Solomon's point this morning was (and this is what he said) that the Rockets (or teams in general) should never buy into the idea of rebuilding or building for next year because that doesn't work. He said the team should spend everything they can to win as much as possible in a given year and see where they go. He was basically arguing that punting on this season and making moves designed to put you in a better position for when Yao is healthy was a mistake. Of course, he qualifies that opinion by saying that if they are good next year his opinion changes. To be honest, it just seems like Jerome likes to be contrarian. Most people thought this team was going to struggle (Jerome claims he did not think they would struggle and projected them to be better than anyone else) and are happy that the Rockets made moves for the future (KMartin, Ariza) and let young players develop while still managing to be a respectable club (over .500) Solomon thinks building for the future is a mistake and that we shouldn't be excited about it. I guess my main issue is I don't see where anyone has the level of praise for this season that Solomon seems to think. Sure, we were happy to see them compete hard despite being outgunned on most nights and we were happy to see Hill, Brooks, Bud improve, but nobody here is calling last year a great year and throwing a parade like Solomon implies.
Who gives a s**t about Jerome's opinion. I know I don't. This sucker is a writer, and wants as many people to read his columns as possible. He is doing a good job of putting his trash in the publics view right now. Never, ever should a writer challenge the integrity of the fans. Good job, Jerome. Lets wait until your next piece of s**t comes out so you can stir up some controversy.
That worked out really well for the Knicks, didn't it? It took them years to get out of salary cap hell because they followed this approach.
That being the case, why did the Rockets do better last year than the Mavericks? Cuban still had a much higher team payroll, yet the Rockets had a better record and lasted longer in the playoffs.
Hasn't Morey said on multiple occasions that Les is willing to go over the Luxury Tax this season? Seriously though, it's pretty easy to criticize someone for not throwing money around when it's not your money. There's at least 25 other NBA teams that don't spend as much as the Mavericks, and many of those have a bigger market and/or better attendance/fan support than the Football-town Rockets. Taking everything into account, I don't feel we are a cheap team. Currently, we're in the top half of the league in payroll (15th). I mean, should Kings fans complain that their team hasn't been good in the past several years because their owners don't spend as much as Mark Cuban? What about Bucks fans? Wizards fans? Clippers fans?
Les kept the spending in check as far as luxury tax this past season because this wasn't exactly going to be a championship-banner year. At least we didn't have to hear Les talk about how "this is the best team I've ever been associated with (*cough* buy more tickets! *cough*), EVER". Morey did say that Les will be spending some dough-re-mi next season. We'll see. I imagine this would be the case. Extend Luis, extend Kyle, see what windfall we can get in trade.
I agree that those rings fell into Les' lap. But I think Mavericks fans will be waiting and waiting and have their own "wait 'till next year". I know this is a big if but if we could have stayed healthy last year I think would have added another ring. Even after we could see that Tracy was on his way out, we tried to unload him before he pulled his stunt. And overall, even with the injuries, I think we had a better year than the Mavs. Money does sometimes make or break where you are headed. You can't be cheap like the Clippers and trade players when they become good because you don't want to pay them but I've never seen the Rockets do that - ever. We did have some bad scouting in the earlier Les years. Plus I think what contributed more to the average years were CD's signing Malony, Cato, Moochie, etc to overpriced contracts. It wasn't because they didn't want to spend. It was because they were spending too much in the wrong areas. Anti-Clippers if you will. Too much spent to reward too little.
Both Morey and Solomon are probably willing to debate this. Why doesn't one of these radio stations have them both on and moderate a debate on the state of the Rockets.
There are dozens upon dozens of other fully-solvent owners who would love to own the Houston Rockets. If Les has had financial troubles in the past couple years and cannot afford to field the best team possible on the court, then by all means SELL THE TEAM. Why should the fans put up with the legacy of past payroll mistakes and Les current day balance sheet headaches. That being said, he has been paying cash for draft picks and Morey has indicated that they will go over the lux tax threshold next season so let's see. Also, even if he did agree to sell the team, Stern is always there in the background to shoot down 90% of potential buyers.
So were the Mavs strapped by having 2/3 of their payroll riding the bench? Oh they weren't....so you're logic is pretty r****ded? I got ya!
Hell Yeah! Morey will own his ass like Biden did Palin. Sarah Palin- Queen Solomon Joe Biden- Daryl " Wizard" Morey!
By real salary cap I was referring to the soft cap, which can be exceeded in special circumstances, but not just when ever you feel like it if you don't mind paying the luxary tax. I don't claim to be an expert on the salary cap, but Jerome made it sound like the NBA was the same as baseball where there is no cap at all and that the Rockets could have brought anyone they wanted if they were willing to spend the money, which is clearly not the case.
