[Feigen] Fertitta disputes idea Rockets used the Trade Deadline to get under the Luxury Tax

Lol yeah .

If we went over at this point my jaw would drop .

About the only way I can see us doing that is if we use some MLE to sign House long term.

But I think if we really want him long term we have some ways of doing that (like not converting his two way ) ?

If he'd have come out and said what you said or been more honest like other posters have suggested .... then I would disagree , but I would get it .

Tilman , we understand it's a business bro ... our GM has done a very good job of teaching that to us .

In pretty sure DM introduced some younger fans to the word "asset" hahaha

 

good lord...

 

Absolutely.

If we are healthy and lose in the first round ... how could firing MDA (or Morey though I disagree) not be on the table ?

 

Shumpert is worth negative First Round Pick.
Shumpert is overpaid by 9 million dollar a year. Ennis is a better player than Shumpert on both end of the floor.

Someone has to offer 1 First Pick to Rockets by taking his overpaid contract.

 

Fern t*** broke AF.

 

Sorry carl . Gotta quote this again . I actually am listening now and feigen said "they were trying to pay the luxury tax this year ."

Lol , cmon man . Have some self respect , that's ultimate mouthpiece type stuff right there

 

Opportunity cost of Knight expiring contract is Tobias Harris this season.

Opportunity cost of Knight expiring contract/First is Malcolm Brogdon next season.

Morey can easily get a good player for Knight expiring contract/First next season. Get rid of Knight is a big mistake in term of winning championships since luxury tax is not an issue.

 

Feigen actually agrees with you on the podcast.

Either Tilman is paying Feigen to lie for him or Clutchfans has truly gone bizerk.

I asked a poster earlier if he thought the reports of deals that would have put us over the tax were lies. I never got a response.

So either Tilman is paying or influencing multiple media sources to lie for him, or he was actually willing to pay the tax this year(Kieff was Feigen’s most recent example) Interesting.

 

He is flat out insulting our intelligence making comments like that. Everybody knows what they did.

What an embarrassment.

 

His statement is a half truth, yes he didn't set out in free agency simply to dump salary. But, as his initial lined up trades began to fail and options to drastically improve the team dwindle. He realized that simply adding Shumpert was NOT worth going over the tax for. Thus, the final purge of our 2 Portland pick ups, Chriss, Knight, etc.

 

Tilman has done nothing but lie since he's been here. Cheap people come up with rationale for being cheap. Liars have a rationale for lying. Doesn't change what those people are.

I've said many times, look at every transaction this team has done since he's been owner and which direction the roster and cap are going. His words are in stark contrast to what actually ends up happening.

I had gotten used to optimism from Les when he was going to spend and silence when he was not. But to have someone cheaping out and lying their ass off to the fans is just the most classless thing. We have a cheapskate, sleazy owner until proof emerges otherwise.

 

Late 2nd picks to get rid of ennis dont matter. Chriss was crying to the media about playing tole. We dont know what wasnt public. A first to grt knight off the books and a solid backup in shump is a positive this year and moving forward. Youre upset because cousins and kd made it impossible to win this year.

 

What a bunch of PR bullshit! Tilman really thinks the fanbase are r****ds and that's an insult to actual r****ded people.

I think most of us were skeptical about Tilman before he bought the team but he has made nothing but broken promises ever since.

1. Said he would fix the attendance issues and 2 years later, the lower bowl is still the laughingstock of the league.
2. Said he would build a new training facility for the Rockets, afaik it hasn't happened yet.
3. Said he would pay whatever it takes to win a chip, and that's obviously not happening.

 

JS = Jerome Solomon
JF = Jonathan Feigen

JS: Based on what we know about him as an owner, will he take too kindly if the team doesn't perform over the final 25 games or in the playoffs?

JF: We don't know that. Right now, this season is not what they expected it to be but he has the valid point that they haven't been able to stay together. Of course they're not where they wanted to be. He's reserving judgement. We don't know how he reacts when he stops reserving judgement. I think whatever happens, let's say it's a disappointing season, I don't think they'll react as everyone is foolish, what were we thinking?

JS: "We gotta clean house!"

JF: Definitely not that. That was part of the story when I started trimming it to reasonable length. He said he had great faith. "I'm extremely happy with the whole management team from Thaddeus to Daryl to Coach. I just think where a lot of things fell our way last year that haven't this year. We've been hurt. I'm extremely happy with them." That's a non-factor. They've done well in terms of putting together in-season moves. They're 5th in the West with 3 rotation players who were not on the team when the season began. That's pretty good.

This stunned me. There was a reaction to them getting under the luxury tax. "He's cheap! He doesn't want to win!" Wait a minute, for 6 months, people were complaining about James Ennis. I thought they were unfair & he was better in some ways than given credit for. Now all of a sudden, months after complaining about him, he's irreplaceable? How did that happen? In the "cost-cutting moves", they lost Brandon Knight, Marquese Chriss & James Ennis.

