I know Daryl gets a lot of love and deservedly so, but it was Les who took a risk on the guy with no basketball experience at all and made him our loveable GM. Les is not afraid to go over the Luxury Tax when he knows it benefits us. Les will spend a couple of million extra to buy draft picks. I am personally greatful we have an owner willing to spend the extra million to put us over the top, just glad he isn't another Drayton.
like i said is smart spending and since the day he come to houston always got a decent exciting team to watch
Even though I am thankful to Bob McNair for bring the NFL back to Houston...just wanted to clear that up.
I hear knocks on Les's charisma, but if you judge him by his commitment to championships and what he's done to show it, he's a damn good owner.
I love Les for hiring Morey, but let's be realistic. I'm sure one of Morey's selling points is that he can SAVE Les money. For example, lost in all this trade hoopla is that the Rockets got under the tax, which effectively nets them ~$10 mil in savings and tax-handouts. Morey is so shrewd with numbers that the Rockets always seem to just make it under the tax. He also spends his money as frugal as any GM I've ever seen. Rather than giving mediocre players marginal money for multiple years, he use that money to buy picks, which both allows for financial flexibility and nets us players with more upside. I mean, look at how little we have in terms of long term commitments. In short, Morey is making Les look like a very generous owner by making such good monetary decisions. That said, Les hired the guy in the first place. Got to give him MAJOR, MAJOR PROPS for that.
You gotta love the increased budget since Morey was hired. Les and the ownership group should be appreciated, love this thread. We are now the team which is willing to buy draft picks/oversea guys, that is how we got guys like Budinger/Scola (few that have not yet worked out like Taylor/Dorsey/Andersen but it is the fact that they are spending and taking the risks which you gotta love). We are now the team that is willing to go over the cap, use our full MLE on prospects (Ariza), and maybe even go over the tax to keep Scola/Lowry (hoping hoping hoping)
But Les doesn't just pocket the money. Morey said today that the tax money they saved are allowed to be used for things like buying 2nd round picks (which they spend $6 million on). So, yes, Morey is wise with the money, but Les' spending level is still very much above average among NBA teams.
I'm not saying Les is a bad owner. I'm just saying Morey spends his money so amazingly well it makes Les look better than normal. Our spending level is pretty much in line with what you'd expect from a contending team. The Spurs, NO, and Jazz are also in the Rockets range in terms of spending. I feel that our ability to buy 2nd round picks is not a result of Les being generous, but Morey's ability to not carry bad contracts which hinders our spending. I'm pretty certain Les would not be signing off on buying such things if we have our own Peja or AK47 unweildly contracts that's screwing our salaries.
Morey said in his press conference that barring anything shocking, we will be over the luxury tax threshold next year and we will get back Scola/Lowry.
We are very fortunate to have an owner like Les Alexander. Any fan base in the NBA would be lucky to have Les. His commitment to winning and doing what it takes is very rare in pro sports. I love the fact that Les cares about his fans. Les and the rest of the organization desere nothing but the best.
Yeah, I heard that as well. Morey said it so matter-of-factly, which leads me to believe that (a) we are drastically undervaluing the salaries that Scola and Lowry will command, even in restricted free agency; (b) the Rockets fully intend to use their MLE this summer; and/or (c) they will look seriously at trades this summer that add salary. But it looks like this trade was just SOOO beneficial (as far as opening the door to the Rockets making a run at a championship over the next 2-3 years) that Les has now officially given Morey the green light to venture well over the luxury tax (but probably not TOO far over).
Les also allowed Morey to build an entire sabermetrics division with databas servers and a flock of interns. Sure it's to find "value", but other teams, except maybe Dallas and Portland, don't have the same luxuries even if they understand the importance of MoneyBall.
People give Morey alot of credit for making this deal. What they don't realize is that anybody could have taken received Hill+Knicks picks had they been willing to take on Jeffries. That part of the trade is all Les Alexander. Morey's brilliance was finding a way to conduct 2 trades at once and getting sacto to agree to doing so.
Even excluding an MLE signing, draft pick signings, and bringing back Chuck Hayes: Code: player 2010 salary Yao 17.7 Ariza 6.3 Battier 7.3 Andersen 2.5 Brooks 2 Taylor 0.8 Budinger 0.8 Martin 10.6 Jeffries 6.9 Hill 2.7 --------------- total 57.6 I asked Feigen the other day how much he thinks it will take to resign Scola/Lowry, and he guessed between 6-8 million (each). Let's say it takes 12 million to bring them back. That puts already at nearly 70 million. There's no way for us to avoid paying luxury tax, and I'm not so sure the Rockets would even consider signing a free agent this summer. Any additional roster moves will likely be made via a trade. I'd say there's a pretty good chance we give up that 2012 Knicks pick, along with other players, to shape the roster into a contender for next year.
LOL @ this thread of hyperbole. Name one owner of a top 10 valued NBA franchise who does any less than Les or does not do everything you just typed out. The top ten 10 over the decade have been Knicks, Lakers, Bulls, Rockets, Mavs, Cavs, Suns, Heat, Pistons, Spurs. Granted some teams like the Sonics or Bobcats have been purposefully negligent, but those are bad owners who are trying to bail on situations where their market cannot support their teams to their liking. About 25 of 30 owners are all of the above, just as Les is. The difference being, Les has a much bigger market and a more valuable asset to protect. That doesn't make Les a "great" owner, he's an average owner and a good businessman who sees the Rockets as an investment. Les hired Morey to save him money. Bottom line. Give Les credit for being shrewd enough to do that, but that doesn't put him in the league of great owners like Cuban or Dan Gilbert. He is what he is.
Weird..what came first chicken or the egg. Business or passion for sport, Les has been a very good owner; hasn't shied away from making the big players calls - even though they didn't all pan out Or making the coaching move first getting JVG and then Adelman Or really with GM. Very few owners would have handed over the reigns to a geek, not with much basketball credibility. Call it business brilliance or passion to winning in sports...in reality they are very intervconnected.... Hats off that we have Les.....and i would say probably in the top quartile of all owners.
And you are what you are, someone who doesn't understand how damned lucky we are that Les owns the Rockets. Yes, I'm laughing at you, with all due respect. You must not be old enough to have suffered through all the endless years of lousy ownership of the Rocks. I'd have more hair today if Les had been our owner long before now.
