Rockets look toward optomistic future

Rockets look toward optomistic future and UNIFORM INFO!!!!

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Rockets view forgettable year as building block to memorable future

By RICHARD JUSTICE
Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle

For the Rockets, a proud franchise that had become accustomed to the view from the mountaintop, these are humbling times.

Gone is the swagger of years past. Gone is the feeling that Hakeem Olajuwon's dominating presence all but guaranteed a competitive team. Gone, too, is the notion that simply by opening the doors, the arena would be full and television sets tuned in.

Not after a season like this one. From their worst won-lost record in 18 years to the NBA's second-lowest home attendance, the Rockets have had the kind of run they probably couldn't have imagined back in the Clutch City days of 50-victory seasons and nightly sellouts.

Now, as the Rockets prepare to play their final home game of the season tonight at Compaq Center against Memphis, a season that began with such high hopes has left the franchise struggling to redefine itself both on the court and off.

Does a roster filled with talented young players and a season dotted with close losses mean another era of prosperity is just around the corner? Or have the Rockets fooled themselves into believing a team built around guards can compete with the inside power of the Lakers and Spurs?

And if the Rockets start to win again, will the fans return?

Those are among the difficult questions Rockets owner Les Alexander has been forced to answer in recent months as he assessed the state of his franchise.

"I think sometimes when things are the glummest, you're ready to explode on the upside," he said. "The team is young, and it's ready to explode on the upside. We have great young stars. We'll have a great draft pick. We have Mo Taylor and Glen Rice coming back. When you put it all together, it should be a very competitive team."

Asked if he still had confidence in coach Rudy Tomjanovich and general manager Carroll Dawson, Alexander quickly said: "Absolutely."

As for the attendance, he said: "I know it's bad, but the fans love this team. As soon as we start to win, they'll be back in droves."

View the Rockets from one angle, and his optimism seems reasonable. In a season when they have been so decimated by injuries that they're finishing the year with an eight-man rotation that averages 2.12 years of NBA experience, they've remained competitive.

Their 24 games decided by three or fewer points are the most in the NBA, and the Rockets are 10-14 in such contests.

They've got a terrific backcourt in Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley. They've got 19-year-old forward Eddie Griffin showing flashes of brilliance. They believe Taylor and Rice will return from injuries. And they will have at least one, and perhaps two, first-round draft choices this summer.

"They're close," Portland Trail Blazers coach Maurice Cheeks said. "They've got a lot of young players. They've got a lot of components. Look at what they've been through this season."

An NBA scout who has seen the Rockets several times this season added: "They're probably one player away from being back in the playoffs if Taylor and Rice come back."

He adds a note of caution, saying: "But with young players, you never really know."

One prominent NBA coach recently told Dawson: "You guys are in great shape."

"I hear that all the time," Dawson said. "We're a popular franchise because of all these young players. In that respect, we're fortunate. We were in the right place at the right time to make the deals to get Steve and Eddie."

Likewise, Tomjanovich believes the Rockets are close to being competitive again. While the learning curve on young players is uneven, he offers an assessment similar to others around the NBA.

"I'm very excited," he said. "Our window of opportunity is opening."

He pauses. He knows the ballhandling and defense must be better. He knows his young players haven't proven they can close out those close games. He also knows he needs someone to emerge as an inside scorer to take some of the pressure off Francis and Mobley.

"I believe a little bit of pain and hurt has got to be in the formula," Tomjanovich said. "I believe everyone is going to have a little rain in their life."

That rain has also come in the form of empty seats. Spoiled by years of sellouts, including 178 in a row at one point, the team's business executives admit they were slow to come around to the notion they needed to work as hard in marketing and sales off the court as Tomjanovich and his players did on it.

Now with season-ticket sales down around 40 percent and total attendance off about about 28 percent the last four years, the Rockets soon will be visiting your mailbox, television set and neighborhood malls with a sales pitch unlike any they've attempted before.

"We're rebuilding off the court at the same time we're rebuilding on the court," said George Postolos, the team's chief operating officer.

Part of his plan was on display after Friday's 80-79 loss to Portland when players showered and dressed, then walked back onto the floor to sign autographs for fans. After today's final home game, they will remain on the court to thank fans for their support and to give away an array of autographed items.

Those two gestures are just the beginning. For the season-ticket holders, there's a set of this season's four bobblehead dolls being shipped.

And sometime in the next few weeks, fans will be invited to visit the team's Web site and help redesign the uniforms to be worn at the new arena.

Amid the surveys and focus groups, Postolos said the Rockets are doing the kinds of things that every sports team must now do, and that they will continue to do them even if they go 70-12 next season.

In the end, though, a lot of the team's success at the gate will depend on how well the Rockets do on the floor. As Alexander said: "Attendance is always a byproduct of the won-loss record. To say otherwise is wrong."

Even as he prepares for the final games of this season, Tomjanovich can't help but look ahead. After the Rockets won 45 games last season, he believed he had the franchise positioned for a return to the playoffs after making the trades that brought Griffin and Rice to Houston.

