Jerome Solomon interview on 1560 this morning

sigh. You're missing the point.

I am by no means arguing that the Mavs are the better franchise. Nor am I suggesting that They are more accomplished, etc. We obviously have the 2 championships, we win hands down. I wouldn't trade this team for any other team. I love this team.

My argument is more against Mr. Alexander, and less against my beloved Rockets. I hate the damn Mavericks, I despise that little idiotic cry baby Mark Cuban. He's on my top 3 list of people I'd like to punch in the face. Care to guess the other 2 on that list? Jason Terry and Dirkendouche. All I'm saying is, since assuming ownership of that wicked organization, Mark Cuban has done a great job in turning it into a winning organization. In the past 10 years, they've clearly been the better team. CLEARLY! And it is my opinion that comparing the past 10 years to assess owners success IS MORE EFFECTIVE than using the 2 championships that fell into Leslie's lap to claim that he's the better owner.

Bottom line is, this team has been $h!t in the past 10 years. bottom 5 in the league. And we as desperate fans have grown so accustomed to the crap product this organization is putting on the hardwood that we go crazy when we advance to the second round for once! We're worshipping Morey when there's really nothing to show for it on the court.. YET. We might get better. I HOPE we get better. But if we keep playing it financially wise, the chances of that are slim.

 

From what he said, he doesn't seem to know the difference between salary cap and luxury tax. A lot of fans are confusing these two things. But I expect a professional sports writer to know better.

 

Bottom 5?

In the past decade, I think we've done better than New York, Atlanta, Memphis/Vancouver, Los Angeles Clippers, Minnesota.

 

Cuban threw Finley and Nash under the bus, because he didn't want to pay the luxury tax on Finley and wanted to lowball Nash. For such a great owner, he threw his franchises's playoff chances away. They are worse now than ever. It's just a dog and pony show with no ring.

 

Hey Don't forget the genious move to get Kidd and give up Harris. And let's remember how that whole "spend money to win" thing worked out with Erica Dampiers seven year 73 million dollar contract.

 

Here is a list of teams winning percentages since 2000.....as of January of this year.

San Antonio Spurs 0.698
Dallas Mavericks 0.667
Los Angeles Lakers 0.654
Phoenix Suns 0.598
Detroit Pistons 0.595
Utah Jazz 0.562
Sacramento Kings 0.548
Houston Rockets 0.537

Yes Dallas has a higher winning percentage, but CLEARLY the Rockets are not bottom 5, nor have they been s*** the past 10 years. They are 8th in the NBA in winning percentage since 2000.

 

By the way, the Rockets had the toughest schedule in the entire NBA this year....just thought I'd point that out...

 

The guy is a troll

 

Rk     From    To        Fr       W       L       W-L%
1      2001    2010      SAS      573     247     .699
2      2001    2010      DAL      563     257     .687
3      2001    2010      LAL      520     300     .634
4      2001    2010      PHO      492     328     .600
5      2001    2010      DET      482     338     .588
6      2001    2010      UTA      459     361     .560
<font style="background-color: yellow">7&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2001&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2010&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;HOU&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;448&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;372&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;.546</font>
8&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2001&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2010&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;BOS&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;445&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;375&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;.543
9&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2001&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2010&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;SAC&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;437&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;383&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;.533
10&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2001&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2010&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;ORL&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;432&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;388&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;.527
11&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2001&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2010&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;CLE&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;425&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;395&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;.518
12&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2001&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2010&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;DEN&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;422&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;398&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;.515
13&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2001&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2010&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;IND&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;416&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;404&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;.507
14&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2001&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2010&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;POR&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;415&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;405&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;.506
15&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2001&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2010&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;NOH&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;415&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;405&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;.506
16&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2001&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2010&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;MIA&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;413&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;407&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;.504
17&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2001&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2010&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;PHI&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;404&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;416&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;.493
18&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2001&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2010&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;NJN&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;386&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;434&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;.471
19&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2001&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2010&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;MIL&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;380&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;440&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;.463
20&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2001&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2010&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;OKC&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;377&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;443&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;.460
21&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2001&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2010&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;MIN&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;376&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;444&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;.459
22&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2001&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2010&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;TOR&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;367&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;453&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;.448
23&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2001&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2010&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;CHI&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;341&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;479&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;.416
24&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2001&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2010&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;WAS&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;334&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;486&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;.407
25&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2001&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2010&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;ATL&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;327&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;493&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;.399
26&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2001&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2010&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;NYK&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;327&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;493&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;.399
27&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2001&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2010&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;GSW&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;326&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;494&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;.398
28&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2001&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2010&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;MEM&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;326&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;494&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;.398
29&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2001&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2010&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;LAC&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;320&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;500&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;.390
30&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2005&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2010&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;CHA&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;188&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;304&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;.382

