RealGM

Guess who's number 1??

Les Alexander says there's no secret to running the Houston Rockets.

"The key is having good people who do a good job," says the unassuming Alexander, a former Wall Street trader who bought the Rockets in 1993. "You try to take a long-term perspective."

The simple strategy has paid off. Under CEO Tad Brown, the team's business group secured one of the most lucrative cable-rights deals in the league, a 10-year, $600 million contract with FSN Southwest that it shares with baseball's Houston Astros. Throw in the marketing power of international icon Yao Ming, drafted in 2002, and the opening of the state-of-the-art Toyota Center a year later, and it's clear the Rockets have become the NBA's model business franchise.

http://www.forbes.com/sportsbusiness/20 ... wners.html

The report is looking at it in terms of growing franchise worth, not in terms of product put on the court. I'd still rank him top 5-10 in that as well, but L.A. has to be #1 on that list. (look at how many times they've missed the playoffs and won the championship). Still a neat article. While I haven't liked CD's publicly visible GM'ing or roster moves for several years now, I always did appreciate Les's patience with him. Stability with GMs and coaches is a GOOD thing in sports unless the guy in question just totally doesn't cut the mustard (I'd have preferred CD be given less than the 10 years he was, say 7-8, but hey, whatever works). Without it you lose a lot of credibility and accountability (which are important everywhere in business) and get moves made out of self preservation rather than best impact to the franchise. I've always been lost at how some owners don't seem to get that. Imo, it's also why Japan tends to beat us at business for the last 20-35 years.

Just curious, was it Rudy or CD what was responsible for the following:
Moochie Norris:
2001-02 Houston Rockets NBA $3,600,000
2002-03 Houston Rockets NBA $3,150,000
2003-04 Total NBA $3,600,000
2004-05 Total NBA $3,850,000
2005-06 Houston Rockets NBA $4,200,000

Kelvin Cato:
2000-01 Houston Rockets NBA $5,330,000
2001-02 Houston Rockets NBA $6,048,000
2002-03 Houston Rockets NBA $6,696,000
2003-04 Houston Rockets NBA $7,344,000
2004-05 Orlando Magic NBA $7,992,000
2005-06 Orlando Magic NBA $8,640,000
2006-07 New York Knickerbockers NBA $1,071,225

Although that 7.9 million did help us land T-Mac

Mo Taylor:
2001-02 Houston Rockets NBA $6,500,000
2002-03 Houston Rockets NBA $7,150,000
2003-04 Houston Rockets NBA $7,800,000
2004-05 Total NBA $8,450,000
2005-06 New York Knickerbockers NBA $9,100,000
2006-07 Total NBA $7,500,000

So was it Rudy or CD?

EDIT: all of those guys played with the Knicks at one point in their careers when Isiah Thomas was in charge (aka the bad years).

EDIT: Funny how the Knicks also took on Stevie's horrible contract, and then Mobley ended up there too...find that very funny.

^^ The general manager deals with players' salaries, so Carroll Dawson.

Don't point that all out in one place you'll give Ribalding a stroke.

LOL kelvin Cato has to be the worse over inflated contract ever .. That scrub got paid that much ? wow!

What happened to Mo Taylor? That guy was a 6'9" guy that was a full barefoot 6'9" and established presence like 7 footer at times. If we can get him back and rehabilitated to at least his former self we might be looking at something different.

Anybody remember the Slim Thug and ESG song "Somebody tell Kelvin Cato we want our money back"???

I think CD was allowed to run the show for too long, but Les demonstrated a lot of loyalty to guys who were part of the franchise prior to his arrival. CD got T-Mac and little else, and the teams he built got out of the 1st round once during his tenure as GM. Ditto for Rudy T. As much as I love the guy he was kept around too long. The teams the Rockets had to win championships were Rudy T teams. They were filled with smart veterans with years of experience, and the biggest thing was to keep them motivated. When you're dealing with young teams like the Rockets had early in the 2000's you need a coach who can teach which wasn't Rudy's thing.

More competent guys who joined the organization after Les bought it weren't shown much loyalty. Jeff was shown the door after 4 years including to 50+ win seasons.

Les has shown he's willing to spend money and he seems committed to the team, but some of the stuff he's said over the years and his double standards have bothered me. Guys like Cuban, the Maloofs, Buss, and Allen are guys I've really liked.

Francis could have also turned out to be a better more system established player if he wasn't spoiled by Rudy T's "You can do whatever you want" system for Francis. Those were the sad days yes, but I also blame CD for a lot of the problems. He's noteably been famous for I'd say 4 trades with the Rockets. The 1995 Barkley trade that established the big 3, the Pippen trade, the Francis trade, and then T-Mac. Although I think a GM other than CD (maybe someone as smart as Morey) would have filled in the gaps where Morey left off.

Too bad CD wasn't used to the modern day NBA video games; would of helped his case