i think this is the biggest thing. if he didn't say anything, or even said we have to stay under the tax it would be a bummer but we'd have to accept it. but when we get quotes like "spend anything to win", "giving morey the green light to spend into the tax", and on and on, it becomes very frustrating when you find out you've been lied to.
its unfair to categorize the $3.6M in tax (using spotrac data) as barely over the tax. it seems like a small amount by today's NBA salary standards but at the time that figure brought the rockets up to the apron. by today's numbers that would mean spending about $6M over the tax (right up to the apron). that was also a year when they had two man stars and championship expectations. like this year. les was willing to go all in for another title run when he thought the team was good enough. so far, tilman hasn't.
I do not have any numbers to back this up but it seemed like during the time Les was owner, we never really heard stuff like rockets wont use up all their exceptions (mid, annual, biannual etc) It was always kind of a given that if someone would take the money, we would go for it. It seems now like Rockets are contend to sign min vets and not go after some real players who can help but cost the mle I hope we use those provisions because we have a really good team but doesn't look like we will
About as many as Tillman if you think paying lux tax for Jimmer Fredette was the secret to beating the Durant Warriors. 97-99 2005 2009 Also - no one ever remembers on Clutchfans the failed memphis/miami trade at the deadline that Tillman was pissed about. Confirmation biassssss
We WON not ONE but TWO Championships with Sir Uncle Les ALexander as OWNER. You cannot erase that history. Until Tilman, gets us even one championship, he is no comparison to Les But Tilman only fans like @tinman and @Rasheed think it's all about LTS
Like I've said before: Just because Tilman has not shown to be a willing-to-spend owner doesn't mean Les was a great one. People wanting to have Les back as an owner fall into two camps: born after 1994 or only started following Rockets basketball recently. Less was a mediocre owner--not worst but not to be put on a list of the best either. I know some wants a new/better owner but we can do better than to yearn/wish for a return of mediocrity.
He inherited that team. He had nothing to do with it. He let Dream play in Canada over an MLE contract.
Someone explain this to me. I've been hearing it all these years, but don't understand how he didn't collect? Was it contractually, a grey area or something, that got lawyered out of, or a legit fail to pay?
Leslie got off to an awful start, possibly worse start, in his first 3 seasons he: - fired Calvin Murphy and re-hires him after fan backlash, only because he didn’t like him. DICKMOVE #1 - failed to acknowledge and pay respect to former owner when winning the trophy. DICKMOVE #2 - didn’t want to extend Maxwell early, which he damn well early and caused Vernon to feel disrespected even before Drexler arrived. People tend to overlook this. QUESTIONABLE MOVE #1 - jumped at the first opportunity for a big name and gave up OT who gave you 80-82 games every year of hard work and a legitimate big who could rebound and score in the paint. Had to get another big in exchange for 2 guys we drafted and were big part of our back-to-back to get that back. QUESTIONABLE MOVE #2 - did a rebrand after a championship, scratch that, TWO in what was probably the most awful one in NBA history given the context. ******* MOVE
Did we not WIN two Championships with Sir Les as OWNER? Like I said let's not try and change the facts, please.
It seems that a lot of the gripes are derived from not understanding that spending every possible dime may not necessarily be a good thing. Morey may, indeed, have been given the green light to spend into the tax. There is a good chance that he has looked at the possible players to spend the money on and decided that they wouldn’t improve the team enough to become hardcapped and having his hands tied. Blaming this on Tilman for being cheap, or even assuming that it would be smart to do, seems short-sighted and/or uninformed.
Bro, who cares. We, and I quote, Only the true Rockets fan knows that the mastermind behind those championship teams was Leslie L. Alexander.
We went into the offseason and then free agency with obvious needs to fill. As of 7/19, has Morey been able to fill those needs even when he still have two exceptions to work with? Morey and the Rockets were going to be in a financial bind whether or not they bring in a guy at $6 million a year or a guy via S&T at more money by trading Shumpert because Harden/Paul/Capela or Harden/Westbrook/Capela eats up about 80% of our cap. When would the ideal time be if it's not right now, to effectively NOT waste another year of Harden's prime? Just speaking for myself, I'm tired of hoping/reaching for teams to buy out players so that we can sign them for the vet minimum and thereby filling a need. We should fill the need as soon as possible and not wait around until December/January.
Les milked Yao for everything he was worth,on the court, as well as off. His Far East business concerns far outweighed the Rockets, as he was raking it in with all his new buddies over there. Not wanting to disrupt the apple cart, Les catered to them in every way. Look at our uniforms...The edict was no rebuild when we really should have...on and on...
Tilman is the Kevin McHale of owners. *Clap* *clap* hustle harder *clap* *clap* Westbrook jumps so high!
