i know... lol... les has never been a thrifty owner and is never afraid to make big moves to acquire big stars. in that regard he's a good owner. much better than the majority in the league. but my wife still has a problem about him not wanting to go beyond the luxury tax line. she thinks he should've spent more. maybe that's also what some fans think out there idk.
i see no problem with the rockets being his main asset. it would be nice if first marblehead became a powerhouse so les wouldn't mind going into LT territory, but it's not needed. as long as the rockets stay under the LT they will get the nba's shared revenue which is usually enough to cover about half the roster salaries or all other expenses (stadium upkeep, marketing, etc...). of course i'm not NIKE or GATER so i don't know the exact numbers. it would be cool for them to chime in. with the team under the LT les makes a profit. does the team need to go over the LT to win big? NO! this may be a borderline homer statement but the team we have today is more consistent and has more chemistry with out tracy. this current roster should be 7 games better. the rockets lossed 7 games to last place teams so far this season, all before tracy was gone. 7 games better puts us in the elite group. now trade tracy's ending contract for a SG, maybe a full sized backup C too. without going over the LT this team can become very scary.
You can't blame Les for not wanting to go over the Lux tax. He has to weigh the extra salary against how much money he thinks he can make from selling tickets. If bringing that extra guy in means more sell outs/tv deals, then he'll do it. But I don't think it smart to just deal out money just because we might be a slightly better team for it.
I have no insight into whether LA would sell or what his total portfolio might be. Houston is less populated than it is growing. And it is highly populated. I choose to let the owner's finances be his concern except EXCEPT as they relate to putting on a championship pretending perhaps to dream championship contending team.
I guess I'm the only one who's thinking, given Les' financial troubles, that we're going to do a lot of SELLING on the market rather than buying. When he was saying how the Rockets will pay the luxury tax if it brings an impact player... probably isn't going to happen now. I like Les, but it's usually not a good to have an owner whose main source of money is the team itself. And I think this would manifest itself in 2010 when pretty much our entire team comes off the books.
But Houston is a major market and IIRC, Les is making pretty good money off this team. So... yeah, I'm not expecting him to go deep into the Lux tax, if he goes at all, but he's not going to be strapped for cash or anything. As long as the Rockets are making him money, there isn't an issue. When 2010 comes around, the league should adjust to the economy. Ticket sales will go down perhaps through the league, revenue will be down, but the going rate for players will also go down.
I think les is a pretty good owner, but I don't think his commitment is to the level of jerry buss, cuban,holt or even the owner of cleveland and detroit. Someone talked about the spurs gave scola away and that may be partially true, but the rox had to take jackie butler whichever has 2.5m. So scoola is actually a 5.5m player if you look at it.