He remained optimistic even after Taylor blew out his Achilles' tendon before the start of training camp. Yet once the season started and Rice went down after 20 games and Francis missed 22 games, and he was forced to mix and match his lineups almost every night, just keeping the games close was a remarkable accomplishment.

"It's just not wanting to lose," Francis said. "It's letting people know we're for real."

Dawson and Tomjanovich preface answers on the topic by saying they're sick of discussing injuries and that they know fans are sick of hearing about them. Yet, injuries are why Tomjanovich has used 24 different starting lineups, and why he hasn't used the same lineup for more than three straight games since the opening month of the season.

It's why it's impossible to second-guess the construction of this season's team because that team never got on the floor. While the injuries have created opportunities for Jason Collier, Dan Langhi and other kids, it hasn't been so good for the 28-51 bottom line.

"We didn't have enough to get past all the storms," Tomjanovich said. "When we look at this season, we'll say, `If we had this and if we had that, if, if if.' We were always a player short in the rotation. That's got to make you feel better, but you really don't know."

In a sense, the Rockets have been fortunate to rebuild so quickly in the wake of the retirement or departure of so many players, particularly Olajuwon, who went to Toronto last summer in a sign-and-trade deal after failing to agree to a contract.

Instead of a long rebuilding process, Dawson traded for Francis, traded for Griffin and discovered Mobley in the second round.

With their own high draft pick -- they've currently got the fifth-worst record -- and possibly Toronto's, the Rockets are in position to add at least one more impact player.

A more pressing issue this summer will concern Francis. He has one more year remaining on his contract and, beginning July 1, the Rockets have exclusive negotiating rights.

They apparently will offer him the NBA maximum as soon as they are allowed and hope he likes the Rockets as much as the Rockets like him.

Francis has been vague about his willingness to accept an extension, saying only: "I started my career here, and I'd like to finish it here. But you never know what's going to happen."

Thomas is also a year away from free agency and could be signed to an extension. Other than decisions on whether to re-sign veterans Walt Williams and Kevin Willis, the offseason should be fairly simple.

There are only a few other issues.

While center Kelvin Cato has had his best NBA season, he's far from being more than a backup in the eyes of many scouts and coaches. Tomjanovich has used Griffin there in some games and could do so more next season if a summer of conditioning adds the strength the rookie needs.

The Rockets likely will use their top draft choice on a small forward, and if they get Toronto's draft choice, it's a good bet they will be hoping a serviceable center is available. They don't need points from their center, but they're desperate for rebounding and defensive play.

"My gut feeling is we're heading in the right direction," Tomjanovich said. "The results this season were a step backwards, but hopefully, as far as dealing with adversity, the guys have gained something."



When the Rockets were among the NBA's elite teams, sellouts became almost automatic. As attendance has declined the last four seasons, from 16,285 in 1998-99 to 11,758 this season, the Rockets have dealt with issues ranging from ticket prices -- the third highest in the league -- to the atmosphere at Compaq Center.

Television ratings also have declined, from around 13.6 in 1995-96 to around 4.5 this season.

To renew interest, the Rockets did surveys, met with focus groups and came up with a plan.

Ticket prices don't seem to be an issue since the most expensive seats are the easiest to sell. It's the cheaper tickets in the upper bowl that are going empty most nights.

"Five years ago, you could convince a large number of people to become season-ticket holders," Postolos said. "You had much larger season-ticket bases. Companies still see season tickets as a terrific way to entertain, but individual fans may take the ups and downs of the team even harder. And they're getting busier and have less time. They're going to be attending fewer games, so we have to get more of them in the habit of attending games.

"You have to find new ways to get them interested. That's something as a league we haven't been good at, and we haven't been at the forefront."

As a result, the Rockets will offer a variety of season-ticket packages, probably beginning with a 10-game plan.

"We doubled the number of people we had selling season tickets," he said. "We sold more new season tickets than we had in several years. Unfortunately, we had a weak renewal for a variety of reasons. We're probably not going to return to a time where you're going to have a very large season-ticket base. You're going to have to be more creative and more aggressive.

"That's probably a good thing because the more people you're running through the building, the better. The more people who are getting closer to your team the more there's a connection with people."

Postolos said the Rockets will attempt to be more fan friendly, to have the fan more involved and to address specific concerns. Even if they win big again, that won't change.

"There's every reason to pay as much attention to your fan when you've sold out 178 in a row and are winning championships as much as the current situation we find ourselves in," he said. "The better job you do when times are good gives you more of a cushion and a reservoir of goodwill when times are not so good. It's a million little things. On our Web site, we've tried to find ways to interact with fans."



Yet it's still, first and foremost, about the quality of basketball. As the Rockets got younger and younger over the years, Tomjanovich knew there would be some rough spots in the road.

Because he and Dawson made the trades for Francis and Griffin, they probably have accelerated the reconstruction faster than they thought possible.

Now, it's a matter of finishing the deal.

"We're building for the future," Francis said. "We're slowly getting some confidence. We've got something to build on. If we stay healthy, we're going to be OK."