[ClutchFans] Heavy investment in Kevin Porter Jr raises serious questions about Rockets front office

Unfortunately this is a case where there’s likely some culpability with our Houston sports media too where if Roosh and others were hearing these rumors I’m sure they had even more inside knowledge and the reporting coming from those folks was pretty sparse. Do we really think Feigan and Iko didn’t know about the instance of him crashing his car into his gf’s car?

The first question at media day should be:

“the prosecutor in NY stated several other instances of domestic violence in the past year. Did you Rafael Stone or Tillman Fertitta have knowledge of these instances?”

If they try to play dumb and say they didn’t know follow up with

“So you do not keep track of your players criminal records? Are you not concerned about the outside vantage point of a culture that lacks accountability?”

and just keep following up.

Unfortunately the only media who might ask this or something close to this is Jackson G, and it’ll be asking a lot of him to be the one to burn bridges. However if it gets to that point where Feigan, Iko, etc. have all played footsie with Stone, I hope he’ll ask what needs to be asked. What did you know and when did you know it? If they refuse to answer we all can assume they knew about domestic abuse, and not only did nothing but covered for him by telling us that he was maturing etc.

 

Iggy about Dillon Brooks
https://www.marca.com/en/basketball/nba/houston-rockets/2023/09/21/650c0b39e2704e656e8b45b6.html

 

On the basketball side this is also a case where it’s clear to see the priority is Stone’s ego and perceived legacy. KPJ was prioritized solely because Stone thought he had a chance to have a “Harden trade” and obviously the Nix case was another example.

I don’t root for the Rockets to serve the GM’s ego. The guy needs to go or be seriously demoted.

 

Good question, but also easy ones …

They’ll just say I can’t talk about an ongoing investigation.

 

Echo what I said the other day…

Spoiler: “I didn’t have it confirmed then but but but I do now!”

“I didn’t have it confirmed then but but but I do now!”

New York Knick(at the time) Austin Rivers was talking to “Rockets higher-ups” … must’ve been Patrick Fertitta.

He threw a DJ’s laptop. He allegedly charged at Lucas. He cussed out coaches. He allegedly rammed her car.

So if the Rockets enabled him, what did you (collective Rockets media) do? You all sat on this information until this past week. And this never would’ve come out had this not happened.

I guess keeping access and a press pass is/was more important.

He threw a laptop. But you didn’t feel the need to report on it. (Jackson Gatlin report)
He charged at Lucas. But you didn’t feel the need to report on it. (Roosh Williams report)
He cussed at coaches. But you didn’t feel the need to report on it. (Clutch report; But really, OK whatever, who hasn’t cussed at a coach)
He did this and this and this and that and this and I never felt the need to report on it because…basketball reasons!? Wasn’t a big deal?! I wanted to keep my press pass!

The question Rockets media has to ask themselves is, with all they knew about Porter Jr. — why were they sitting on it for so long, only eager to spill the beans after an alleged domestic violence incident?

Why all the after-the-fact reporting?
So you knew this info, sat on this info, then actually went into press conferences with Stone and Silas and Fertitta and KPJ himself and never asked them about any of it.
(I get it, Fertitta and Stone speak like twice a year)

A move many approved of.
https://www.clutchfans.net/12583/alperen-sengun-rockets-off-the-bench/
https://bbs.clutchfans.net/threads/clutchfans-why-alperen-sengun-will-come-off-the-bench.317333/

(I love Nook. Nook is great. I trust Nook. He’s a walking encyclopedia. Top 3 poster. This isn’t me saying he’s wrong on anything. But he’s not a reporter. He’s not at press conferences asking questions. It’s message board talk. Unlike many other in this town, I’m sure he would ask the questions if he was.

And I’m sure RocketsWatch is great. But I mean saying “WRONG! I/we talked about it on RocketsWatch!” … That’s like Windhorst saying “I talked about it on the Hoop Collective!”)

 

Comes down to this. Captive market.

 

Yeah I assume they'll take the chickensh$t approach, and just not answer anything. Act like all is good, and part of the plan. Get all defensive if they are pressed, etc. etc.

Which at that case we can all just assume they knew all about it, and harbored a monster.

 

They better have him off the team by media day.

 

True. But the investigation will end eventually, probably before the season begins. If the media people want to press them, they still can. Sooner or later, they'll have to talk. It's a matter of whether the reporters have the stones to ask the tough questions.

 

That is a joke of an investigation, I think it takes couple days to get someone to NY Big Apple and snoop around.

Silver and Players Assoc are twiddling thumbs and pondering what to do next.

