Les is a sucessful business man. I don't think Yao and Tmac will resign with the rockets. This is the end of Yao-tmac era!
Be still my beating heart! As much as I wish the Rockets would move on, I'm afraid that Yao will get his max extension, even though re-signing a brittle player is insane, but the business reasons behind the decision are hard to argue with, especially in this economy.
I thought Richard Justice, IIRC, has mentioned in his blog that someone from the Organization has vetoed the Amare offer?
Who has screamed foul here? A bit overreacted, aren't you? I am confused, so what composes a 'deal'? I meant to say Suns offered Amare to Rockets so I can't say such was an 'Amare deal' since someone turned down the offer?
I don't care why the Amare deal fell though, I'm just glad it did. The interesting thing about a running team is that finding players to fit into that kind of system isn't as tough as finding players who excel in a half court game, and this allows teams to be a bit more picky in who they throw big contracts to.
We DID go out and get some good players for the running game. Just putting out a possible 8 man rotation: PG Aaron Brooks SG Tracy McGrady SF Trevor Ariza PF Luis Scola C ?David Anderson / C Hayes? G Kyle Lowry F Shane Battier C Carl Landry Obviously, until the playoffs get in full gear, more players will be in the rotation . . . but that 8 man rotation is BLAZING fast and pretty good defensively.
Isn't Amare a proven product of a running team? As much as I like Yao, I must admit that Amare is the better fit to Adelman's game. It's not just Steve Nash who brought Amare's points on the court. His games have developed along with his years in the league as well, and that include his mid range jumpers. I will not surprise if basketball-reference.com indicates that his mid range jumpers have a higher percentage than Yao's.
[/THREAD] I have gotten this type of vibe about LA as well. Granted, living across the country minimizes my exposure to his thoughts/comments but I agree with ziggy/cabbage that his comments reek of arrogance. Just keep signing the paychecks, big guy! Let the basketball decisions be left to the guys that know basketball. We all know at the end of the day that even the best running team is going to face a team like San Antonio that imposes their will on you and forces you to play at their pace. Hell, just ask a Phoenix fan about that. You can strive to run-and-gun more and increase the tempo but you also need balance. I'm all for the idea of increasing the tempo and trying to actually record some transition buckets for once, but I think plenty of people get this foolish notion that we're going to be some Phoenix/GS style run-and-gun squad. That's simply not going to happen. Mainly because those type of offenses need a floor general, which is something we do not have, plus McGrady's inevitable return and tendency to slow the game down all but eliminates this possibility.
You know, Les comes off as a giddy fan when he speaks of the Rockets. The whole "I want to watch a running team" and "Greatest team ever essembled" stuff may be stupid. But it's the exact same hope I've always had for this Rockets team the past years. Sure, they're unrealistic and generally pretty wacky. And I agree that Les probably shouldn't say such words on record. But you can't fault an owner for taking an optimistic view on each season. In the end, Les may speak like a fan, but he runs the team like a good NBA owner should. As long as he doesn't go into some weird fetish like Cuban had for Jason Kidd, I really don't care what he says.
Excellent stuff you brought up here, especially the part about the defenders mugging Yao and the refs allowing them. What a shame this NBA officiating is.
Why all the hate for Les Alexander? He's not a basketball coach, he's an owner and a fan. He's trying to do the right things for the team. He's basically handled the team well over the years, opening his wallet and keeping out of the way of the coaching, which is about the most you can ask for in any sport. Let's chill out and give the guy a break.
Les isn't the most photogenic personality. But he knows how to run a business and he has a competitive spirit. His ego isn't to the point where he constantly overrides the people he hires, and he values talent to the point of bringing in Darryl Morey and allowing him to hire a sizable squad of number crunching analysts that no other pro sports teams has guts to spend on. I don't watch games to see his mug. I continue to watch to see the team he controls. We are pretty fortunate in that regard.
Question for Les: Then why IN THE HELL did you hire JVG? A blind man would have known that his style of coaching did not produce the type of offense you claim you wanted.
He put the defense wins championships tag before the run and gun offense. We obviously didn't win anything. Then he said to himself amn it. Lets roll and play a fun type bball.
The frequent reference to 'the' Amar'e deal which has never been quantified. IF there was an offer put forward by Phx, what was it? I keep seeing claims put out there as facts as it relates to AS & Suns &&& Rox - so, clear it up for me, for all of us, please - you and/or anyone else making the Amar'e claim. Thank you.
Les was simply following the "we had a low key players coach before, now we need a fiery coach to mix things up" convention....pretty standard sports cliche
