Why Houston isn't appealing even tho they should be

I think Houston fans share some of the blame, if not most.

Try getting to the games and putting your asses in the seat before halftime, jackasses. I remember when Vernon Maxwell called out Houston fans for being assholes. He was right.

 

It sounds as if a bunch of you are going thru a hangover over the after effects of the Heat trio signing... Calm down, if a deal materializes they'll make it, if not we'll be competitive until something comes up. Making a news splash doesn't constitute improving the team.

Thank goodness the front office is much more patient than some of you guys on the board. They've done a very good job of upgrading the team from the past, let's see how it plays out first before we condemn everything they've done and haven't been able to do yet.

The chemistry on this team is very good, let it mix a little longer before we just throw it out.

 

Cuz tmac was louder than francis mouth.

 

is that you.. mcdreamy or mcsteamy?

 

good point dude. my buddies from Cleveland/Chicago always hate on me saying that we cant fill the seats and ****. ***k them, but its true

 

No he wasn't the fans pay their salaries......if they want to arrive late it is their business.

I forget, did Joe Johnson leave Atlanta because their fans were not arriving on time?

Come on, the players don't give much thought to the fans....at all.....it is all about the $$$$ and the chance to win, and in that order.

DD

 

If they want to arrive late, they're not fans. If you don't think the crowd can have an impact on games, then you should watch more games. Plus, how can you type this in responding to Maxwell calling out the fans? Clearly he gave a lot of thought to the fans, and felt they were letting the team down.

 

Carl you hit it right on.

We Had T-mac and Yao in their young career's and nobody said hey lets take less money so we can form a superteam or veterans looking to join the Rockets.

 

i worked for a company that had season tickets. the sales crew had dibs and only relinquished them last minute. impossible to get to the game on time.

quite a few of the folks who receive these company sponsored tickets aren't Rocket fans. well, not by your definition anyway ...

 

Maybe Maxwell should have made more shots, and not walked out on the team in the playoffs.

Blaming the fans for individual failure is a cop out.

Take responsibilty for your own actions, whether you are playing in front of 15,000 or 0.

DD

 

you just described chris paul...a superstar on a bad team..and guess what,he does not want to play here and we cant force him to play here through trade because that would put new orleans on the blacklist for everyplayer in the league ...

it would be like if new orleans traded chris paul to memphis for gay/mayo....paul has said clearly he is forcing trade because he wants to win NOW, he wont win in memphis....but if New Orleans trades him to memphis to spite him then no player will want to play for hornets ever again.

and rockets=memphis. we missed playoffs, we have no superstar, and we arent a big market like NY /LA

 

actually i think they would have , but CD did such a horrible job with the mle and jvg screwed things up bad...jvg wanted the wesleys,jacksons,battiers,malick badianes.....jvg wanted players he would boss around.

lvg/cd ruined the yao/tmac era....finally RA/morey take over and bring in brooks/scola/landry asap but its to late, injuries took effect by then

 

Actually he called out the fans long before that, when the Rockets were down against Phoenix. The Rockets had lost a game at home against PHO and this is when they were labeled "Choke City." Max said that playing on the road was better because Houston fans suck. Then they went to PHO and Max went off for 30+ and turned the series around. That's when Choke City became Clutch City.

You don't know nothin bout Mad Max, son.

 

Son? I have been watching the Rockets since 1972-73...lol....

I even remember John Lucas getting called for a charge in the Eastern Conference playoffs.......son....lol.

And Max calling out the fans when the team choked those first two games...was just him being the dumbass that he was......

And yes, in the 2nd half of game 3, he was amazing....

DD

 

Hmm, Kobe and Kim? a new K for Kardashians!

 

Fair point that it's not always the fault of the attendee, but the ticketholder is still to blame. A lot of times tickets just end up being unused, so late is better than never, but it's still annoying when there are so many people out there who would just love to have those tickets that they end up in the hands of these companies that really don't care about supporting the team. Go play golf or something if you're just going to miss half the game anyway. Another problem is the people that hang out in the club in the lower bowl of the stadium instead of in their seats. Kind of wonder if they regret putting that in.

Actually, Mad Max was instrumental to winning Houston's first championship the year he made those remarks (1994), a year in which he had a lot of personal struggles to overcome. In fact, I'd say his performance qualified as inspiring. So I guess I don't follow your reasoning. If anything, I'd say he had more right to make those remarks than anyone else not named Dream.

Oh, come to think of it, someone named Dream did have something to say that same night. From Dreamland:

So I think there's more to it than you were suggesting, unless you think Dream would have said something like that without reason.

