Out of interest, I did a bit of research into Les Alexander's money situation. From a Forbes article dated September 2006, his main asset that being First Marblehead was worth to him over $750 million. However at this present moment, my calculations of the current share price and his share holdings (approx. 15.2 million and $1.38 per share) show that his once main source of wealth is now worth $21 million. Now we look at the Rocket's luxury tax situation show that we are about $4 million over for the 2009/2010 season. Taking in mind that his two only assets are his stake in First Marblehead and the Houston Rockets. One of which is bone dry. It seems likely that he will to sell this team in the years to come (God forbid).
If I am not mistaken, he also owns a significant stake in either Anta or Li Ning (Chinese sports companies). Probably Anta.
He is only one of "many" owners of the Rockets. I wonder if he still is the majority owner. I would love to see him sell the Rockets; we could do worse, but we could do a whole lot better. Until Morey got here the personnel decisions were largely atrocious.
Yeah I just read an article on it. It says he invested about HKD$234 million which is about USD$30 million into ANTA Sports. Not much but the big picture I'm getting is that his finances are piss poor at the moment. He was valued at $1.25 billion only 2 years ago and now his main business asset is worth less than Tracy McGrady's annual salary.
What are you talking about? Les Alexander is one of the best owners in the league, especially since DM arrived. You can count on one hand the owners who buy picks, and considering his finances the fact that he was willing to spend at all for talent is amazing in itself. Plus, he doesn't meddle as much as Cuban does. Name me one owner who could do "better" with our current situation, aside from Portland's Gazillionaire owner of course. I think that Forbes article is outdated as well. Alexander was named top nba owner either this year or last year by Forbes, and one of the maor factors was financial situation of the owner and/or franchise. Anyway, as long as Yao Ming is around finances are probably the least of the Rocket's worries.
I dont think that Les will sell the team. He is like Drayton in one respect is that he loves being the owner of the Houston Rockets.
Les wouldn't sell his main source of income. Rockets are a highly profitable franchise. Thanks in part to Yao Ming and a highly populated metropolitan area, Houston.
Oh yeah, talking with you is like clubbing baby seals! Seriously, I think some of the people here are spoiled. Take a look at most of the teams out there, they are run by either greedy money faced owners (Sarver), incompetent GMs (MJ, Mcfale, etc.) or worse, both. Even the Spurs aren't immune from becoming a scrooge mcduck, their owner gave Scola away for cash basically. The only money move I remember the Rockets making this year was when they traded Francis to Memphis, and even then that allowed us a roster spot to sign Mutombo. You can do, far far far worse than Les Alexander. Trust me on that.
You're right about Les being a terrific owner and a rare breed. However the poor guy looks like he's in a perpetual state of stress. I don't have any memories of him smiling.
It's much more likely that we'd do a heck of a lot worse. Alexander is pretty much everything you want an NBA owner to be. Yeah, he's made mistakes, but he's quickly learned from them. Personally, I dread the day that he sells the team.
I love the flow of logic. His other assets have lost much of their value, so the logical conclusion is that he will dump his most profitable asset soon. Genius thinking like this what makes people billionaires.
Les loves the Rockets, and he wants to win. He has always been willing to make a big move. What more can we ask from an owner? And with DM in charge, I would say we have a perfect thing going right now.
