Why don't Rockets players trust the Rockets organization?

I'm no insider and I'm not going to get into specifics, but when I was in Houston last month and interacted with a rotation player who is friends with a good friend of mine, he did express a certain distrust in the organization. It was more than "the NBA is a business" mentality that permeates throughout the league amongst players. I didn't really want to probe him any further, but he led me to believe that he's not the only one in the locker room that feels this way. You can make whatever you want of this, but this is what happens when you treat players like "assets."

 

I never gave much thought to this position of "treating players like trading chips erodes their mentality", but I'm starting to second guess myself.

 

The NBA is a business and you are not going to get coddled by the orginazation unless you're a star player.

Role players need to realize they aren't stars and won't be treated as such. Notice how we treat Yao Ming?

 

They are "grown ass men".

That doesn't stop Brooks landing on Manu's foot... His actions so far show the Rockets have been given a get out of jail card by not handing him a contract extension.

 

This year is a complex situation as we're heading into a possible lockout and a new CBA so who knows what the new salary cap would look like. Our team is also in flux as we head into the post-Yao era.

For those reasons, we can't blame DM for wanting to be as flexible as possible. And one of those ways is by not giving extensions.

AB is super-frustrated now but RA was giving him all the chances even sacrificing KM's minutes and games. He just has to keep getting better.

I hope he makes a public apology and show he can be a better player after this. He frequently spoke about no one being above the team in the past. He has to keep going back to that.

 

Stick with him to the point of stupidity even though he has been useless for 5 years?

Yea.

 

You give him those games. He sucks. You completely lose out on the playoffs. And then you guys blame Adelman because he's more concerned about working Brooks in then WINNING GAMES.

I mean, for cripes's sakes, he's started. He's played games. And he has not been performing well at freaking all. If he's not playing well because he won't stop worrying about his contract, then he's mentally weak, which mean he's not the closer you Brooks fans make him out to be.

Seriously, this boggles my mind. The guy doesn't get an extension. He plays like crap ( which to me would VALIDATE the no extension policy, as it shows that you have to be wary of a player having one good year, as he could very well regress). He then throws a fit that even Tracy didn't do. And the Rockets are blamed for all of this.

Maybe I should be taking a vacation too from this place.

 

Were we serious contenders since?

Rocket River

 

More than we were with Franchise and Mobley.

 

Meaning?
1 = 1 = 1 = 1
1 is not more meaningful than 1

Rocket River

 

An immature mind, a MIP award with no extension, a possible lockout next season. AB feels he's betrayed. That's all I can imagine. Players trust contract not organization. They just can't keep playing and wait the money comes.

 

I haven't read through the whole thread, but to me, when the GM comes out and says anyone can be traded at any time (even though players usually understand this), it really plants the seed of mistrust in a player's head--everyone is seen as an asset to this organization, which is both a good and bad thing.

 

A couple things. I would love for the Rox to be seen as a player-friendly team. That perception certainly couldn't hurt in our pursuit of a star. But by definition, a player-friendly team is one that prioritizes what's best for its players, and when this trumps what's best for the team, we've got a problem.

Second, it's not like Morey's just moving numbers around in a spreadsheet. He specifically mentioned in interviews that one of the reasons we moved JT and Dorsey was to get them to teams where they had a greater opportunity to play and get paid. We seek value in our moves, but I can't think of anything that's outside the normal interplay of running a franchise. We haven't done anybody dirty like the Blazers tried to do Darius Miles.

 

Would you rather the organization lie? Would lies build trust? Because the NBA is, indeed, a business and players are important assets of the team and, yes, pretty much everyone can be traded in the right deal.

People talk about the Spurs having extended Ginobili and Parkers contract, but they did it because those extensions make rational sense for the team. These guys are really good and worth the money and are critical part of a contending team. The Rockets don't have a contending team, or even a 50+ win team right now, and the situation demands that they stay flexible and opportunistic.

The team acts rationally, and tells its players that it's going to act rationally. Now, that's not always gonna be in the interest of the players, but most players don't walk around acting like brats as a result.

 

I believe that the no extension policy was due to the possible pending CBA changes. I don't think it was about an overall belief in extensions.

(I haven't read this whole thread, so someone may have said this before me...)

 

I understand what you're saying; AB did, in fact, act very unprofessionally and all the blame goes to him. That is not what I was referring to, however. I don't expect any player to fully trust an organization, and we see this every time a player gets traded--we hear the same, old, "It's a business" quote as a testament to this.

What I was referring to was the question posed in the title of this thread: "Why don't Rockets players trust the Rockets' organization?" I am in favor of the organization not coming out and saying anything like "anyone is tradeable," simply because:
-players already know this
-hearing it again in the middle of the season by your GM, like I said, plants that seed of mistrust, and who knows, may lead to bad play

I think I'm just a classical fan of team pride and identity, and when players don't trust the organization, I just don't think that identity and pride is cultivated.

 

Let's make this clear. Brooks did not lose his starting job because of injury. He lost it because he could not out-perform Lowry after the injury. Adelman gave him ample of opportunities to win the job back. He just couldn't. What do you expect the coach (or the front office, for that matter) do? Keep starting an inferior player just because he used to be the starter?

 

No kidding. If AB had been playing better than Lowry, we wouldn't be having these conversations.

 

Agreed. Brooks is justifiably being punished. Kyle Lowry is playing his A off, and Aaron Brooks is just frustrated and doesn't like it especially because it's a contract year for him.

 

So what? Any team would extend LBJ for 10 years. AB was vastly overrated by many fans here to compare him to TP last season despite he wasn't even the PG who made the biggest impact on Rockets.

I'm sure Rockets would extend Parker too, but they know AB clearly is not on that level unlike many fans here.