All depends on who buys the team. Many good investors, Warren Buffet for example, look for companies they can buy that have good management they can leave in place.
I think those who aren't worried at all about Morey being fired are very naive and have little experience in these sorts of things.
New owners bring in new people to reshape a business. Why fix what isn't broken? There's no indication to me that if the Rockets had no GM in place, Morey wouldn't be at the top of the list. There are thousands of potentially savvy business managers in general, but only a handful of NBA executives with the requisite knowledge of the salary cap, personnel, etc like Morey
Are you sure? I don't see any details about the ownership group anywhere. All I can find is Les Alexander. If there are other owners they are minority owners for sure.
I am ready for the New Rockets Order. Where top 5 draft picks are valued and declining all stars are not on the radar. We can't beat the Warriors with stars of the 00's we must beat them with the next generation of players. Stronger, faster, better.
First of you can't know. It depends on the new owner. Second it depends how long the sale takes. Third depends on how we do this season. Winning it all wouldn't hurt.
So you have lots of experience in NBA team ownership changes? The NBA is far different than typical corporate business. There are any number of people who can serve as CEO, CFO, etc. in a traditional business structure. In many of those cases, and yes I'm very familiar with them, the new ownership wants someone to implement their vision. On the other hand, the GM role in the NBA is incredibly specialized and depends on a highly detailed and nuanced understanding of the salary cap, numerous player and agent connections, etc. Most NBA owners don't even pretend to think they understand the specifics of the GM job, and they'd love someone to already be in place that's great at the job. In most instances when a team is for sale, however, the team is not doing well -- so they're forced to make a move not because they want to make one, but because the team clearly needs new direction. Morey is regarded as one of the best on the planet by just about everyone, and he's a major asset for the organization. I'd be willing to bet quite a bit of money (dead serious on this, by the way) that he'll be right there after the new ownership is named.
I worked at PetSmart corporate when it was bought by BC Partners for $8.7B. I saw them eviscerate top management and install their own people. Since then, 2 rounds of layoffs, and the higher performers started leaving in the wake of unrealistic workload. I turned down a big offer to stay and try to bail water out of my sinking department. Then, since I also lived in Phoenix, I saw the Phoenix Coyotes franchise purchased by new owners. They left existing management in for a while (Don Maloney, GM, Dave Tippett, coach) and - SHOCK - got the same results for several years. The point? One doesn't have to have NBA-specific experience to know that an organization takes the culture of its leadership. Anyone who buys the team right now is going to be stoked about having 2 superstars and the potential to attract more - all thanks to Morey. They aren't going to rock that boat until they're given a reason to.
CF to band together as an ownership group. We keep Morey, hire Bima as his assistant and groom him as the next Morey. Our GM situation is set for decades!
I will evaluate Morey on his job performance and get back to you later. Give me a week after buying the team first, Geez!
It is pretty disingenuous to portray my position as what you did. It's foolish to "not be worried at all." That's my position. Don't get carried away.
I don't know your position specifically. Not pretending to. Just saying, the role of a NBA GM is significantly more specialized and harder to replace than the vast majority of corporate ownership transfers. In addition, the health of the Rockets as an organization is significantly better than most organizations that undergo ownership changes. It's fair to wonder if a new owner would give Morey the same leash that Alexander did, should something go surprisingly poorly -- like the 2015-16 (41-41) season. However, the new owner isn't going to fix what's working beautifully.
I agree that some of that was disingenuous, but it's not worth worrying until we're given a reason to. Quite frankly, any owner would be absolutely crazy to fire Morey at this point in time. Realistically, it won't happen. He's a celebrity among a lot of higher-level NBA types, and billionaires from a traditional business industry love analytics.
Ya I'm almost 100% sure that les owns the team outright. Forbes says he owns the team 100%. One of the few remaining owners who does own the team without a group. He's was a Trader on wall street and bought the team outright for 85m. Regards to Morey? I don't know if his job is safe or not but he does have that extension working in his favor as well as being very good at his job. My personal opinion. These guys who come in and buy the team are very rich and very smart people and Morey himself is a very very intelligent man. He's also pretty well spoken and engaging. My guess is he has a pretty good chance of winning over the new ownership with his personality and knowledge of numbers over just basketball.
Will new owners want to get rid of Morey just because they will want to put in their own guys? Morey adapts to his situations. Morey wanted to tank and Les said no, so Morey found a way to do what Les wanted. If an owner has a different vision, why wouldn't Morey be able to implement that vision?
Pretty sure Les extending Morey was his personal way of offering as much job security to Morey as possible. It's not like Les extended him just because Morey is a good guy and he liked him. He wouldn't have extended Morey if it wasn't for good reason. Morey is damn good at his job and I'm sure Les will be interview the new owners to see what their plan and vision is. At the end of the day even when he's long gone the Rockets are still his baby. He wont sell it to just any new owner(s) that would jeopardize his core beliefs (keeping the team in Houston, willingness to spend in order to win, TRUSTING in Morey etc). Just cause he's cashing out doesn't mean he's going to sell out. Of course anything can happen but that's my hope and belief.
I guarantee you that Les locking Morey up was a way for him to project stability as a selling feature for the organization. He doesn't make that decision if he thinks Morey is the type of GM that gets replaced. He does that because he knows Morey is viewed as an asset to the incoming owner. That being said... sure there is a risk that the new owner cleans house and installs his friends either from the business world or elsewhere. But the opinion of anyone that knows anything would be that axeing Morey would be stupid. Why any new owner would risk destabilize the asset that he is acquiring in a transaction this size is beyond me.
