I think there are valid beefs with Tilman and ymmv on how bad you think those are, but so far nothing he's done in terms of decision making matches ceding organizational decision-making authority to BOB and Easterby, even the terrible trade for Russ. Drayton's last several years were also really, really bad. I think Les nostalgia is also pretty misplaced. Crane is the gold standard for local owners (trash cans notwithstanding) but even he's been pennywise/pound foolish in some instances like not tendering Morton.
What an awful, condescending, title. Publisher and editor who approved should be lambasted. Even if the book had decent biz expertise, the title just ruins the experience. "Listen Up!" would have been way better and more inviting. Or "Stop and Listen!" also much more inviting then his condescending bullcrap.
I complained about that at the time , stating multiple times that they should have retained him because they had no financial vehicle to replace his talent level at the position with a similarly talented player. Rather , they avoided the tax by letting him walk and trying to replace his 38 minutes a night with a bunch of dudes on the veterans minimum. What they should have done is retained him at a reasonable rate and if money was such a big deal moved him at the deadline for an asset rather than letting the asset go for nothing.
Morey is the same dude who let Ariza go and replaced him with Ennis the Pennis. IMO Les Alexander was def better than Fertits but not 3x better or anything crazy.
I dont know if I ever had the feeling Tilman wouldn't pay the luxury tax. I think he is just too poor to afford it. Which is really sad. Tilman is that owner who is dumb enough to get suckered into a Kelvin Cato contact, sending him deep into luxury tax. This is very evident by the CP3/Westbrook trade.
#1 Rocket fans didn’t want to lose their two wings (Ariza and Moute) and replace them with minimum signed players and I guarantee you the coaching staff and front office didn’t either. He had a championship team and decided to not go into the tax to keep the team the same or improve it. #2 The Memphis trade didn’t happen because Tilman kept dragging his feet until Memphis moved on. Convenient how that worked, not getting Green and not going into the tax. #3 He had the Rockets trade away assets to get under the tax time after time. He also demanded the Ryan Anderson contract me moved which cost the Rockets more assets. #4 Alexander never said he would go into the tax while Tilman kept saying he would. #5 The GM, HC and two Hall of Famers all did everything they could to get away from Tilman. So yes, he has been pretty bad... and we will magically end up below the tax line again this year and we will hear about how it just worked out that way. He isn’t Donald Sterling but he has been bad in his own right.
“They” wanted Ariza back. In fact the one person that didn’t want Ariza and Moute back was Tilman Fertitta; who expected his GM to replace two top wings with minimum salary signings. Second yes, Tilman was on board with the Westbrook trade. He went on national television and said he was the one that forced his basketball people to make the deal. Third, the Anderson deal was a straight salary dump.
That is the hope, that Tilman learns from his terrible mistakes and learns on the job. I think a lot of the issue is finances. If Tilman were worth 10 billion I am sure he would go into the tax and spend a lot on the actual organization. However that isn’t the case.
He’s cutthroat AF as a businessman. He literally comes from a mafia family. When the good times were rolling he was fine with paying the luxury tax. Then 2020 happened and the bottom dropped out of the entertainment market. He isn’t built to be suave about losses, he just reverts to what made him- his take no prisoners business style. Being a republican usually goes hand in hand with making money because self made people don’t usually want to pay taxes to support what they consider slacker deadbeats. Couple that with a desperation to survive and Trump’s ear, and Tilman is going to ask for help. So yes, he’s a cheap b*stard now and he supports the prez because he’s a perceived lifeline. That’s going to look bad to the casual fan, minorities and anyone who isn’t crazy in 2020
That’s the question. Is that such a bad strategy to have? Idk. It burned us the first time with Ennis and MCW. But it’s working right now by signing minimum guys like Nwaba, Tate, Brown, Mclemore, and Cousins. I’m not saying that model is perfect — it has it’s risks. But would you rather pay a “top wing” like Jae Crowder $8M or have Nwaba, Tate, Brown, and Mclemore? And to be fair, Luc was a minimum signing the first time around too.
Maybe some people here in the organization wanted Ariza to stay, but when he was offered $15 million dollars to play for the Suns that was a wrap for that. We were only offering around $5 million dollars a year. Anything close to paying Ariza $15 million a year would not have been feasible if we were trying to align Harden with some better players bro. I never said Tilman was not on board with the trade, I said that the main proponent in that transaction was Harden which we know to be true now because of the reports. Of course if he is the owner he has to be behind the trade, it's his team. That much is obvious. But Harden gave the team an ultimatum. What owner is going to go on national TV and disclose in house information like that bro?