During a season if that happened, Silver said it would probably take couple of days to a week.

They are dragging this out on purpose. (suspecting wanting to make an example out of KPJ)

BTW oh yes, ask questions right away......those suckas are done.

 

LOL … Is he blaming the “culture” on KPJ? Or Stone? Or both?

Before it was Harden and/or Morey for the “bad culture”. Now it’s KPJ and/or Stone.

Spoiler

Spoiler: Let’s talk about culture

“I do have a culture in my company. I have 25 VPs that have been with me 25 years. The culture of the company is when times are bad, we do better than everybody else. We survive tough times. And anybody that deals with us will tell you Tilman Fertitta companies have a different culture. You either love working for us or you don’t because we drive harder than other people. We’re not a lifestyle company. The Houston Rockets are not going to be a lifestyle team.”

“We’re here to win. We’re not here to be just OK and make it to the playoffs. We’re going to do whatever it takes to be a championship-style team every year. I will make moves to always extend our runway. I’m not a rebuilding guy to go collapse for three years to get draft picks. I want to keep us at as high a level as we can. I have a good management team. We’re in the city of Houston, which is soon to be the third-largest city in the United States so we should always attract our good share of free agents.

“Right now, the Houston Rockets as a brand are one of the top brands out there and we’re going to keep it that way.”

“I’m a fighter. That’s my culture, and I think the longer that I own this team, they’re going to pick up more of my culture. We’ll pick up a few Tilman-isms along the way in the next few years.”

 

Rockets have no problem paying players to sit at home.

 

I think Fred and Dillon are special cases. Both were due for their last big contract.

They were not getting much better offers after this.

After this contract, they are very likely declining commodities.

 

This is great. Haven't really heard about ChopShop until a few days ago, but this really is a quality conversation. Really good from the aspect of not repeating himself. Clear concise points. You can tell he's prepared with at least some sort of talking points, doesn't overstay it's welcome, and seems to be getting quality guests too. Not sure which poster he is on CF but regardless kudos to you.

Just can't say enough how much I appreciate @Clutch too, and his perspective to the fans. Always fair, and balanced. He just cares about the team, but in a way that is always focused on the fan side of things. The perspective from the front office, coaches, and players is presented well balanced with that in mind where you just don't get that from the Houston media. We are so lucky to have this resource as a fan.

Speaking to that fan perspective, I do think it's impossible to truly get excited about this season until some of this stuff is dealt with. I have no doubt the Rockets front office, and PR will try to turn a blind eye to it on media day, and act like all is well and good. But it's important that we have some the more independent voices in Houston make sure it's not the same ole same ole this go around. The quicker this is actually dealt with, the faster I can get on board with my excitement for the season.

But again... good job Chop Shop, and thank you Clutch.

 

I wonder if the investigation include investigating the Rockets organization, whether they have been covering up for KPJ. I feel that Silver has no love for the Rockets.

 

It would be bad for the NBA to do both at the same time, because pls do not forget, KPJ is actually an NBA player and doing substantial PR damage to the brand of the NBA as well.

Urgently resolve this first.

That has to be priority Numero Uno rn. (And yeah we know that the Rockets keep secrets) (NBA should not be doing the same)

Transparency is a good tool, to let the public trust organizations like the NBA or the Rockets again.

 

I don't recall anyone excusing Tillman's role in all of this. Yes Stone is the one being talked about being on the "hot seat" but that's only because Tillman isn't going to fire himself.

But no, I'm sure Roosh, Clutch, and any objective poster here would all agree that leadership, and culture starts from the Top. If Tillman had no clue that one of the players had being engaged in domestic violence issues that were documented in police reports, and Stone did know that, then Tillman would have fired Stone right then and there for hiding that from him. If we all assume, and it's shown that Tillman has Stone's back, then it's obvious he's just as culpable, if not more.

Tillman has important businesses to oversee other than the Rockets, but the fact is this is still a 2 billion dollar investment on his (err.. his bank/financiers) end so if you say he's too busy, and important than I'd say that he shouldn't be. If the Nevada gaming commission arrested one of the Golden Nuggets pit bosses for skimming 18 million dollars (KPJ's salary) from the Nugget, you better damn well believe Tillman would know about it, and be involved in some sort of PR effort.

So yeah... let's not give Tillman a pass here at all, and I don't think that's the intent of posters like Nook, etc. to blame it all on Stone. I think it's all about the fact that Tillman won't fire himself.

 

What makes you think local sports reporters will do something different from the rest of the press? The state of journalism throughout this country is to only ask hard questions of those that don’t have a say in your livelihood. The old days of journalists not playing favorites is over.