If you believe Forbes, Mark Cuban's net worth is around $2.3 billion. Les' net worth is $1.2 billion (14.2 million shares in First Marblehead and it's gone up another 33% since the Forbes 400 issue). Les can afford it.
What about comparing the Mavs revenues to the Rockets? You know these owners don't spend a dime out of their own personal savings... they operate from the profits the team is able to pull down in terms of ticket sales, media contracts, and merchandise. I know the Rockets have a pretty good tv deal... but I also know the Mavs have a similiar deal (along with agreements with 2 other networks), as well as the fact that the Mavs have sold a helluva lot more tickets (along with private suites) over the last 4+ years, including multiple deep runs through the playoffs. And with the amount of geeky mavs fans I know who wear full warmups of Mavs merchandise on a daily basis... I have to believe they're winning that battle as well.
I'm wondering what are the revenues coming in from overseas. The new arena and luxury suites are standard these days, I know I see a few Chinese ads in the Toyota center, but I don't think those are gonna make up the 16- 20 million difference they would take on if they get a couple of overpaid players (only type of players we are gonna get, through trades, since we're over the luxury tax). I think I've even heard that jersey sales are shared by the league (except those bought at the Toyota center), so I'm wondering what other overseas revenues there would be? Hell, he didn't even get the Rockets sports channel he wanted.
For those of you interested in team revenues, operating income, etc. : http://www.forbes.com/lists/2005/32/Revenues_1.html (2005 numbers) http://www.forbes.com/2005/12/21/basketball-valuations_05nba_land.html (just more NBA-related stuff)
this thread is stupid....hopefully some of yall dont open any businesses in the near future....take a class before you do another thing....those who think we cant beat the mavs w/o yao are crazy
I hate Cuban, there's a little Jelousy in there as well. If I had his money, I'd run the Mavs like he does.
Here are a couple of Les/JVG Quotes that I found in the Chronicle from just googling Les Alexander and Luxury Tax: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/justice/rockets/3620240.html Money never a problem In one breath, he says the NBA's luxury-tax threshold serves as his franchise's salary cap. And in the next breath, he adds: ''Unless a great player comes along." ''That's one thing about the fans in this town," he said. ''If they know you're trying, if they see you're competitive, they love you. They're with you. I get stopped on the street and in the arena constantly. People say, 'Thanks for the job you do. We know you want to win.' " http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/rox/3795500.html A lengthy wish list Van Gundy said he is not referring to the team's determination to avoid paying a luxury tax. "I'm not saying anything about spending," Van Gundy said. "I'm talking about one thing: what we need to do to win. Those aren't my decisions, but that's what we need to win. "It (his status) is not the area the organization needs to concern itself with. What we need to concern ourselves with is how do we go from the worst home record to the best home record in the league? How are we going to be able to withstand injuries? To do that better is with better depth, more firepower to withstand McGrady's (injuries.) All those things are where our focus should be, and I'm sure Les and Carroll feel the same way." Alexander would not say where he believed the focus should be, but the more each talked, the more they sounded alike. Les ain't cheap...he's a shrewed business man who knows the recipe for winning with championships. Cuban has none. Case closed.
additionally, Cuban is a basketball maniac. Les on the other hand, is just basketball fan. and one more thing, people in Dallas support their nba team night-in night out. You rarely see their homecourt with empty seats. So it's not too risky to put more money on your team.
lol. you get support when you start making deep runs into the playoffs. the mavs only started selling out after they won a few playoff series. same thing would happen over here. we have not won a playoff series in 10 years! when we were winning in the playoffs in the mid-90's rockets tix were impossible to find. dont ever underestimate the power of winning (in the playoffs)
I personally would be pissed if Les did the same thing as Cuban. Cuban is driving up prices and setting a terrible standard. The main reason the NBA and NFL will most likley avoid labor stops longer than MLB is because there is a cap in place to control inflation. Cuban says screw the cap I'll drive up prices, I don't care. It's irresponsable and in the end you can thank people like Dolan and Cuban for raised ticket prices and more of a "corperate presence" BTW, Les is a billionair, check the forbs list. BTW, the Rockets are a little over the cap. and spent all avalible money in the offseason.
Different guys have different philosophy...The team generates the income to pay the salaries, its just how much money/return they want to get out of the business/franchise... Do we need another option, absolutely, but we already have two Max contracts and I don't see us getting a third...
3 out of 5 the highest payroll teams made it to the lottery last year. Think about it. More of them made the lottery than the playoffs. In a playoff system, where the majority of teams makes the playoffs. That's awful. 4 out of 5 of the highest payroll teams didn't make it to the 2nd round. All five of the top 5 highest payroll teams are paying large amounts of salary to players that are no longer on their team or stuck with benched or injured players making large amounts of salary. If the Mavericks still weren't paying for Finley and the the NY Knicks weren't still paying Allan Houston, they would take away almost 20 million right there. Face it. Most of the teams win the NBA Championship are the ones that stayed below the luxury tax, Spurs, Miami, Detroit, 94-96 Rockets.
Many strong arguments have already been made in this thread supporting the assertion that: See the blog entry by a smart guy (Gladwell) about the book, Wages of Win.
By the way, at the bottom of the blog entry, Gladwell lists out (from the book, presumably) the top 10 underrated players and the top 10 overrated players in the NBA. 2 of the top 10 underrated players listed? Luther Head and Shane Battier. Kudos to Dawson for a job well done.
