I became a Rockets fan 9 months before I was born! I started following intensely at about 11, maybe 12 years old. I grew up hearing stories of the glory days (I’m 27, so I barely even remember watching Hakeem). Ever since I’ve followed sports closely, I have been a glass half full fan! I will defend our players to the very end and I’ll do it proudly! I spent years defending TMac after his ordeal and as long as James Harden is a Rocket I will have his back. If he does end up being traded, I will still root for him because of all the joy, hope, and entertainment he’s given me as a fan. In addition to all this, sports is like my safe haven. It’s really my only major hobby. If you were to ask any of my friends or family what’s the first thing they think of about me, their going to mention my love for sports, and my love for the Rockets! As I’m sure a lot on here can relate, I didn’t miss a single game during the Kevin Martin days and no matter what I was pumped to watch every time. We all know that there’s just something about the Rockets that other fans and national media just don’t like. For the past near decade it’s been like that, and I’ve embraced it! I will go to war with the haters defending this team! I’ve gone at it with friends, co-workers, rando’s on Twitter, and even some pretty well known “experts” (Proudly blocked by Eddie Johnson and Vince Goodwill), even got called a dumbass by Kenny and Charles once for calling their BS out on Twitter. But for the first time ever, the constant negativity has started to wear me down. Despite the fact that we have a really good roster and a promising young coach, in addition to STILL having the best offensive player in NBA history, I’m as apathetic about the start of this season as I’ve ever been. I’m just so sick of the negative coverage that follows this team. I’m sick of literally every single year hearing false narratives about a team that “can’t win” despite the fact that they’ve won more than 28 other teams over the last 5 or so years. I’m sick of James Harden getting called out for doing things that every other player does (club incident). Now, for the first time in the Harden era, I can admit that some of this negativity has been brought on by the actions of Harden himself. However, you cannot convince that part of the reason Harden wants out isn’t because he too is sick of the constant media bias against him and the Rockets! If this team was covered fairly, Harden would be comfortably starting a season leading a contender and hoping to finally break through this year. But that’s not the case, and it’s gone on for so long that I’m just about ready for a restart! I don’t want to trade Harden, but if it’s inevitable, I hope we do it as soon as possible so I can find some rejuvenated excitement about this team. No one has defended Harden as much as me over the years, so this sucks for me to type. But I could see a young core with Ben Simmons and Christian Wood leading being really fun to watch, and hopefully give this organization a chance to be covered fairly for the first time in a long time. The constant negative media bias against this team has brought me to this point, and I just want to enjoy being a fan again!
well, OP has a point. statistically speaking harden is one of the best offensive players to ever play this game, u can't deny that. to average around 35ppg on high efficiency the past two seasons while still facing double/triple teams every single night...other than mj, no one has had to face that kind of attention defensively. stop trying to turn this into an anti-harden thread when it is clearly not.
I agree with the OP 100%. I thought about this as I was watching BSPN and TNT and all of the negative narratives that constantly follow the Rockets. The hate from Barkley, Shaq, Steven A and Skip has made the nation hate us for NO Reason. They blame Morey, they blame Our Style of Play, they blame Money the Rockets supposedly owes them (Barkley) Now the national media with their Sheep-like mentality will follow whatever they say (Tim M) BSPN even had the audacity to rate us 11th in the West with basically the same team coming back. We lose Westbrook and Covington, but gain Woods, Wall, and Cousins, how is that enough of a net loss to drop from 4th to 11th? And now Harden has had enough (when he would have won the MVP at least twice in the last 4 years if he played ANYWHERE else) of the Houston bias and hate that he wants out. I really don't blame him.
