Amick: Dantoni felt disrespected by organization, chose to quit on plane

Eric Gordon was just used rather effectively to defend Chris Paul and Lebron James both, and had multiple playoff games where he looked absolutely dynamic. Team struggles aside, If he isn’t worth 18 million, he isn’t far off from that number, IMO. Extremely talented guy.

 

Don't seem to be any heroes here
Tillman comes off like an ass
DanAndToni comes off as a quitter

Rocket River

 

Morey doesn’t give away young talent, or picks, or assets in general. He accumulates and this is known.

Since Tilman has been here, he has been more of a personal accountant than a GM.

The logic was and has been sound, the personnel and spending has not.

 

Don't forget Les!
In the article MDA didn't even know he was selling the team.

JVG, Rudy, Rick

None of them got treated well on the way out

 

Morey doesn't develop talent for us to use, he develops talent as trade assets.

 

Tilman made MDA feel like a minimum wage busboy at Joe’s Crab Shack.

Shut up and Listen.

 

Tilman will be featured on a episode of "American Greed" narrated by Stacey Keach. He is trying to figure out how to maintain his sherade of being able to afford the Rockets while his eateries continue to bleed.. Things could get ugly.

 

even that is fine , to a certain extent . I think the common wisdom that you need a veteran team to win is true .

but we haven’t been getting back any assets for guys weve “developed” because they haven’t been good enough . How much of that is on Morey for not identifying the right talent ? How much of that is on coaching staff for not training / giving opportunities? We won’t know . Guys that break out later indicate it’s the latter , but they may have seen the light after being cut .

 

Tilman Fertita....smdh....its obviously just going to get worse and worse.

 

Its also discriminatory and against the law. You'd probably be pissed if it was a black guy, a catholic guy, or a gay guy. Same rules.

"Nothing personal, just business" is EXACTLY what that law is for, lol

 

gotta disagree with this...horrible regular season in which he missed 36 games...he was mostly garbage against OKC except for game 7...our net rating was -20 something when he was on the court towards the end of that series

against LA, he was just decent

contract doesn’t end until 2024

I think he’s an albatross

 

And your prolly pissed because your old lol

 

I support moving on from D'Antoni, but Tillman is a stain on this franchise. Embarrassing and will lead us down a bad path. I'm terrified of what the post-Morey era will look like.

 

Hey now... garbage cans belong with the other Houston professional sports franchise.

 

I have not been on board about people coming for Tillman because of LTS but him being a meddling owner is a valid criticism, I am just happy Morey is not gone and that gives me some hope.

I can see this blowing up quickly in a couple of years with Tillman thinking he can import his personality on the team and his ownership being about his vanity.

I also have to wonder if politics came into play because there seems to be a real left and right dynamic with Dantoni and Tillman.

Him wearing a mask at all times and wearing slogan t-shirts had to grating to Tillman

 

1. If negotiate, negotiate in good faith and with diligence.
Preliminary verbal discussion is fine. But for official discussions, always include the agent. Business negotiation 101. Good cop/Bad cop - talent/agent is nothing new. It's same in Hollywood as in the sports world.

2. Expectations
If Tilman had little intention of re-signing MDA (unless championship), hopefully that was made clear at the beginning of the year: between owner, GM and head coach. You do that by setting: reasonable goals and expectations that year. Not by going public, resulting a lame duck perception which hurts more than help. Owner should look at his head coach as someone on his side (not a nuisance or enemy).

3. Ageism
"Not only did Fertitta misrepresent D’Antoni’s aspirations in terms of how long he wanted to coach, but he aged him along the way too. “Mike is going to be 69 years old and Mike doesn’t totally know what he wants to do yet,” Fertitta had said."

Post interview of game 5; reporter directly asked MDA; Mike says he very much still wanted to coach. This is literally the example of what not to do in unconscious bias Corporate training.

4. "taken pride in being ruthless in his dealings,"
Dragging this to public (speaking with SAS) as a tactic is short sighted. Other good coaching candidates are watching. When they have multiple offers, this will factor into their decision. (ex: Kerr didn't go with Phil Jackson to NY, chose GSW; Kerr admitted he seriously did consider the NY offer but decided NO).

---
if Tilman didn't think MDA cut the mustard, that's fine, but being wishy-washy, passive aggressive, is not good owner leadership.

Paraphrasing former NBA coach: "If players are motivated in their contract year, the same could be said for a head coach".

 

Honest question...

What gives you the confidence TF will do what it takes to win a title?

 

Not buying the fact that it wasn't a business decision at all, or that it currently is not. Sure hes a lifelong Houstonian, and it is his ego of wanting to own the hometown team AND be able to make money off of it. He simply does not have the cash flow elsewhere for it not to be a cash flow positive entity, or at minimum break even. Most people who purchase a team as an individual are buying it as a trophy asset, but Tilman needs the Rockets to be more, and now more than ever since his other businesses are going to be struggling to recover from a pandemic. Gaming and hospitality were the hardest hit during the pandemic, he has some assets like mobile/digital gaming assets, which he has already begun to cash out on by selling equity in because he needed the cash. He had to restructure Westbrooks contract to avoid the day 1 lump sum payment. if he didn't see every move he makes with the Rockets as a business decision he wouldn't be doing this along with making immediate cutbacks throughout Toyota Center and looking for synergies and ways to integrate his other businesses as anyone who acquires a company would do. He is not Steve Ballmer, not even close lol.

In his prior businesses it was easier to find replacements, he and his buddy that is in the DC do the same thing, and have not realized that in other industries it is not as easy to find replacements. Tilman has spent his entire life thinking the people around him either do what he wants, or they are expendable. This is the first business he has ever owned where he will realize the impact of his decisions can lead to losing people (Harden/Morey) which are not easily replaceable. He will speak up as if he knows best, even if he has someone who has committed their entire life to a particular subject. He has a ton in common with his boy in DC.