 

Lets see

Les first 10 years as an owner: 2 rings
Cuban first 10 years as an owner : 0 rings

Also since 2000, the mavericks and the rockets have the same number of rings.
So winning a championship is not about spending a lot or not, is about spending wisely.

 

just as someone has stated already i love how soloman and this pointforward guy say we should not have done this or should not have done that...but fail to state what we should have done...

its easy to point fingers, but what are the solutions?

i havent read solomans article but i have read here on clutchfans that he said we expect mediocrity, and i have read that we accept mediocrity. well if he said we expect then yeah that holds true for this year, i think a lot of us expected a mediocre team this year with yao out and a hobbled mcgrady. i dont expect mediocrity with this cast we have on our team. but to say accept it... what does that accomplish? like another poster said should we picket the toyota center, we watch the rockets to escape from our daily lives and routines. ofcourse it sucks when when our team is not winning the championship but hey only 1 team a year can have that claim.

i mean thats great the mavs have had better records than us the past 10 years but in 20 years from now what will people remember, nothing about the mavs, they will remember the spurs and the lakers for dominating the 2000s.

 

Bottom 5?! Wow I don't see how you can claim to be a Rockets fan when you make ridiculous claims like that. Yes its true Les has been reluctant to go over the lux tax (although, I believe we will probably be over that line the upcoming season), yet he put up the money to buy three draft picks last year. Not to mention he put up the money in 07 to buy the pick that became Landry. If Les was so cheap, he would have let Tmac's contract expire instead of taking on the rest of Kmart's contract.

 

Think again.

Minnesota made it to WCF with Garnett
NY under JVG went to the conference finals

you got Atlanta, Grizzlies, and Clippers right. And there was 1 more team that I can't think of right now.

winning % != success durvasa. How many teams with lower winning % than us in the past 10 years have made it to the 2nd round multiple times? how about to conference finals? yeah, MOST of them. Hence "bottom 5".

By the way, I'm done with this thread/all Solomon threads for now LOL. I've garnered enough hatred on this board to last me for a long long time. I'll go back to my safe abode that is the hangout. I should've never ventured around this part of the forum anyways. I just wanted to ridicule this absurd outrage over someone stating the simple fact that this team has been mediocre for so long that we've gotten used to it.

 

So you ridicule us fans for getting excited over a 1st round victory, then go on to use playoff success as a basis for bottom-dwelling teams being better than us? As far as I'm concerned, anything besides a championship should be considered a failure. The fact of the matter is, the Rockets had been better constructed for a championship run over those years than teams who have made it to the 2nd round, "multiple times", in a weak conference.

We had a great shot last year, but the unexpected decline of McGrady and Yao's injury dashed those hopes. This year, McGrady continued to decline, and we lost Artest and Yao. The three best players from last year are now gone, two of which still remained on the payroll. What move would you have made to continue building a championship contender? I think Morey did just that, and by no means is that an excuse to berate fans for looking forward to next year. Would you have preferred he made us a playoff team by signing a player non-conducive to a championship team? Zach Randolph? Gilbert Arenas? Foresight is key in building dynasties, and I would much prefer that over a futile excursion into the playoffs.

