Houston is the #6 media market in the country, Miami is #11. Yes, they both qualify as "large" markets.
Only 11? That's not a top market. They signed because they wanted to play together. If he wanted a big market, he could've gone to New York.
Harden wasn't a superstar until he got to Houston. The Thunder got straight up jacked for Harden. Horrible move by Presti, but there's a problem with your comparison: #1 Houston is a much much bigger market than Portland. #2 My point from the beginning has been that small market teams either have to draft a superstar, or trade for them, and trading for one won't work unless they want to play for your team (IE Chris Paul). Have you heard a superstar player, in their prime, talking about wanting to play for the Blazers?
http://www.arbitron.com/home/mm001050.asp New York couldn't get all 3. Nobody said Miami was LA, but as compared to other markets, they are large enough to have an NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL team, as well as a major D-1 university. How many other metropolitan areas can boast that?
You guys make interesting points but why are we having this conversation? It's monotonous and boring. We have the team we have. Its a pretty great roster. Lillard is primed for stardom. We're trying to win. Now let's get behind them and cheer them on.
We were on Chris Paul's short list when he was wanting to be traded. Happened because we had a young star he envisioned playing alongside in Roy, and to a lesser extent at the time, Aldridge. I can see something similar with Lillard. Same way I can see someone being interested in playing alongside Irving in Cleveland. As a whole, I agree, people aren't going to clamor to come here.
Nothing new is being said in this thread. Let's leave it alone. That's my last post in this thread. I won't open it again. Peace. Go Blazers.
Hakeem was also rumored to want to come to Portland to play with Clyde. Of course, 2-3 years later, Clyde and Hakeem reunited..... in Houston.
How long ago was that? Twenty years? The game has changed. The business has changed. The players have changed. I'm talking about recently. RR7 mentioned Chris Paul, and he's right, I think Paul mentioned wanting to play with Roy.