In an NBA of 82 games and 30 teams, for the casual fan (that rare, fiercely-desired animal that the NBA has started to attract once again), image means everything. To the uninitiated, the San Antonio Spurs are still the boring team, for whatever reason, that plods around in grey and black, unless that fan has been watching in the last 12 months, in which case the Spurs are “revamped”. The Los Angeles Lakers get all of the calls, the Heat are a bunch of spoiled egomaniacs with too much talent (OK, the masses may have a point with this one), the Thunder are young and fun, and the Dallas Mavericks will lose in the playoffs, somehow. As Eric Freeman noted yesterday, reputations can be hard to shirk; so to those who only watch ball on the occasion, what the hell can be made of the Houston Rockets?
The Rockets have long been considered a less lovable Portland, the perennial “contender” beset by bad luck, broken bones and mediocrity. To the vast majority of the world, the face of the Houston Rockets still stands 7’6″ above ground, usually with some sort of walking boot. For those people, and obviously by “those people” I mean “most people”, their perception of Houston likely won’t change until the Rockets make themselves relevant to the mainstream media again through a high-profile trade or lurid scandal (or maybe even by that least interesting of PR tricks, actual winning). Still, for all those that can’t keep up with the goings-on of the Rockets on a nightly basis, what represents Rockets basketball? Is it Chuck Hayes and last year’s collection of midnight warriors, readily dropping teams with sheer effort if the opposition planned on sleepwalking through a game? Perhaps the Rockets’ image is that of the flaccid jump-shooters that lack the ability to get a stop even in the most dire of situations, holding a not-as-bad-as-their-record-would-indicate point differential because they just can’t come through in the clutch? Maybe, just maybe, the Rockets are really that new hotness, the second-best team in the league since the All-Star break boasting its best offense and an ever-improving chemistry within its ranks?
If image means everything, than the Rockets just might not be about anything, and while this seems like a non-problem, the Rockets’ lack of a public image stems not just from a dearth of marketable faces, names and games: it’s also just uncertainty. What is this team about? As captivating as this post-ASG tear has been, calling the progress that has been made some sort of framework from which the beautiful butterfly the Rockets soon hope to be will emerge seems disingenuous (and weird. Way to use those metaphors, me). Will the Rockets forever pour in the points, whipping the ball around the court in the name of gestalt and scores in the 100′s? Perhaps the insane rate of efficiency with which Houston’s currently working is simply a symptom of the current squad’s newness, as there is little to scout on a team that’s basically been playing together for two months (hmm… this feels oddly familiar). Camaraderie’s been known to make pals ball way over their heads, even a couple of months at a time. There’s always the greatest fear: that this could all just be a product of that dreaded variable hot shooting, as fickle as a toddler choosing a Baskin Robbins flavor.
Because no one else knows what the Rockets are, neither do (or will) they. Maybe after an offseason of fighting for certain CBA adjustments or free-agency or a draft (stuffed with wing players, almost on cue for a team that’s likely due some tinkering at the 3), all will be settled. Futures will be secure, and we’ll all rest in our knowledge of the Rockets’ imminent triumph/doom. Until then though, the Rockets hope to keep leaving us all guessing, since the most surprising thing of all has been all of this winning.
