What are some possible reasons why "big time FA's" don't come to Houston?

My Life starring Michael Keaton

 

Roger Clemens

 

There is nothing wrong with Houston except that all of our teams suck. Nobody want's to play for a loser unless it's in NY.

 

Didn't used to be a problem.

We got drexler,barkley,pippen,francis,mcgrady.

 

maybe, maybe no?

 

we have to show them the money

 

Texans - Have no winning culture and need to overpay. Who would you rather play for the Jets or Texans?

Astros - Actually might get some more FAgents to come play here but the team is rebuilding. Look at Texas, who wanted to play there until the Rangers got competitive. RJ and Beltran already had their minds made up however in Beltran's case, it would have been interesting to see what might have happened if they had given into the no-trade clause he was demanding.

Rockets - No stars, they attracted guys when they had Hakeem and later Yao. Sorry but good management and good ownership is nice but the NBA has shifted.

 

Texas - willingness to pay

Rockets - no salary cap room

Astros - have no problem with free agents. This decade, they got Clemens, Pettitte, Kent, and Lee. That's more than most teams outside of NY / Boston.

Simply put, big time free agents tend to go whereever they get paid the most.

 

Rockets pulled free agent interest (including big name coaches) consistently from the championship days until basically the end of the McGrady era.

Astros have had a lot of big FA signings this decade.

It's no surprise that Houston's least successful team, the Texans, are last in the pecking order on FA interest.

All things being equal (i.e. money/willingness to pay), players seem to be drawn more to well-run/successful teams, with location sometimes factoring in (Big market vs. small market, hometown franchises, etc).

Houston isn't LA, Chicago, or NY... but we're not Detroit, Cleveland, Charlotte, Memphis, or Salt Lake City, either.

We compete on the 2nd tier, and do just fine for ourselves in that regard.

 

The Jets... *snicker*

I guess y'all don't recall when the Jets and the Patriots were the laughingstocks of the NFL in the 80's and 90's.

Here's a clue: Chances are this helmet will never see the light of day again.

 

Houston is more of a draw than a hinderance. If houston has a competitive team and money people will come here.

The Texans have no history of winning, if they make a few playoff runs free agent will be more than happy to come here,

The Astros have landed big Free Agents, so that one holds no weight.

Basketball is all about who you have to start, and right now we got nuthin.

Rarely do players say i refuse to play in Houston

 

Sums it up pretty well.

 

Texans could get any FA they want. It's the NFL. You give a player enough (guaranteed) money, they'll sign.

Astros got legit FAs before and that won't change. Again, the money.

Rockets are the only issue. So that being said...this thread sucks.

 

Rockets are the only issue RIGHT NOW...legit stars that were FAs to be (McGrady, Barkley)...or FAs (Pippen) came here...once they get back to winning, they'll get more players.

doesn't mean the thread doesn't suck. :grin:

 

I think It's more of a "I don't want to do it alone" type deal.

Players like having real help. Andre is a very rare breed because he actually feels loyalty towards the city and the org.

 

I do. I remember a couple years in there where they were decent too, though. 85 (of course). But then there were a couple nice battles for a playoff spot between the Jets and the Dolphins in the old AFC East.

 

The NFL has far fewer free agents than MLB and NBA, and certainly far fewer big name free agents. It's the nature of their respective CBAs. Most offseasons feature one, maybe 2 really big superstars. Too many of them are franchised or restricted, and that tends to lead to many of them signing longer-term deals with their respective clubs and never seeing the open market.

I think the Texans have been average at attracting free agents; not great, mind you - but also not appreciably worse than any other NFL team. Again, more the nature of the beast.

 

...yet the owners want to lock the players out?

 

Why do people keep touting Pippen and Barkley as examples of stars who came to Houston? Although Barkley was complaining at the time about not competing in Phoenix, they were both traded here in the twilight of their careers and Pippen only played a shortened season.

Just not the best examples, IMO. But McGrady? Now that was a star coming to Houston. In his prime, stuck around, etc.

I don't think it's an issue of whether stars will come to Houston. Of course they will come if you've got Hakeem Olajuwon destroying other centers' sense of self-worth night in, night out...or even a Yao Ming with potential. I think the issue is whether stars want to come to Houston. Do they want to come here and be the guy?

If you ask me, Houston is a top tier city. If you ask around here, I imagine most would classify us as second tier (saw one post suggest it this thread). Public opinion, however, likely has us lumped in with the likes of Sacramento, Cleveland, Tampa, Memphis, etc. Face it, when outsiders think of Texas, they think of Dallas almost 100% of the time.