Why did Tilman buy the Rockets?

I think he is a fan and wanted to get in the owner's club. I am sure he thought he could keep purchasing assets in a growing economy to keep it all afloat, but he's overextended and paid too much for the franchise and now he's in a hole. He's not in a place where he can afford a prolonged rebuilding phase since he really needs Harden on board to keep the illusion of contention to keep Houston spending money on his team. It's not going to end well.

 

Let's just hope he never learns about John Wall's contract

 

The number 1 goal of an NBA owner is to compete for a championship. That includes spending. Spending big.
The number 2 goal should be to make a profit for business reasons.

Ideally, you can complete both. But if the #2 reason COMES BEFORE the #1 reason, you are a chit owner. Period.

 

One word:

Ego


He just loves Eric Gordon ever since he was named 2007 Indiana "Mr. Basketball" and made it his life's work to acquire his professional services

 

Just to show the world he could....

Own a team.

 

No matter what he says it might have been true.

Once he passed that threshold, he is not a fan no longer.

All business.

 

1. Les convinced Tilman we were about to win and could triple his investment on merchandise and China endorsements.

2. Supposedly a Houston native and apparently enjoys basketball. Just not the spending money part of it.

3. Probably realized he was way in over his head. Once CP3 got injured he panicked started cutting cost. (He doesn't know how to do anything else, restaurants are all about cutting cost. It's literally the only thing he can control, lol)

4. I don't believe he would intentionally(key word) hurt his investment. He see's saving money, we see our options being limited and window slamming shut. Running restaurants is very different than running a basketball team. You can't be cheap with your team and expect to make money.

I'm not defending Tilman. He is cheap, but someone was right when they said let us judge him from now on. Try explaining running a basketball team to your grandpa that only has experience in a result driven industry. Trying to explain why these players are making X amount of money. I do believe he has learned more in the last 6 months than he did when he first bought the team. When he bought the team with CP3 our window was 4-5 years, he has effectively cut that down to 2-3 years. Just by not listening and not knowing what he is doing. Morey was expensive but would probably would saved him more money overall than he realized once we did get bad eventually. Now Tilman will be over paying when we are a lottery team instead of spending when it counted. I don't think he realizes. I don't think he knew better. I just hate Rockets are his crash course experiment.

 

Because Sports franchises don't typically lose value. He also wants the Fertitta name to be synonymous with Houston. Look at his projects around the city. He's a wanna be Walt Disney. He missed out on buying the team in 93 as well.

 

Sports teams are the ultimate status for the rich. The richest people like Gates, Warren, Bezos, and Zuck don't need to own one because they have the Forbes list to cement their status. For the second tier, it's more prestigious than a yacht. This why all the oil guys buy soccer teams and offer Messi who is on the decline almost 200 million a year. They do it because because they can.

 

Fern t*** broke AF.

 

He will be he reason James and Russ will leave soon

 

Don’t forget when Tilman bought the team he said he would do MAJOR renovations to Toyota Center. I can’t remember the exact quote but he implied the plan was to almost reimagine the whole facility. Let’s not also forget about the brand new stand alone practice facility he promised as well. I know COVID has hurt his businesses but he was penny pinching as soon as he bought the damn team.

 

To get to the other side.

 

He cant even hold Roy Hofheinz' jock strap in this city. Walt Disney shouldnt even be mentioned.

 

Tilman does love Houston and he loves the Rockets. He has been a lifelong fan and he tried hard to buy the team before Alexander bought it.

The problem is ego. Tilman believes he knows best and he is running the Rockets the way he runs his other hospitality based businesses. The problem is that the NBA is vastly different than the business background Tilman has.

I know that Tilman also likes to be recognized for his wealth and business acumen and is big on being an elder statesman of the community.

Still, you take someone as arrogant and overly confident as Tilman and couple that with the financial issues and adjusting to a new industry... and it is a recipe for disaster.

He wants to keep the Rockets to leave to his family. He said 25+ years ago he wanted to make it a family institution if he had the winning bid. His reputation in Houston is important to him so at some point he will likely figure it out.

He had a chance to sell half interest in the team for half of what he paid and he passed on it, so I don’t think he plans on selling it at this point.

As fans we are in a tough spot because if Tilman sells, we don’t know what type of ownership we would get. There are a number of Chinese businessmen interested and with the political climate in China who knows how that would impact the organization. There is no Mark Cuban or Ballmer waiting for him to sell.

 

Tilly purchased the Rockets for the very same reason Trump ran for president.

To fvck up our hope's and dreams, to destroy our way of life and our very existence.

 

Wasnt Michael Dell a potential suitor at one point?