Les Alexander: Rockets are contenders and do not need to get out of the first round

I wanna give Les the benefit of the doubt here. I've made no secret of my disappointment with him as Rockets owner and how he seems to have no idea how to put together a winning basketball team. But I always figured he wanted to win, even if he didn't understand how.

Now though, I'm not so sure. You read these remarks and couple that with the extension for McHale and his refusal to tank in the past and it looks like this is a guy who just wants to field a competitive team during the regular season in order to generate enough enthusiasm to fill the arena(or at least sell tickets even if people don't actually show). If they manage to win an occasional playoff series once every couple of decades, great. But he won't lose any sleep over it if they don't, provided the franchise is profitable.

 

I sort of read the quote as he does not think we have to get out of the first round first as some initial rite before winning a ring. Obviously you need to get past the first round to win a ring THAT YEAR, but fans always harp on how we rarely get out of the first round, shouldn't even focus on a ring yet, so far, etc.

I think he means we could win a ring right now -- beat the first round and go straight to the top. Don't have to have this labored, get to 2nd round, then WCF next year, etc., as if it is incremental. Sometimes it just strikes like lightning!

 

Lmao. Ppl on here defending Les by trying to rationalize what they "think" he was trying to say. What he said was clear cut. Gettin out the 1st round doesn't matter because we have our 2 superstars and a likeable team. It's actually sad. Because it explains why we are chasing a 3rd star even at the expense of team chemistry. I bet any money we'd gut the whole team just to get Kevin Love. When we get knocked out the 1st round again, Les will say "I'm happy with the team this year, our 3 superstars are putting ppl in the seats".

 

“I feel bad we haven’t gotten out of the first round in a long time, but I don’t think we need it,” Alexander said. “All the players want to come here. The fans love us. I don’t think it’s needed, but I would obviously love to have it.”

Look, maybe this was taken out of context, but it seems pretty clear what he's saying. The success of the franchise in his view is not predicated on playoff success, not even winning a single series. For him it's about the fans liking the team and players wanting to come here.

I would argue that on the former, things aren't that great right now. Maybe they are selling out every game(I have my doubts), but look at the seats during player intros and at tipoff. The arena is half empty. It's embarrassing. Yes, other franchises have the same issue, even Miami despite their recent success. But an excited, engaged fanbase wouldn't be lackadaisical about showing up for games to this degree.

And on the latter, do players really wanna come here? We whiffed pretty bad last offseason. Melo was never really in the cards, but Bosh basically played the Rockets just to get a better deal from Miami. And Parsons showed no hesitation in signing a big fat deal with Dallas even though he had to know it could jeopardize the Rockets' chances at Bosh since everyone was waiting on LeBron to make his decision. Howard did sign here in 2013(despite not wanting to be here under any circumstances a year and a half earlier), but that's pretty much the only major free agent acquisition for this organization in recent history. The rest have been landed via trades.

 

I'm sure all the greats players would have been ok with such a loser mentality form their FO. We have our star player busting his ass like he did tonight, just totally unfair to him.

 

He might not resign come that time when it's the end of his contract and he's weighing his options. He'll remember how Les thinks and not resign.

 

Are people seriously expecting Les to make sense when he opens his mouth? Where the hell have all of you been the last decade, hibernating? Give me a break. Can't enjoy a damn win without plowing into threads about Alexander's inane babbling. How about we beat Golden State Wednesday. Then we'll have something really interesting to carry on about.

 

7 pages on this? Ask yourself, who stands to profit the most by the team advancing in the playoffs? Why put additional and unnecessary pressure on your team and staff through the media? Everybody around the country knows that losing in the first round would be a failure of a season. The thing is, all 8 teams in the Western Conference that will make the playoffs have a right to feel the same way.

Clearly saying things in the media that he likely isn't saying behind closed doors. Les wants to win and always has and has proven that over and over again through action and deeds. Les is a risk taker. Can't believe anybody would question this.

 

Exactly. Old guy said something that doesn't quite make sense..... is this some revelation that defines your existence as a Rockets fan?

When your sitting around the dinner table with your 80 year old grandfather and he says some random opinionated crap about politics, should you go change your vote?

Actions speak louder than words. What do we know about Les Alexander?

-2 Championships
-13 playoff appearances
-In 21 years has only had THREE losing seasons
-Values having "star" players
-Coaching stability (only 4 since owning the team)
-Values international market appeal
-First owner to lead the charge with Analytics from the top down in NBA basketball
-successful business man. Knows how to manage multiple successful businesses
-doctorate in Economics (the guy knows how to manage dollars and cents)
-Vegetarian and supporter of Animal Rights
-Loves Wine

The guy absolutely has shown that he is a smart capable owner & values a quality product. The absolute worst thing you can have in pro sports is an owner who is so obsessed with being the king now that he sells his soul to try and prove something here and now rather than focusing on smart decisions that allow for sustained success.

