe they wont rebuild, regardless of their record. But as valuable as some may think he is for them moving forward, he is not more valuable than getting their picks back IMO.
A couple Lauri Markkanen thoughts Jazz receive: Jalen Williams, Davis Bertans, Tre Mann, Aleksej Pokusevski, 2024 LAC first-round pick Thunder receive: Lauri Markkanen, Simone Fontecchio, Kris Dunn Jazz receive: Dejounte Murray, AJ Griffin, Saddiq Bey, Kobe Bufkin, 2024 SAC first-round pick Hawks receive: Lauri Markkanen, Kelly Olynyk, Kris Dunn https://clutchpoints.com/best-unrealistic-lauri-markkanen-trade-packages-jazz-must-demand
Different teams value things differently. I think most teams would prefer Bridges than the 2 picks and 2 swaps especially considering 1 of the picks is in 2024. The Rockets are being bit by the Westbrook trade. The Rockets have been so big about having flexibility to make a big trade that I don't think they would want to include the 2026 pick in a deal for someone like Bridges as losing it would prevent the Rockets from trading any of their FRPs until the 2028 FRP (i.e., kill Rockets chances to being able to offer 4 unprotected FRPs next season and the season after that).
Houston is definitely one of the most attractive cities to NBA players. LA, NY, and Miami are the only cities that are a clear tier above and Houston is closer to Miami than a lot of people realize. The Rockets have never had a problem getting free agents to come here based on the city.
Chicago, Atlanta, and as much as we might hate to admit it, the Bay Area and DFW are also clearly ahead of Houston in the minds of NBA players IMO. Houston is in the middle tier with a bunch of other teams' cities. If it were me, I'd put it in the 20-25 range. But it obviously depends on the person.
What was the last big free agent signing for Chicago, Atlanta, or Dallas? GS has been different recently because of Steph and Klay but they have a long history of not attracting FAs either. The last time a big time player had to choose between us and GS he chose us. I'd bet a large amount of money there aren't 19 NBA cities NBA players would choose over Houston when you consider that Houston is one of the best cities in the US for black males to live in.
