That's why he did everything he could to avoid the tax …. Which in turn limited their ability to add talent in the offseason. BK's contract - Gone. #1 pick - Gone with it. #2 pick - Gone. Luxury Tax Avoided - Wonderful - Now what ? No picks , no cap space , no contract to offload , multiple FA losses looming. Tell me how this team gets better …. with its avoidance of the tax.
The difference is that Les didn't sell the future to duck the tax line. Tilman did. Any assets they had to better this squad going forward were dumped to avoid the tax and all you have to show for it is Shumperts bird rights - and he wont be retained at anything close to his current figure. Les …. lucked into two Championships but he always gave Morey the tools to get better (cash / picks). Cant say the same thing about Tilman after this year. They have no financial flexibility.
Lol all of that is irrelevant. They are both shitty owners. Les is greedy and Tilman is poor and cheap and wants all the upside without the risks (going over tax).
For whatever reason the games arent selling out. So many empty seats in playoffs is embarrassing. Are they still blocking bidding on Flash seats?
don't tell me how much you care tillman, show me. we wasted this season for tax savings. we let good players walk last summer and only signed scrubs for the minimum salary. we spent our cash and picks to get under the tax at the deadline instead of adding talent for the playoffs. there has not been 1 roster move in the past year that tells me we are trying to win.
Les is playing with house money He racked up so much Chinese money After he milked Yao like a cow And he was still cutting corners Tillman has to pony up 2 billion Les paid what? 80 million? And had corporate, China and money from the overpriced concessions
Where the money comes from is irrelevant. Les and the China connection are irrelevant … But aren't the Rockets still big over there ? Did the price of a beer at Toyota Center go down ? Do they suddenly have no corporate sponsors ? Wait. What , sponsors on their jerseys now ?! Anyone capable of buying a professional sports franchise in this day and age can afford to spend on players. the difference was something like $27m in costs. That's chump change to someone in Tilman's financial position - He's worth $5B. $27m is 0.0054%. The fact is that Les always gave his GM's the financial ability to get better - It was well known he would buy picks , almost every year. That's the absolute opposite of what Tilman did this year - he dumped Knight , moved Chriss & Ennis and gave up picks to do that for no return at all on the court. The only reason he did that was to avoid that $27m in taxes. Look forward from either point - before the trades / after the trades and tell us at which point they would be better off today. It's pretty obvious that having those assets and contracts would be much more desirable if your goal is improving. He's giving us lip service of one thing …. and doing another. Maybe he just didn't realize the implications those moves would have on future flexibility and roster building - If that's true , I can forgive it and believe he cares as much as Les. But if this becomes the routine …. well , the leopard has shown his spots. Edit - You also have to consider that when Les bought the team , their main source of income wasn't what it is today - those monster TV deals didn't exist.
