Best/Worst NBA Owners

We're really lucky to have an owner like Les. He always thinks about the fans first.

 

And yet so many go out of their way to insult Les just because he's leery of going over the tax threshold... in year when many NBA teams are struggling to even stay in the black at all, no less.

 

Junk article.

By what the article is saying, Portland's owner and Knich's owner should be ahead of Alexander. They both paid tons of luxury tax try to make team better. They failed, but they obviously tried hard.

Alexander doesn't want to go over LT even though Yao helped him to make the franchise value grow so much.

Look at Cleveland's owner, he didn't hesitate to go over LT by a lot just try to build a championship team around Lebron. He should be ahead of Les too.

 

Thinks about fans by let trade exemption and MLE expired? By raising ticket price over and over?

 

Give me a break. It's not just about what you spend, it's how you spend it. The Knicks let Isiah run an NBA Franchise for a half a decade. Yeah they threw a lot of money at the problem, but they made moronic decision after moronic decision. More money does not necessarily equal better owner. You think Marbury, broken-down Francis, 2 first-round picks for Eddy Curry is all money and resources well-spent?

Have you seriously not noticed that EVERY team values expiring contracts, to make sure they don't become the next New York Knicks or Sacramento Kings by strapping themselves to overpriced players no one will take? And you're seriously wondering why we don't spend every dime we're allowed to spend?


Go read the first three paragraphs of point #1 in this excellent Simmons article:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/090227

...and then tell me again how Les is an idiot for staying under the tax. We have the 7th-highest payroll in the league, for god's sake. What do you want?

 

Fow owner, it's about WHAT you spend. For GM, it's about HOW you spend.

I don't care how bad Knick's situation is, but the real problem is Thomas, who gets overrated players after overrated players.

The only mistake Knicks owner made is he doesn't know how to pick a GM. He paid much more money just to make his team better, that's effort and the definition of good owner here.

Evaluate talent, not overpay a player, assemble a winning team is GM's job, not owners.

Of course Les is not an idiot for staying under LT, that only shows he's an excellent businessman, not necessarily the best owner.

 

Drexlerfan, the issue with the luxury tax comes from a sense from fans that sports franchises are public trusts (that's why we help pay for the stadiums etc) not an individual money making enterprise and that owners should do everything in their power to bring winners to their cities. It's a logical argument that when some owners go over and some do not, the ones who do seem somehow more committed to that goal

This article, and the Forbes article aren't really talking about that though. They're measuring the financials of each franchise. Because Les bought the team for $85 million and it's now worth upwards of $500 he will always be on these lists from now until he sells the team. He made a huge profit.

Les might be a tightwad but at least he knows what he is. You cannot ignore the fact that he brought in Morey which has been brilliant and entirely a move that Les made on his own. Now he might have done it because he saw $$$ in bringing in a guy who could maximize a shrinking payroll via stats but whatever the case he made another shrewd move for the franchise

Overall both you guys have points... a different owner might spend more and bring more wins to Houston but Les is shrewd and had made one of the best investments among owners in the NBA and so is recognized

 

Again, if you read the article, the approximation is that 20 of 30 NBA teams will LOSE MONEY this year. By millions and millions. It's completely unreasonable to ask anyone to knowingly throw millions of dollars away on a basketball team just to please the fans.

Do remember that going over the luxury tax threshold doesn't just mean that you're paying an extra dollar for every dollar you spend. It also means you're effectively opting out of the profit-sharing that results from those extra dollars being paid out. So if you go over the threshold by even one penny, you're not just losing a penny... you're losing millions and millions of dollars right off the bat, quite apart from the dollar-for-dollar tax itself. And then add to that the salary cap will go down next year.

 

This is what I don't get. Since when is Les a "tightwad"? We have the 7th-highest payroll in the league. So why the complaints about him being so "cheap"?

If he's "cheap," then there are 22 other *awful* owners right now.

 

Cuban's current problems aside, he is a successful owner because he turned a perennial loser into a perennial winner.

The fact he did it by going over the luxury tax while failing to win a championship puts him well behind Les.

Les should also be given points for innovation. Seeking out Morey was big, and it has paid off so far. Let's hope he was right and they continue the upswing. Drafting Yao was also a brave move (remember the problems with the Chinese government).

 

Like Morey said, Houston didn't get hit as hard like many other cities in US, and according to Fobes Yao makes Rockets one of the most profitable franchise. Les should spend more than 7th in the NBA to be qualified as one of the best.

To me, if a GM like Morey is given the right to spend like Thomas, Rockets would be championship contender each and every year very soon.

 

I don't know why Cuban should be behind Les just for championships. If that's the case, that cheap guy Jerry Reinsdorf should be the best owner.

Sometimes it's just lucky to have a player like MJ, Shaq.

 

And Hakeem.

The effort and money Kuban put to make Dallas from one of the worst to one of the best is more importat than just Championship alone.

Les made a good move on Morey, but that still doesn't make him one of the best.

 

I understand the financial part. Dallas's owner, Clevelena's owner, Knick's owner know that too. That's why they are the better owners than Les.

I'm not saying Les is bad owner, but just not one of the best in my book.

 

i think cuban is a GREAT owner, i know people like to make fun of him but he is rich, smart, competitive, and good to his fans/players - what else do you need from your nba owner?