Of course, this brings me back to my original point. Would you still say that "players don't give much thought to the fans... at all" ?

 

Then you should have known the situation instead of referring to something completely irrelevant and 1 year later.

He was completely right in what he said. Houston was a terrible place to play because the fans sucked, and they would play better on the road. And they did.

Whenever anyone talks of "Clutch City", that's Mad Max's legacy.

 

Let's put this into perspective.

The following cities are all asking themselves the same questions that Rockets fans are asking themselves here. . . . . . . and look at the location and rosters:

Dallas - Nowitzki, Kidd, Marion, Butler, Terry, Chandler, etc. (No State Tax)
San Antonio - Duncan, Ginobili, Parker, Jefferson, etc. (No State Tax - 4 time champs)
Portland - Roy, Aldridge, Oden, Camby, etc.
Denver - Anthony, Billups, Martin, Nene, etc.
Phoenix - Nash, Richardson, Hill, (Amare before), etc.
L.A. Lakers - Bryant, Gasol, Odom, Artest, etc. (Champs)

These are not bad cities to live in. I excluded Utah, Other California teams, Memphis, Oklahoma City and the rest of the league because I tried to capture big markets like Houston with a winning history and a solid roster.

I don't believe it has anything to do with Houston as a city or a reputation. If anything players love to live here.

What we are witnessing is a group of players who want to win but know that only one team can win a year. Their loyalty is not to what city brought them in but what players can help them win. What it does however is weaken the league as a whole and robs many teams of having any sort of competitive edge or even ability to sell their tickets. Teams like Minnesota, Washington, New Jersey, Golden State, etc. are not going to be able to sell tickets to tons of games by saying come watch our team vs. Lebron and Cleveland, Wade and Miami, Bosh and Toronto, Paul and New Orleans, etc. which is a major selling point for weak market teams. Local fans want to see the big name players from other teams as bad as they want to watch their own.

I think what is happening right now is wrong in many ways and I'm sure David Stern is furious about how this is going to effect ticket sales for many struggling teams when they have nothing to pitch in their advertising campaigns. Who in 2010-2011 wants to watch Minnesota vs. Cleveland, Minnesota vs. Toronto, Minnesota vs. New Orleans (If Paul leaves) and think of all the combinations of teams out there that this applies to. That's alot of money lost.

I respect players more when they stick to a team, claim the leadership role they were paid for and raise their game and the players around them to a higher level no matter what the situation. If you really listen, what these players are trying to say is that they are not good enough to lead their team. Understanding that fact should help us all to appreciate the players we have, who don't give up and fight every game without any complaints despite being shorthanded or under-starred.

 

Because while some teams value talent, Rockets collect assets and good value players. Also, it does not help that Rockets most talented player rarely plays.

When players like Bosh and Paul are looking for a new team, they could care less about assets. They could care less about good value players. They could care less about watching TV with Yao in their living room. They want to play alongside other talented players.

As it stands and based on their philosophy, Rockets will be an average-good team for next few years. Just dont go around expecting championships.

 

My point with Nash was that he hasn't stayed with the same team. He went to Dallas, became a star, there, and then came back to the Suns. It's pointless arguing technicalities.

And I'm not criticizing Morey for not taking risks. I'm just acknowledging his obvious strategy which is to build an organization like the Jazz, for example, where they are always good, but rarely a title contender. To be a title contender, you usually have to take on bad contracts, overpay a player or two, etc. Morey tries to get players who are being paid their value or below. In a market where the star players are in total control in that they usually have multiple teams bidding on them, the only way to beat out teams with bigger stars, better records, and/or bigger markets is to overpay for them, and Morey isn't going to do that. The entire strategy of "we have all these assets so we can trade for a star" has been a bust this summer. It hasn't worked. Maybe it will in the future, but historically, the majority of elite top 10 type players stay with the team that drafted them, or go to teams that contend for a title regularly, have other major stars, or are in a major market. Right now, the Rockets don't contend for titles, have no major top 10 type star, and are not in a major market like NY/LA or in a party town like Miami.

This could change. If Yao has a great season and the Rockets go to the conference finals this season, then suddenly Houston's image will begin to change. But it's funny to me that people are surprised free agents aren't coming here when the reality is that we weren't a playoff team last year, have only won one playoff series in the last 10+ years, our best player Yao just had career-threatening foot surgery that is going to limit his minutes next year, and we are not considered a glamorous city.

Accounting for all that, Morey is smart in building a team that will always be consistently good and avoiding the risks you usually have to take to build a title team. All I'm saying is knowing how Morey tries to avoid risks and overpaying free agents, our most realistic path to a new major star is through the draft.