Since when was Antawn Jamison a player who would lead a team to the title? All 29 teams in the NBA are looking for a star player to lead them to the title. Only 3-4 teams have that star player who is capable. Quit your whining. Les has done more to try to win than McLane.
As another bbser have asked: "What realistic move could Les make that would make us a championship contender this year?" there really isn't one. Guys I've seen in the trade rumors, realistic ones, (not J O'neal or Brand or ppl of that nature) but people along the lines of SAR, Glenn Robinson, hell even Jon Barry will not make us that much better. They might help us win a couple more games but they aren't gonna help us enough to get past the big four in the west in the first round. In a season where the least we demand is playoff apearance and the most we can realistically expect is a playoff experience, speaking from a rational and especially froma business point of view, I don't think there is a need to make a move this season. Maybe if somethign happens by mid - season but definitely not now.
You do realize there is a salary cap that does restrict signings, as well as guaranteed contracts which can hinder any future moves. Would you rather the Rockets "waste" their money on an SAR, if they could potentially get someone better down the road? Like it or not, finances play a role in sports, just like in everyday life. In a perfect world, the Rockets would be able to sign the Dream Team.
if i was les, i would: 1 - divorce my wife so she doesn't embarass me with that stupid vegetarian and "animals have rights" crap....i'll eat beef, pork, poultry, and fish for the rest of my life. 2 - move from florida, move into a nice cozy house on river oaks boulevard 3 - buy me a nice little bentley 4 - invite all CC.net members to my house with all the players, and have all the dancers from treasures and men's club come over as entertainment 5 - get drunk every night and call my buddy mark cuban to come down to party. i'll maybe even have rodman live in my guest house now that i feel sorry for him. 6 - even in my drunken stupor, make sure i never say crap like "this is the best team ever assembled" oh the fantasy!
No Rocket fan should follow the "indian cricket team" I believe Van Gundy will make Rockets a better team ,but how much better we do not know. I think the Lakers of this year are much like the Rockets (barkley,dream,pippen) team of the past that blew up on us !!!
I like the sound of this one in particular. But forget the stripper skanks, just bring the Powerdancers and lot's of alcohol. Leave the rest to us cc.net members.
getting back to the original subject , Les hasn't done much positive for players/personnel despite wanting to be heavily involved in the decisions made. He's not a great owner for doing what any GM would call a no-brainer. Frankly, I don't see him as a competitive owner. He's just interested in selling season tix, so he says he's going to spend spend spend this offseason regardless of the luxury tax. He's getting a new building w/ lots of luxury boxes that he needs to fill with Houston-area business execs, so he makes up crap about playoffs and free agency. NOW, he's pretty much got at least the 8th seed in the bag, can actually make some money from selling playoff tickets (even if they are 1st round due to the new best-of-7 format). He's NOT going to add $10 million to payroll and pay another $10 million in tax to make a fraction of that in ticket sales for the second round of the playoffs... and that's assuming that the team would even make it into the second round. the sad thing is that there are few owners who would do such a thing. Honestly, if I was Les I'd have a hard time doing that too. I guess it depends on how much money you have and how long you have to spend it.
cparka, that's what I'm saying. I wish we have an owner that can just spend spend spend and try to put out a winning team even with the possibillty of loosing a lot of money but that's not gonna happen in any sport for anyone for longterm. Some owners might do it for the short run but it does catch up sooner or later. Look at the Kings letting go Keon Clark, That's definitely a financial move imo. Then you look at teams like the Kings, Knicks and Portland, even when owners have deep pockets, they really don't want to continue to lose money and both management have came out and said they want to curb there spendings and shown it with recent moves. These are two teams that were competetive annually but realize they can't financially support the spending and have moved to stop. I believe Mark Cuban's Mav is where Portland was 4 years ago and I can say once the situation of a Mav's team that can get to the playoffs but unable to win it all start repeating itself, you will slowly see moves to stop spending as much as the fan support starts dropping. I usually don't like to use articles from other sites but this one seems to be very analytically written Some key notes are the Rocks are actually passed the luxury tax threshold with the 9th highest salary in the league and that "Avoid paying the luxury tax and your team will be profitable, no matter how bad you are. Pay the luxury tax, and you likely will be losing a lot of money, regardless of whether you are successful on the court." So this shows 2 things, Les didn't lie about willing to pay luxury tax, he was just a sneaky b*stard by not mentioning we already will and that if he does make a move, he stands to lose millions this year (yes even with the new arena blah blah blah). I think if we are really near the chance of making a serious run not only at the playoffs but the ring, Les would be willing to lose money for a short term (3 or less years) but as shown, no owner can continue spending and spending for a longterm. Not the Blazers (even with Paul Allen being the owner), not the Knicks, and in a few years the Mavs).