I know that Rockets fans want it here and now. I get it. However more than anything, I know deep down in there, most Rockets fans probably just want a consistent shot at a title EVERY YEAR. Not just once every 10 years when the cap clears, and the owner shells out 3 max contracts to burnt out former star players like the Knicks & Dolan try to do.

Give me sustained success and a fighting chance every year over an owner like Dolan who will go championship or bust every ten years when his cap clears.

As for Les' comments... its probably just an old man spewing non-sense. However his actions over the past 20 years should make you give two sh#$'s about those 2 sentences, and be thankful he can manage a business better than he can speak publicly.

 

Les had success early on but the Rockets have accomplished almost nothing in 15 years.

 

A couple years ago after Yao went down there was a real negative attitude about Les going on around here that he was a cheap owner, and his focus on managing the cap was actually a pitfall. Leading the charge was definitely DaDakota who coined the "Le$" moniker.

Maybe we should start a poll. Let's call it... "What Poster would you most want to be the GM, or the Rockets"

A. DaDakota
B. Carl Herrera
C. Jopatmc/Basketballhollic
D. BimaThug

............................

Would it be a huge shock to anyone if the guy who knows how to manage his dollars and cents the best might actually be the best guy to be making major decisions?

Les might not be the greatest owner ever just because he knows how to manage this business correctly, but it does show that knowing how to manage this business correctly often correlates with a product that is competitive every year. If you guys would rather have a brash risk taker so be-it, but I'm placing my vote in the guy that I know is going to give me a fighting chance every single year.

 

Success in sports is defined by winning. If you're satisfied being popular, selling tickets, and never winning any playoff series then that's a huge problem.

 

Funny how you leave the best gm out. Cheke

 

nobody cares about championships
i dont even live in houston
will the rockets winning the championship improve my life? hell no
**** the rockets
there are a lot of things more important than them

 

To us fans, we want championships. Or at the very least to be competing for them(and no, winning 50+ games every year doesn't count). If Les truly doesn't care about that and is content with a team that merely finishes above .500 every season, then this franchise is screwed until someone else either buys or inherits it from him.

Obviously Morey wants to win a title and I would imagine so do the players and coaches, but ultimately it's the owner who sets the tone for the rest of the organization. Maybe this explains asinine decisions like Les reportedly demanding that Morey go out and sign Jeremy Lin rather than try to retain a player like Dragic who was far more proven(yes, the 4th year option was a factor, but the amount of money thrown at Lin was still insane).

 

Dang bro, you are cool!

 

Like sucking on a Lin inflatable barbie doll. GTFO LOF

 

?? did i miss something?

anyway, back to Les. Reading stuff like this is depressing for me as a fan. It makes you question the entire philosophy of the organization. and I understand going to bat for your coach, but in the context of that quote, he honestly makes it sound like McHale's a better coach than Rudy T, JVG and Adelman. So we should be satisfied with a 1 and done every year? How do you expect fans to buy in when you obviously don't care about winning? At the very least, pay lip service to it.

 

I don't understand what philosophy is in question? What is the difference between a 50+ win team that wins a title and one that doesn't??

The only thing you can do as an owner and GM is to put a product on the floor that is capable of competing at the highest level.

-Was Hakeem, Pippen, Barkley, not a championship caliber team
-Was Francis, Mobley, etc. not at least a good TRY at rebuilding post Hakeem
-Was Yao and T-Mac not a contending core?
-Is Harden & Howard not a contending core?

I dont know. I don't get where the criticism is coming into play that there is some magical difference an owner & GM have made between a team that can win 50+ games and a team that wins the title.

If there was SOMETHING Les could have done differently that would have distinguished his 50+ win teams into championship caliber teams please.... let me know what he was supposed to do that falls back on his duties as a an owner.

Must I remind everyone that only 1 out of 30 owners a year puts forward a championship caliber team? Must I remind everyone that typically, outside of a few random years, the thing that distinguishes a good team from a great championship caliber team is having a transcendent best player on the universe person on your team.

So please tell me what Les is supposed to do to make you people feel happy with him as an owner. What can he really do better to make his already really good team go deep in the playoffs? What is it that makes a contending team in the regular season a team that contends in the postseason?

 

yeah its hard to win a championship, it doesnt mean you settle for 1 first round exit every year. i dont know what he can do, but I do know he cant say stuff like "I'm cool with not winning". If thats the kind of guy you want owning your franchise, I guess we just have to agree to disagree then