JS: Not key parts of the rotation, Ennis the one exception. Whatever his position in the rotation was, it would not be that today if they kept him.

JF: Right, because he was replaced by Iman Shumpert. They opted for a more physical, more determined defensive player. The Ennis thing was just to move him. Fertitta's point is valid. They were trying to get a guy in the buyout market who would have put them over the LT line. They were trying to pay the LT this year. They tried & failed. That part is not valid. There are other criticisms. The reason they are where they are isn't just injuries. It's a factor. Where they keep pointing out "We didn't play with fire or right intensity", what I think that really is we have to play with our hair on fire mentality because we're bad defensively. They're bad. They can't say they're bad. They have to feel as if it's correctable so you point to something you can improve. That would be play with greater intensity.

JS: There's been a lack of energy.

JF: Energy at which they have to play has to be off the charts & stay there to make up for what they lack -- size & not a good defensive team. That's the problem they have to overcome the last 25 games. Can they defend anyone? That's the part we don't know.

JS: "You are what you're record says you are." Rockets definitely are what their record says they are. I understand why they believe their record is not who they can be.

JF: That's where Fertitta's point about the team not being together. They can't be judged when it hasn't happened yet. The starting lineup they expect on Thursday & Saturday, that starting lineup has started 6 games together. They're 5-1. Too small a sample size but that's a reason for hope. ... The fact is when they've started, they went 5-1. That is a legitimate reason for hope.

JS: Give us those 5 guys.

JF: Harden-Paul-Gordon-Tucker-Capela. Funny thing is, when people talk about how small that group is, when switching, Harden & Gordon have been good. Low post defense, Harden's is among the best in the league statistically. To backtrack a little bit & talking to people in Charlotte about this, Anderson was better as a low post defender than in general defensively. It didn't come up enough. Not enough teams post up. Harden switches on bigs and they say post up. Great, you post up, the guy misses. He's good at that. He also leads the league in deflections & 2nd in steals.

JS: He's much better than people give him credit for. His weakness is much more of foot speed & out in the open floor, people can go by him.

JF: Those things are true. ... That's one of the reasons that smaller lineup has a chance to work. Question becomes do they (defensive) rebound enough though? People point to Capela coming back & the rebounding problems are gone. Well I hate to tell you, they were a pretty terrible defensive rebounding team when Clint was playing. They were, judging off memory, 26th before Capela got hurt. They have to not just get well but get better in those areas. This is the first time all year they have their whole lineup. They're deeper because of the 3 additions. They have a 9-10 man rotation, which is unusual for them. They have 25 games to put it together.

JS: Final 25 games; 6 of the next 8 on the road. This stretch will be a challenge.

JF: It's a mixed bag. It starts off challenging @ Lakers, @ Warriors then Atlanta here, @ Charlotte, Miami here, then it gets tough. @ Boston, @ Toronto, home for Philadelphia. That's a good test of a stretch. We'll know a lot more through the first week of March.

Other thing to keep an eye on is they have to add 2 guys by Thursday. The top, initial buyout targets are gone. Tilman made a good point today. Guys who are in the buyout market, they need to think about their next contract. If they come to be an emergency fill-in or to play limited minutes, that doesn't help them & they have to think about that. Wes Matthews, he didn't mention anyone by name, we knew Wes Matthews would have been interested in being here but the Pacers because of Oladipo's injury really needed him to eat minutes. The one that was tough to lose was Markieff Morris. He would have filled the need for backup four. That would have helped them if healthy. They wanted him. Some other guys, maybe not so much. Enes Kanter, Portland - Rockets don't need another guy who can't defend. Wayne Ellington goes to the Pistons. Jeremy Lin probably wasn't coming here. He replaces Fred VanVleet. You have to sign 2 guys this week. You can sign 10-days to wait for the next wave of maybe buyouts. I thought Avery Bradley was a guy to really keep an eye on. You say he's not a backup four but he goes there JB Bickerstaff says we need to play you a lot. Do you go for another center? Does a team carrying four centers need a 5th? Gortat is a PnR center. Greg Monroe? It's underwhelming. ... They gotta do it by Thursday.

Anyone they pick up ... they're not going 12 deep. You're starting to want to get the rotation set for the postseason. No one is going 12 deep.

JS: Rockets won't go 10. We've seen Mike get down to 7 and get real comfortable. I don't see them going much more than 8.

JF: 9 this year. I don't think they play all 3 centers every game. That's why it's tough to get a guy who can help you & tough for a guy to say 'Yeah, I can prove myself in this league by going there.'

 

None of this will matter if the Rockets get back to the WCF. I'll reserve my rage until then.

 

Tilman said something like this last year, he was willing to pay 150 million and 200 million a year for a chance to win Championships. Championship chance is last year.

 

Yeah but if we get back it won't be due to iman shumpert lol .

It will be harden , Paul , gordon , Clint , and tuck playing well together again .

 

Unless we get like two good defenders by deadline, we are kinda screwed.

 

We don't know that.

 

House will probably be back Thursday under these circumstances