Has ESPN Made It More Difficult For Rockets To Attract Free Agents?

This past season is going to haunt us for many, many years to come.

 

I appreciate the thought-out post, but I honestly only somewhat agree.

Yes, the media doesn't seem to like the Rockets very much. Some of that may be unfair. 2 seasons ago, we were the second or maybe third best team in the league. We had the second best record in a loaded Western Conference and made it to the WCF. Harden had a monster season and even had improved defense. Even though we clearly weren't as good as the Warriors, any criticisms from that season were unfounded.

However this past season was a trainwreck from start to finish. Of course they deserved the blame.

One of the things the Rockets get slammed for is their use of analytics and their insistence to stick with the 3's, free throws and shots at the rim approach. But I think it is fair for them to get criticized for that considering they haven't gotten players to match that philosophy. It's crazy that a team that so strongly stresses 3's and free throws doesn't have a single player that excels at shooting 3's and doesn't have a single big man that is good at free throws. Look at Golden State. I know they have become the new media darlings and I'm sick of how much ESPN talks about Curry (did you know he once hit 70 3's in a row during practice?!?!?!) but they basically play offense in a very similar way to us. Except, you know, they actually have players that are good at the things they stress. Just look at the way they use Livingston. Livingston isn't a 3 point shooter, so they don't ask him to shoot 3's and instead he plays to his strengths of driving to the basket and posting up smaller players. We have guys like Josh Smith and Corey Brewer who aren't 3 point shooters (and have never been in their whole careers) and we tell them that doesn't matter, just keep on shooting and since the 3 point shot is a more efficient shot then the number of 3's taken will eventually make up for it even if they aren't good shooters.

So yes, there have been times when the media haven't been fair to us. But there have also been times when we have brought it onto ourselves.

One more thing- don't forget that just a couple of years ago the media wasn't all that fond of Golden State either. Sure, it may have never been as bad as the way they have treated Houston recently. But it wasn't that long ago when they were saying that Curry's ankles would never be healthy enough for him to be able to carry a team, that Bout was too injury prone and their interior defense was too soft without him and that they were too much of a jump shooting team to survive in the slow-it-down, half court oriented gauntlet of the Western Conference playoffs. The Rockets are obviously pretty far away from being a true contender. We need a second playmaker and some really good shooters and someone to make up the rim protection and rebounding from Dwight's inevitable leaving- but if we are able to turn it around and start competing and maybe even winning a championship, we will be amazed at how all the haters and the media change their tune.

 

That perception changed when we were humiliated by a depleted Clippers team. Our team looked like a joke when Austin Rivers was beating us, and it didn't help that we choked against Portland the year before. Nobody gave us credit for winning that series because it was mostly the Clippers choking it away.

There's no media conspiracy. All that matters is winning, and winning with style. We look silly when all we do is talk and can't back it up. Harden said Golden State wasn't that good but they had a gentleman's sweep on us. Harden whined to the media that he should've been MVP only to follow up with a dismal season. Lawson said he'd make Curry work this year, but that didn't work. We had a huge fall from grace. All our organization does is talk. Back it up and the media will fall back on the bandwagon. And please just shut up and play.

 

I'm not sure how you can say we were humiliated by the Clippers when we won the series. Yes, I will admit that they looked like the better team and for much of the series they thoroughly outplayed us and blew us out. Doesn't change the fact that we won the series. Yes, maybe it was the Clippers choking it away but it still seemed that we received more criticism and were basically dismissed rather than the Clippers getting any criticism.

But that was 2 seasons ago and doesn't matter anymore. I agree with you, just shut up and play and, hopefully, shut up and win. Winning changes fans and the media's perceptions of the team and shuts the haters up.

 

Short answer..No. Daryl Morey's made it harder to attract free agents by putting James Harden on a pedestal and treating everybody else as unimportant.

 

All it take is one star player to pair with harden and media will shut up for a while and be on the bandwagon.

 

It's not just ESPN, it's convenient for all of the media to pick on Morey and the style we've developed post-Adelman. They also take our star players, find a weakness, and attack it relentlessly. The narrative surrounding this team & organization by the media and also NBA fans is definitely negative.

We've never been a sexy market. They put Hockey on the cover of SI, not the Rockets. They put OJ on the TV, not the Rockets. Nike, the premier NBA shoe sponsor stopped making signature shoes for Barkley and Pippen when they signed here. They dropped Harden, passed on Hakeem, Dwight, McGrady, Drexler, Francis, Yao and any of our other stars.

But now, we're flat out getting picked on. They're voting Kobe to the all star team, not Harden.

There's a stain on the franchise. Hiring a respectable coach that understands how to establish a culture would have gone a long way to correct that... instead... we continue down the same path.

 

From a national perspective, when was the last time the Rockets were really relevant? 1997 or so? I don't think it's a conspiracy so much as the Rockets are viewed as a second-rate organization.

Yes, we made the WCF 2 years ago, but did anyone give the Rockets a serious chance to beat the Warriors? Beat in 5 games, a few of them were pretty close, but we lost in 5 all the same.

So I really think it's more of national reporters just following the easy storylines, which in this case (Durant not likely to go to Rockets) is 100% true.

 

Making the WCF one year in the last 20 years does not make your team relevant from a national perspective, no.

No one in the media gave us a chance, and they were right to not do so. Because we lost in 5.

 

Has Houston ever been a top flight destination? I think Dwight Howard is our biggest free agent signing in Houston Sports History. Thx to Morey da Gawd

 

Crazy thing, we had Livingston and cut him for that very same reason. He's not a three point shooter and doesn't fit our philosophy. Lol another great job by Morey.