To be fair, its not like Les nickle and dimes this team like the Clippers owner use to, or the Grizzlies, Bobcats or even the Suns owner. He bought a draft pick this year that turned out to be Landry and has two max players on his team. Its very easy to say he is cheap but take a look at how many owners actually go over the tax and you will see it is a very small percent of all owners. Also, its easy to expect him to pay up his millions, but if they were your millions I bet it would be much harder to do.
I agree with your analysis. The Rockets front office knows that they have no hope for this season, they do not have enough talent to compete with the top teams Lakers/Mavs/suns/Jazz and T-mac is aging fast. You could see from this trade that they are looking forward to next year or couple more years down the road. Yao has about 4-5 years left, Scola is improving, so does Landry, so we might be able to pick up another star next season with our expirings.... But definitely not aiming for this season. I think they might be going to the right direction. But as a fan, it is bitter to swallow the reality that your team sucks and has little hope for the championship
You might as well go root for the Mavs or the Knicks if it bothers you that much. I don't think Les is selling the team anytime soon, and even if he did, there is no guarantee we don't get stuck with someone who is really bad.
Surely, because if the front office changes the company line to (It's Almost Time), what's even the point? We have no chance at a championship anymore (if that's the case, we never did, anyway) so we're looking to the future.
It's one thing to avoid giving out big contracts, it's a whole nother thing to look to dump salary mid season at the cost of dropping a key player during an incredible run.
Let me get this straight.... This year isn't the year...but Battier and "Win Now" was THE year? If that's the logic it's very inconsistent to say the least. They don't draft Thabo or Gay because they felt they were in the hunt and couldn't wait....and now it's about ducking under the LTax to be more flexible next summer or during next season when BJax's $6.1m is expiring? Someone's logic stinks.
Ummmm? Anyone want to compare Rudy Gay's stats from last night vs. Shane Battier's stats from the night before last? Someone's logic really stinks.
That's kind of how I see it. This buyer's market might not duplicate itself next year, so the expiring contract doesn't impress me.
It's fair to say, people shouldn't call someone cheap when it's not your money. At the same time, the ownership/management shouldn't feed fans with "it's all about winning, that's all we care" when it is not. It goes both ways. If you fill the fans with hyperboles and expectations, then fans will call it when they see it.
I think that could be said with an implied (and reasonable) expectation that the team will not take on massive losses to accomplish that. Just like anything else, the police are all about safety (within their budget), the schools are all about education (within their budget), you are all about excellent work (w/i 40 hours). This team is about winning, there's no denying that. It isn't fair to compare Les or anyone else to billionaires who are willing to lose millions.
Alexander, a Florida resident is listed by Forbes Magazine as one of the 400 wealthiest Americans.... I wish i had some of that.
Le$ is like holding the Rockets as hostage, and milking every penny out of the fans without doing his best to give the Rockets the best chance to win. More $$$___$$$ FTW.