The rockets are one of a few teams outside boston and lakers that has been a top tier team over long history despite league and media wishes. They have done it in spite of. It's what made the first rockets title so beautiful and how this site exists..breaking through..clutch..believing etc All plans by league and fan wishes has been anti houston so it just happens the rockets have gone against this plan for most of their existence..they have been a lucky franchise in many respects despite outside forces always acting against rockets if when can. Whether media or league. So like the team for fighting through it..like them for not be the league sway but always there to f*uck it up. The underdog. Everyone wanted the Knicks to win but there was this pesky dude named olajuwon that kept screwing it up for them. That is who the rockets are..that thorn.. Of course picking on harden has been a plan and it will all go away if he joins a league/media favored team. It's even more depressing when it's a lower tier team like kings with bibby and Webber that are good but get denied by league forces in 2002. Again none of this is new.. This has been going on since at least 90s I have seen personally ..and here we are 30 years later..lets not act like this is new. You pick rockets you are picking the scrappy not league or media promoted team. Spurs were the exception and they are back as bottom feeders where the league wants them..duncan Parker ginobil - David stern and co are crying in their grave even now that the spurs couldn't have been the knicks or lakers. This is all about audience. In la they don't care about football the way we don't care about basketball.. They have an audience that they have to feed. With media its the lakers and all else..the opposition is all else like globetrotters and all the other team are just the "challenger"..it makes sense .. turn on radio in la it's all basketball all the time. Turn on radio in houston literally no one cares. You think harden wants to be hated? Think of the sappy love fest it will switch to if harden goes clippers. Like night and day to his coverage.. Bottom line we don't care AND all our tv's are tuned to football. Harden leaves it will be a collective yawn and makes sense for him to go where they care or more tv sets. 30 years in and a ridiculous sample size - Let's not pretend or kid ourselves of what this is ..who we are.. what the league is.. It's literally one level away from wrestling. The only thing that adds a bit of chance is both hoops are seemingly the same size. I wouldn't be surprised at all if it comes out later the league has tech to make basket smaller or shake the rim subtle just to get their outcome. The notion it's not engineered near scripted is cute like tooth fairy and santa..nice story you got there. Anyone that thinks otherwise is just fooling themselves. Rockets some how in this league of "chance" have this uncanny ability to be right there. That's why this wall cousins gamble might just pay off...some teams are just lucky. Just like texans are unlucky and need to be rebranded. It's a bit of a superstition x factor..in that sense the rockets have been trolling the league and media from day one. The funniest would be to lose harden and win a title. All the lakers league guys and east coast turds will be at a loss on that one. Rockets are like karma on a league that can't play clean Go rockets
You could say the Bad Boys Pistons and MJ Bulls broke through the Celtics/Lakers phalanx as well. Sixers, Warriors, Bucks, smaller teams as well prior to that.
Seeing underdog teams screw up media and league plans is one of the only reason I watch still. These exception teams are cute stories but not sustainable..rockets really are lucky if you think about it. In fact I put detroit and Chicago in one luck tier above rockets. Doesn't hurt that Jordan was pretty decent and Chicago seemingly the 3rd largest city. The league is centered around lakers same way it's bad for business if the yankees suck.. It's lakers and all else. More so the media thinks that way then even the league (see cp3 lakers rescind. They have to kinda pretend when gets too obvious) and for media it's because they have a massive audience. Media not beholden to rules or fair..By the numbers most other teams are fringe. NBA built a brand in los angeles that is wildly popular and is mostly uncontested main act in a huge metropolis. If anything I'm surprised it's not more overt
Are rockets one of longer term luckiest ..while being least cared for in media? I would say yes. Rockets went to finals early 80s..string of strong teams with Malone .. hayes.. Rockets had Sampson Incredibly lucky to get olajuwon The yao era The harden era... That's 4 eras..what other teams have that besides Rockets lakers celtics? Spurs bulls detroit even warriors perhaps "luckier" due to title counts but not over the expanse of years like rockets .not over that long a period..warriors sucked for like 2 decades. Detroit with bad boys and more recent billups Hamilton might be the winner. Detroit has sucked for a fairly long time again now..cant say same for rockets in that sense. So it's celtics,lakers,detroit,houston in terms of greatness over long periods? Bucks were good but bad forever too.. Philly shiet since Dr j (edit i forgot Iverson but even that was short term and Iverson being Iverson for a moment) Are rockets longest term best luckiest team besides engineered Boston and lakers? Behind only detroit?
I have defended Harden every chance I get up until now. This last incident was childish at best and dangerously selfish for what it is. He allowed someone to take a video in a club violating protocols showing a suitcase off as a message he is leaving. How unprofessional is that??? He has a contract to play that has 2/3 years left on it and he’s acting like he can get traded to his team of choice before a short season starts. It confirms the narrative he has always gotten his way and how spoiled this man really is when he doesn’t get what he wants immediately. Rockets don’t have to give in to this man. He has really made me rethink the events that led to this teams demise. Don’t get me wrong. I know this team will be good and I trust Silas as a great coach and we will bounce back after this chapter is done. Go Rockets!
Most people in Media have lived in NY, LA, or another major market not named Houston. So their is the bias that in general, the big names that win and the in vogue cities get most of the attention / glamour. Houston has zero glamour. On top of that the average person cares about what the big names do - LeBron, Giannis, Curry, etc. Harden's brand was heavily tarnished by a few things - that video of his defense that ironically originated on this site, and his propensity to draw fouls, and his playoff failures. So a lot of casual fans don't respect him and that is reflected in the media coverage.
What if you don't want to hear them going on about how much they proudly hate the Rockets though? To avoid it you basically have to never talk about basketball on social media, watch basketball on tv, listen to any NBA podcast coverage, read any articles about the NBA, or talk about basketball with non-Rockets fans. The hatred for the Rockets is deeply ingrained in the entire basketball discussion and it is draining. Not everyone can watch the games with no sound on, talk to no one about the games, and avoid all NBA related content to not hear it.