 

Your definition of success if overly simplistic. But even accepting your definition, "bottom 5" doesn't follow. Here are all the teams that, like the Rockets, have not gotten past the first round multiple times and have not reached the conference finals once in the past 10 years:

CHA
LAC
GSW
MEM
NYK
WAS
CHI
TOR
OKC
POR

Moreover, all 10 of those teams had significantly worse regular season records over the past 10 years than the Rockets, and 5 of them played in a weak Eastern conference.

Any other qualifications you want to throw in?

 

Ignore this troll.

 

I read your post again and it seems you're just as ignorant as Solomon.

1) Morpheus wasn't talking about a hard cap, he was talking about a real salary cap, meaning Solomon doesn't even know that a salary cap (whether hard or soft) exists in the NBA.

2) As CH already told you, although the cap isn't hard, its not entirely "soft" either, as you can't sign FAs anymore after you go over the Cap. So you're not just paying the lux tax, after you go past the cap you literally can't sign anybody anymore. The lux tax argument about Cuban is laughable as the Mavericks haven't won a title yet. Are you saying spending hundreds of millions of money is worth it just for a marginally better record? Great return on your investment there

So you start out being the condescending one and then cry foul when CH pwns you? Really good hypocrisy there

Kelly Dwyer is 100X the writer Jerome Solomon is, and he hangs out at this board. In fact, not hanging out here is probably a big reason for Solomon's stupidity, if he posts his articles here as threads people here will shoot him down and he won't bother writing crap like these in the first place.

 

Trading for Tracy Mcgrady was a good move, considering we gave up Steve Francis+filler for him. The mistake was not trading Tmac for someone like Lebron or Wade, but its not really a mistake because no one could have foreseen what would happen when we traded for Tmac.

 

i think he n jerome are the same person.

 

PointForward, I'm not going to argue with you about how to measure success of an NBA franchise. You are entitled to your opinion on that. I don't agree with you, but hey, this is a free country.

I would like to ask you, though, if you are going to complain about Les Alexander being unwilling to spend in order to increase the Rockets' chances of winning, can you give us any concrete examples of instances in which he chose not to make a move that would have significantly helped the team (without seriously hurting the team in the long term) for financial reasons?

I'm sure you can come up with something, given how strongly you feel about this issue and given how convinced you are of this view.

Quite frankly, though, I can't think of anything off the top of my head.

What I do know is the following:

--The "tax-clearing" moves in prior years involved dumping guys like Kirk Snyder, a broken-down Steve Francis and a blubbery Bonzi Wells (and in Bonzi's case getting back Bobby Jackson, who helped the team more than Bonzi would have). The cost of those moves was only some future second round picks and some cash. None of those moves hampered the Rockets significantly from a competitive standpoint. And it is highly doubtful that those contracts (expiring or not) would have been able to net the Rockets a significant addition to their rotation. Therefore, I have absolutely ZERO problem with those cost-saving moves. Now, if we ever see a move like the Nuggets did a couple years back with dumping Camby for nothing just to save money, THEN you can get mad at Les.

--The same guy you criticize as being cheap has, since Daryl Morey has joined the franchise, spent between $7-8M on picks used to select Lior Eliyahu, Carl Landry, Jermaine Taylor, Sergio Llull and Chase Budinger. And that's just the cash we know about. Les has been very good about funneling the money saved from luxury tax back into the franchise in the form of buying picks. What's more, those purchased picks are typically BETTER than the picks traded away in the salary dumps. This shows me both business savvy and a commitment to winning by Les. Hell, only Portland (with the league's richest owner) has been more active in recent years with buying picks off the REAL "cheap" teams.

Again, I respect your right to have your opinion and am not going to get caught up in juvenile debates on this BBS. Rather, I would like to know what concrete facts you have, in the way of real examples, to back up your assertion that Les is cheap.

Thanks in advance for your well-reasoned response.