How we could be selling free agents on Houston

[TheFreak]

Credit to J.R. for this tweet:

Adrian Wojnarowski ‏@WojYahooNBA Ray Allen considered Pat Riley's presentation the past two days in Miami as "incredible," source says. "They sold him in every way."

I can't help but think that if Leslie Alexander wasn't Leslie Alexander, Rudy Tomjanovich could be giving these sort of 'presentations' to prospective free agents for the Rockets. Instead, he scouts for the Lakers.

Recall how inspired Kevin Garnett, Gary Payton and co. were after Rudy's opening speech to the players prior to the 2000 Olympics:

"You know, it's too bad we have a salary cap in the NBA," said Rockets trainer Keith Jones. "Because after them being around Rudy and seeing what he's about, I think we could take 10 of these guys back to play with us in Houston. Heck, I've got six of them in my pocket now, and we've only been here a week."

Yes, I know that Miami has much more to offer than the Rockets do as far as winning goes. But Allen took half the money Boston was offering him, and he went to the Celtics' biggest rival. I recall Riley being instrumental in assembling Miami's Big 3 as well, and the team was terrible prior to that.

The bottom line is, why is this guy

scouting for the Los Angeles Lakers at this stage of his life, when he could be working in some capacity for the team and city he dedicated most of his life to?

The only answer that makes sense:

[Go_Korea]

Bring back Rudy T!

and also Calvin Murphy.

[DaonlyLA]

I think the dude who own Landrys... Need to buy the rockets from the junk man..... Les is the new Al Davis

[ArtV]

Tweets and iPads baby! Tweets and iPads!

[justtxyank]

Yeah, I'm sure if it weren't for Pat Riley doing a good presentation Ray Allen wouldn't have just signed to be part of the NBA champions featuring the best player in the NBA and 2 of the next 20 best fresh off their impressive handling of the Thunder. I'm sure it really took Riley being "impressive" in their meeting.

[LCAhmed]

Originally Posted by DaonlyLA I think the dude who own Landrys... Need to buy the rockets from the junk man..... Les is the new Al Davis

You want Tillman Fertita to own the Rockets? I am not so sure that would be a great idea.

[Dr of Dunk]

Rudy became a scout for the Lakers because he requested it to Jerry Buss from what I recall reading. He wanted to stay tied to basketball instead of simply "retiring off into the sunset". Buss did that favor for him.

Also, I don't think he's with the Lakers as a scout anymore, but I could be wrong. He and his son wrote and maintained statistical analysis software for the Lakers (ZOMG! basketball analytics?! say it ain't so, Rudy!) for a while and still may do that, though I'm not sure.

As for Allen, he went there to win another ring and probably to get the hell away from Rondo - that's it. Teams like the Rockets had nothing to offer him no matter their presentation.

[teebone21]

WINNING!

[OlajuwonFan81]

Point taken, but at the end of the day it was the chance of winning a championship with lebron and co more so than riley or even the city of miami.

I do like the Rudy T example and would hope that their presentations don't just consist of tweets and ipads.

[Mav-Hater]

Originally Posted by DaonlyLA I think the dude who own Landrys... Need to buy the rockets from the junk man..... Les is the new Al Davis

Tilman Fertita

[JoeBarelyCares]

Originally Posted by DaonlyLA I think the dude who own Landrys... Need to buy the rockets from the junk man..... Les is the new Al Davis

That would be sweet - the Texas mob guy vs. the Russian mob guy.

[theDude]

I've long felt that while Morey understands the financial aspects of basketball operations, he is pretty uninspiring on the salesmanship end. In the end a winning team sells itself, but until that time sales pitches should definitely be handed over to someone else. The Rockets have the resources.

[Third eye]

Les is worse than Jerry jones or al Davis heartless, but when you are "there"
He treats ya great, but then he just on taa tha next one..
Less Alexander is now a douche!
That's my take - you're right why is Rudy, or for that matter any old
school Rocket doing things within the organization.
Hell Yao should have some type of role in front office scouting China
or whatever he'd like to partake in. I'm sure he'd love to remain
with the organization.-
After JVG and Rick- we have seen the way Les treats people

[Baqui99]

Take a cue from the master...

[Carl Herrera]

Treating players like humans Would help. Even Kevin Martin.

[Margrave]

Man do I agree, Rudy T is all heart and players love him.

[varuscelli]

Offer bonus tours of The Astrodome.

[ThisIsOurCity]

Echoing the general feeling in this thread. Morey needs a people person to help him recruit players like Rudy T. Morey is a genius when it comes to the financial aspects of the nba and when it comes to finding hidden gems in the draft and off other teams benches, but he has had little success recruiting big time free agents to come play for the rockets. The rockets should consider hiring a guy for the specific purpose of recruiting and pitching Houston to free agents. Rudy T? Hakeem? Someone who can help Morey sell Houston.

[jamisonrocket]

I guess I really never thought of Morey being a bad salesman as the reason why players don't want to come here

[thejav]

Originally Posted by varuscelli Offer bonus tours of The Astrodome.

yes!!..after Howard gets asbestos poisoning.. he would have to stay..houston is one of the top medical cities...Genius!!