If Les Alexander and Mark Cuban switched teams, would the Rockets be better?

Guys trying to find a way to prove that Cuban doesn't make the Mavs suck, but he'll make the Rockets better. . . .

You just like Mark Cuban and there is no rational explanation.

 

Past their prime, needing to retire superstars tbh.

 

The Mavs were the definition of suck before Mark Cuban.

Again, I can't stand the guy. He pisses me off every time they flash the camera on him. He is everything about Dallas that I dislike.

 

He is actually a really nice guy in person though. Does give off the Dallas douche persona on camera.

 

I see what you're saying. Cuban improved the Mavs over the past 15 years, even won a championship! But, I think you'll agree: who wants to be the Mavs?

 

So basically you're saying that Les and Cuban are about the same right? Only Les never traded away a future MVP or dismantled a championship team (though an argument could be made that the Barkley trade kind of did that).

My point was that Cuban is no better an owner than Les, he's just louder and more of a jackass. Also, I think it's unfair to talk about the lack of success since Hakeem given that there's the rebuilding years and then the Rockets built what would have been a championship team if not for McGrady and Yao being constantly injured, that set the franchise back several years. Since Les has owned the Rockets the team has either been contending or rebuilding to become a contender...which they always do. There's absolutely nothing to complain about by way of ownership.

 

LOL! Now that I agree with!! :grin:

They have become the Utah Jazz to me.

 

I don't share you view that the Rockets would have necessarily been a championship team. I also think it's silly to say they've been building a contender when they've missed the playoffs 8 of the last 15 years. Every team can make that argument, then.

I have lots to complain about with regard to Les. I'm not a fan of him. I can go through all my reasons, if you'd like...but I'm sure it won't move the needle for you.

 

Exactly. The Rockets have hardly ever had to deal with losing seasons since Les became the owner. No, may not have had the sustained success as the Mavs have since Cuban became the owner there, but not many teams have (and not many teams have a talent like Dirk on their roster). Fear not Rockets fans because Harden is about to lead the Rockets through years of success, while the Mavs lose Dirk and have to rebuild. We will see then how Cuban and Co do with drafting, something the Mavs have not done well since he has been the owner.

 

Yeah, but many of those playoff misses were not because the team was outright terrible. There were superstar injuries, a greater than .500 record but playing in the West, etc.

 

Over that long of a period, there are lots of teams with good "reasons" why they didn't make the playoffs...but we're talking about a league where more teams make the playoffs than don't, Scarface.

 

How do you not share that opinion? Even without McGrady and only 3 games of Yao, the Rockets took the eventual champion to 7 games the 08-09 season....with a healthy Yao and McGrady there's no way it even goes 7 games. That was absolutely a potential championship winning season derailed by injury. Honestly, you have to go out of your way to find reasons to complain about the Rockets if you look at the whole picture. The Rockets only missed the playoffs 3 years while completely rebuilding their team....that's fairly impressive.

 

That Laker team was a lull team. They turned it on when they wanted to...they were lazy. When they needed to win, they did. And they won big.

I don't find winning one playoff series in the last 15 or so years impressive...nor do I find missing the playoffs 8 of those 15 years impressive. I don't think I have to go out of my way...there are only a handful of teams that have had that kind of playoff drought in the NBA over that period of time. And that's a long period of time.

I love the Rockets to death. But I'm not particularly impressed with their history over Les' tenure with regard to anything he actually had to build.

 

How much has missing the playoffs been on Les and how much of that is the front office and just bad luck?

I am not a Les fan but every big move the Rockets have made since Drexler has largely blown up in their faces for reasons out of Les's control. At some point, the law of averages says this team will get it right as will the Astros and Texans at some point.

Les may not be as good as Cuban but the Rockets could have had far worse over the years and he's still better than the other owners in this city. I want this team to win but it takes more than just one owner or coach or GM to make that happen. Cuban isn't the only reason the Mavs got better.

You could have the money to change it Tinman and buy the team. All that would happen in a few years is another thread would be created either demanding you sell the team or extolling how Cuban is better than you.

And when that happens, you'll have the same reaction as Les would if he read this thread. who the bleep is Tinman?

 

Given the bad luck when it comes to injury, the Rockets have done a damn good job. If not for Yao breaking down, the Rockets would very likely still have the best big man in the game that would still only be 34 years old. What would happen to the Thunder if Westbrick and Durant ended their careers tomorrow? Not many franchises can bounce back from that and that's exactly what happened to the Rockets. What would happen to the Heat if they lost Lebron and Bosh....oh wait.

 

Yes, because of the following:
1. Our head coach and coaching staff would be signficantly better. The homer signing of McFail to and extension was embarrassing for coach that hasn't gotten out of the 1st round with the talent available. His coaching strategy is elementary at best. Play and try harder.

2. The Toyota Center is a morgue compared to Dallas home games.

 

I have hated Cuban's product for 15 years.

 

I'm curious to see what that product looks like in the post-Dirk era.

 

Yao breaking down was inevitable. Every player that's ever played in the game at 7'4" or taller has been on limited minutes by their early 30's..and most were out of the game not much longer. Every one of them. They had that information going in.

There was a point at which Les kept hanging on to Yao when it no longer made sense. I get that Yao was intensely valuable to Les off the court and even outside of the Rockets organization. But the writing was on the wall that Yao wasn't going to be coming back...when Dr. First was on sports radio here weekly saying, "guys, this is a pipe dream..it's not happening...this is just the way it is with guys at this size." ...and they refused to move on.

Over the course of nearly 2 decades, luck ebbs and flows. At the end of the day, fair or not, you're judged on results. That's even more true in professional sports. There's a host of "what ifs" and "couldabeens" around all pro sports.