I don't think Les being cheap is the problem. I think the problem is that they don't know how to build a winner. Or...they are unwilling to go through the pain to do so.
It's funny, the harder the Rockets try to avoid the lottery, the more likely they are to stay there the rest of the decade. Les obviously wants playoff money, now, yet the Rockets keep missing the playoffs. From a big picture standpoint, the connection is obvious.
I have no problems with Les in any way. It's ridicules for people to say Les is about making money and not winning. People make it sound like the Rockets have been down for the last 10 years. Yao has only been retired a very short time. Since the time Yao retired the Rockets organization has tried to maneuver team into a position that would allow them to make a trade for a Superstar. So far they have been unsuccessful, but the effort has been made. The Rockets compete against 29 other teams that are all trying to acquire the best players and draft picks, just as the Rockets are. It's not an easy thing to constantly be a contender. All teams go through up and down periods. Some teams have a built in advantage by being in a major market, so it can be frustrating for the fans of those teams that don't have that advantage. I don't know what people expect Les to do? Because of injuries to McGrady and Yao the Rockets have been trying to make the best of a bad situation. It looks like the Rockets are planning to go with a youth movement this next season while trying to free up cap space for the future, and I see no problem with this. People can complain that the Rockets were slow in starting the rebuilding process, but Yao has been gone a very short time. Everybody needs to relax and look forward to seeing some new young talent on the floor this next year.
So... losing and sucking is defined by: 1) Having a winning record for the last three years 2) Being better than half the league for the last three years. 3) Doing everything you can to land a superstar to replace Yao and McGrady. In addition to skill and talent, winning a championship requires luck, and YOU HAVE TO TAKE CALCULATED RISKS. That means sometimes those calculated risks don't pay off. Rather than playing with Yao and McGrady, maybe the Rockets should have just flipped those guys for players with the exact same skillsets, but never got injured or old.
Les is cool in my book. I can tell he is a fan because he never wanted to stop trying to win until it was impossible (i.e this offseason), as a fan I can relate. He isn't afraid of making big moves such as giving the ok to go after McGrady and before that Pippen, Brakley and Drexler and making coaching changes like with what went down with Van Gundy and Adelman. Are all the decisions correct?? No. Unfortunately these past few years have been rough, unlike the typical fan perception, replacing a superstar isn't easy and if there was a deal out there, I have no doubt he would give the ok on it. It isn't like with Bud Adams or Drayton, Les genuinely isn't trying to screw the fans over, he just wants what we all want and that is to win but with a different way of doing it.
Charles Barkely turrible. Dude the NBA is Jewish. Like 5 teams don't have Jewish owners and Stern Silver and all them boys are Jews too. Relax. People know Yao was Chinese and that Les is a Jew. As for OP. Les simply sees the Rockets as an investment and runs it like one. I give him credit for trying Moneyball/Moreyball. It's not either of their fault that Yao got hurt they were damn close to a championship caliber team with their approach. You gotta give the man at least a few years to turn things around. It's also not Les' fault that his franchise is in Houston and that guys don't want to play here. I guess you could blame him for Stern screwing his trades he's got to manage those Jewish connections better.
Quit defending Les and Morey. I guess your content with mediocrity. Who cares about a winning record when you have no chance at winning a championship or hell even getting into the playoffs. I'll take 3 or 4 losing seasons for 5-8 championship contending seasons. Look at San Antonio. They don't attract any superstars. Why would any star want to go there via free agency??? All their superstars have come through smart drafting (Parker, Ginobilli, ect) and tanking seasons (Robinson, Duncan). As much as I hate to say it. We need to try and do exactly what they did. I understand they had to win the lottery to get Duncan and Robinson but at least they took a step back those seasons to take 10 giant steps forward. We on the other hand are content with the middle. Your standards for this team don't meet others who actually want to reach the summit again.
People forget how quickly a city can loose a franchise. To keep the Rockets viable in a town in which basketball is at best the third ranked sport is no small accomplishment. Les is a smart businessman. I'm very happy that he has always put competitive teams on the floor and always tried to win. Can't ask a lot more from an owner
Sucking is defined by not making the playoffs the last three years. A winning record and not making the playoffs just means you suck and get no reward for sucking. Both TMac and Yao were huge injury risks when we acquired them and then surprise, they got injured. I guess Morey didn't calculate that very probable event into his master plan which of course takes away from it being much of a master plan in the first place.
