People don't understand this. At one point and time, Master P was worth 500m, that didn't mean he had 500m in the bank.
http://hoopshype.com/owners.htm Unless those numbers are inaccurate, Les is the owner with the smallest net worth in the NBA at $80m. Cuban, on the other hand is worth $1.8b, and Buss weighs in at $380m. Of course with the economy over the last year, I wouldn't be surprised if those figures have each shrank by 30%.
Like DD said, those figures don't say that Les has pocketed $150 million since 2003, they say that the value of the team has increased that much. In order to get that money, Les would have to SELL the team. It would be more interesting to know much money he nets every year, after all the expenses are dealt with. Even then, Les has taken a huge hit financially over the past couple of years, so I'm sure he'd want to use some of the profits from the team to prop up his eroding profile.
Les may not want the Rockets to become the NBA's Yankees, buying out all the talent. However, he's never been afraid to spend on superstars (Yao Ming, Tracy McGrady, and perhaps Ron Artest this off season and who knows in 2010). He's been an excellent owner, the best in Houston. But then again, maybe he's too busy donating millions to his players' charities (Dikembe, Yao).
I wonder if somebody hypothetically would offer Les 422 million for the team while Yao is still here, would he sell? Of course, in this economic times I don't foresee alot of buying and selling teams happening. But still, does Les have a price while Yao is still here? The value of the team wouldn't be any higher unless we win titles and/or get Lebron.
mavs???? who do they have?? jj barea,bass, deving goerge?? and dont tell dampier that has been thier center for like 6 yrs cant even get a double double.
Amen to that! At least Les doesn't mettle in Morey's operation the way Drayton has with the Astros GM Ed Wade. These guys criticizing Les Alexander can't see the whole picture. How do call Alexander cheap when he's paying McGradys 20+ million dollar salary?
Ahhh... But the age question is.... What do you do if Yao does not sign the Max contract? Do you just let him play his contract out and get nothing for him or do you trade him and try to get something in return? Hmmmmmmm
ennnn, I wonder what "Revenue Growth" and "Operating Profits" mean in english. Does operation PROFITS actually means market VALUE to you?
About the willing-spending, not the players you get. We all know Knicks spend more money than any others, and got the worst players every year. Under the Morey we will get the right players for the team, then the problem is that Les has to pay 100% tax for spending more than that limit, which is the most owners do not want to do it. I am not blaming Les if he does not want to do it too.
People who call Les cheap are ridiculous. Even with Yao, we are still a mid-market team. Playing by the rules and working within the salary cap is good for the NBA, and I don't hold it against any owner for staying under the salary cap.
yeah, but there are also stats suggesting there are some concrete short term gain, such as profit/revenue growth. I also see Chinese companies taking out ads in TC a lot. Les has ventures in China, and I believe Yao is his biggest business card in China. Instant recognition and creditbility.
The NBA should be about winning championships not about what player can bring the owner the most money.
I know it is frustrating, like trying to teach people the value of a Shane Battier to a quality basketball team. DD
les is a cheap owner. end of story. wheres my pg? where is my backup C? ok, he doesn't want to pay lux tax just because of luther head, thats fine, but how come we only had luther head causing us lux tax dillemmas in the first place? I mean if we had a bunch of very good players that les was willing to pay for in the beginning we'd have been able to assemble a much better team! I don't see Les spending money buying any picks, signing any big FA's, or willing to trade so that the team remains above lux tax. after all don't you think Yao would have covered most of the costs? If not, make even more profits?? All trades were based on us being below the lux tax line...and I thought we were making a big profit from the franchise? do you seriously think this team is a contender??? Has it ever been a serious contender since Yao got here? Yeah you can blame all the injuries, but when you throw all your eggs in one basket of course you're going to need to prepare to face such situations. Where were we when the teams were holding firesales?? wheres my mo williams? my pau gasol? and wheres my rudy gay? REASON? CONTRACT ISSUES. les is cheap, and without going over the lux tax we won't be a serious contender. considering we're making big profits, he says:"only for a superstar will we go over the tax"...how many superstars are there in the league? How many of them are even available for trade? Do you expect Chris Bosh to take the MLE to come play here? He might as well say we won't go over the lux tax unless Kobe Bryant decided to opt out and come join us for 3 mil per season
I despise your post and your notion to state that Les is Cheap.... How dare you use those words.... Les is just frugal....
i guess les's compensating yao and will continue to by paying superstar money for his below superstar production.
This isn't baseball, you can't sign Artest for that much and then give Wade a max contract. We don't have the cap for that. Les and the Rockets are doing the best they can. They though Tmac was going to be a Kobe-like player, but they unfortunately were wrong. Then the other bad luck injuries to this team...it just wasn't meant to be...until now...
