Any new owner who comes in and gets rid of Morey is not a person I would want owning my team. The Rockets are up there with one of the best overall records in the NBA over his tenure, he has done as good a job as you can reasonably expect from a GM. Anybody who would do better isn't leaving the team they are on.
Well, he has made huge money on his investment, time to get out and enjoy not having to worry about the team anymore. I wonder tho, if he hadn't picked up a couple of titles right after buying, would he want to stick around for a couple more years in the hope that this team could win one? They have been building to this moment for a long time, and they are closer than ever before if everything goes right in the near future. I have no real strong feelings about him leaving, but really hope that any ownership transition doesn't interfere with the team itself, their direction is solid and their methods are solid, I just hope any new owner doesn't come in and mess with things.
"Yes, but..." I do suppose a (multi)billionaire will be making the purchase and therefore, possibly, mebbe, buying him/herself a new toy?
not only did he say they are going to take risks, but that they might make moves that wouldn't make sense. Oh my! A little bit scary
Daryl Morey: " We have one of the best players in the league, top 5 for sure, top 3 arguably , ... so we have to ... so you know, I mean James' prime is overlapping with one of all-time great teams, that's just how it is, we can't change when James' prime is, so we're in it full-bore" (29:45).
New owner is shelling out a ton of money and will want say so that is always the issue. They will mess with things and will know about the luxury tax forecast. The difference here is this sale is more of an audition because I think a couple of Chinese bidders are going to drive the price way up and whoever has the winning bid will have had to invest a lot of time and resources based on the current status of the team. They are paying $2.5B because it is a championship caliber team and they will meet a lot with Morey and the executive team to get comfortable with the price and they are investing in the current plan. They will have deeper pockets and a much longer plan because they have the recoup their investment back over decades. This will be a long sale and that kind of money doesn't get thrown around that easy. Every crevice gets inspected. I see maybe a few executive holdovers but really a big turnover to a new marketing drive to expand revenue opportunities globally. I see someone challenging the revenue sharing rules from global merchandising and licensing. I do see the uniforms becoming more like soccer with advertising. Warmups might resemble NASCAR level sponsorship. Think Morey's "anything not bolted down" theory. Everything will be on the table. Someone like Balmer looks at this as a hobby after he confirmed the size of that TV deal. This owner is looking at it as inefficient revenue generator. In the near term, they will not disrupt the basketball side and I doubt they want to later. Winning and marketing are congruent goals on a global stage. Each dollar invested has a far bigger bang. I think the sheer price will lock in that we get an owner with deep pockets that wants to make money with a longer vision. When Les bought it and like some of these other teams it was on the verge of someone using the majority of their wealth and leverage to acquire the asset and needing it to generate profit immediately. Fortunately, Les wasn't that kind of owner. We have had it good. He leveraged the craziness of his GM to avoid tanking and that worked out in ways we still can't fathom when luck, opportunity, and perseverance meet.
The team is good because the owner set a direction, the GM is smart in executing that direction, and the work good as a team.
I think this is a pay it forward situation. He, as an owner, didn't really do much to win his two championships. We're on the verge and he sees that, so it's basically allowing the next owner to come in with a similar potential experience. I think it's all part of the sales pitch.
Morey: "We'll continue to be in the news because we'll continue to take risks to get better. We haven't been perfect in our moves. I can rattle off all of our mistakes. We may make a few more. To close that gap, we have to take risks & ones that may not make sense to people on the surface." This says to me Melo won't be the only big risk they take.
Some people always believe that the grass is greener on the other side and fail to see that it is actually the front lawn of the butcher.
