Is Tilman Fertitta the worst owner in the NBA?

[wegotthabeet]

He’s definitely in the team photo with Dolan, Sarver, and Ranadive.

Fertitta, Dolan, Sarver, and Ranadive. That's the Mt. Rushmore of bad owners.

[brutalitops]

We're confusing what his GM and he does

Tillman didn't draft Jalen Green, Jabari Smith, hold out and traded Harden to the nets.

A former GM however traded good players at the deadline to clear them out of the luxury tax when. They were right there and a chance to win a title.

So I feel like he's made directives to make the team less competitive. So yes. Eve. If he has a great young core. He's still a **** owner.

[Braggins]

Fertitta is obviously personally a huge piece of **** and literally mobbed up, but the Rockets have had two straight fantastic offseasons for a rebuilding team.

If the question is whether he is the worst person of all the owners in the NBA, then its a fair question, but as far as how the team has been doing under his ownership, I just don't think theres enough negative to outweigh the good developments of the last couple years to put him in that conversation right now.

[mhd]

The answer is Ted Leonsis and its not even close. At least the Kings (and Vivek) want to win. Going for the playoffs is an admirable goal for a team that hasn't been there since 2006. Leonsis has stated on record that the Wizards will "NEVER TANK". The goals of the organization are to get two home playoff games in order to be profitable (confirmed by local radio). He pushed out two local broadcasting legends for cheaper substandard replacements (newest play-by-play guy is the former sidelines reporter after the previous replacement wasn't liked by anyone).

[HardenGoat]

He will be the only thing standing in the way when it matters most. His comment about CP3’s contract and how he dumped players for luxury tax savings unraveled the team internally at the time. It’s important to note that he ordered the WB trade. Harden wanted to add impact players and Moreys hands were tied. Morey must have felt sick watching what he built get destroyed by this guy.

[chrisab123]

Did Dolan sell the Knicks?

The question has nothing to do with political views or interests its about the ownership of an NBA franchise.

Dolan has been doing this longer and has more black marks against him than any owner in the last 30 years other than Sterling.

Its Dolan

[TheBobster]

Suns fans would like to interject here I suspect...

Even after the Suns managed to have a season with the league's best record most of us would still tell you he's the league's worst.

[cupcakesnake]

We're confusing what his GM and he does

Tillman didn't draft Jalen Green, Jabari Smith, hold out and traded Harden to the nets.

A former GM however traded good players at the deadline to clear them out of the luxury tax when. They were right there and a chance to win a title.

So I feel like he's made directives to make the team less competitive. So yes. Eve. If he has a great young core. He's still a **** owner.

Agreed. Not sure why people are using these moves as indicators for Fertitta. Raphael Stone has done a great job repairing the teams draft capital and drafting prospects that so far look promising. To my knowledge, there's no evidence of Fertitta's fingerprints on any of these moves.

It's not yet time for an update on Fertitta. We know that cutting costs was something he prioritized when he bought the team, and that was a huge factor in letting Ariza walk, and in the Chris Paul for Westbrook trade that effectively ended the Harden era and the Morey era. This isn't speculation since Fertitta is quoted as saying he stepped in to force this move when his "basketball ops [operations] got maybe a little weak at the end". He followed that up by refusing to use the MLE that year, refusing to pay D'Antoni's top assistants, and using draft picks to get off salary.

Houston has a young, inexpensive roster. They are ranked 23rd in salary this season and have zero long-term money on the books (Gordon and Wall come off the books next season). Unless there is Fertitta news, there's no reason to update our opinion of him yet. We'll see what happens when the current core is up for extensions and this roster stops being inexpensive by virtue of its youth. We probably wont know much new about Fertitta until the 2025 offseason.

[sp6r=underrated]

We're confusing what his GM and he does

Tillman didn't draft Jalen Green, Jabari Smith, hold out and traded Harden to the nets.

A former GM however traded good players at the deadline to clear them out of the luxury tax when. They were right there and a chance to win a title.

So I feel like he's made directives to make the team less competitive. So yes. Eve. If he has a great young core. He's still a **** owner.

Agreed. Not sure why people are using these moves as indicators for Fertitta. Raphael Stone has done a great job repairing the teams draft capital and drafting prospects that so far look promising. To my knowledge, there's no evidence of Fertitta's fingerprints on any of these moves.

It's not yet time for an update on Fertitta. We know that cutting costs was something he prioritized when he bought the team, and that was a huge factor in letting Ariza walk, and in the Chris Paul for Westbrook trade that effectively ended the Harden era and the Morey era. This isn't speculation since Fertitta is quoted as saying he stepped in to force this move when his "basketball ops [operations] got maybe a little weak at the end". He followed that up by refusing to use the MLE that year, refusing to pay D'Antoni's top assistants, and using draft picks to get off salary.

Houston has a young, inexpensive roster. They are ranked 23rd in salary this season and have zero long-term money on the books (Gordon and Wall come off the books next season). Unless there is Fertitta news, there's no reason to update our opinion of him yet. We'll see what happens when the current core is up for extensions and this roster stops being inexpensive by virtue of its youth. We probably wont know much new about Fertitta until the 2025 offseason.

And not being willing to spend when you play in Houston is a big problem. Houston is not a tiny metropolitan area nor is it a poor one.

It is understandable why New Orleans has tighter purse strings. They just can't generate the revenue to foot the bill. Being cheap in Houston makes you a crappy owner.

[Huskies1947]

After reading this thread I am appreciative of the Raptors ownership group. Back in the day were horrible in terms of how they treated situations and managed the team, but they were never cheap. However, now they just let Masai do his thing and kind of sit in the back - which has been amazing.

[TheWhiteMamba]

He's not the worst, but arguably and probably a bottom-5 owner

[Scalabrine]

I never understood this narrative. That was a very flawed HOU team that blew up and it blew up because Harden wanted out. Turns out they were actually smart to get rid of Westbrook and CP3. And since then, they've generally drafted extremely well and have one of the best young cores in the league. And when they traded Harden realgm excoriated Fertitta and the Rockets for not getting enough and now it's clear they killed it in that trade. Rule of thumb for realgm, whatever narrative or take they have the truth is usually the exact opposite.

Rockets traded 2 firsts to get rid of Chris Paul, which got the Thunder in the playoffs one and an additional first when they traded him.

[Harry Garris]

He's not the worst, but arguably and probably a bottom-5 owner

He was when he first bought the team. According to Tim McMahon (ESPN reporter who covers the Rockets) Tilman Fertitta has stopped meddling in basketball affairs and just lets Rafael Stone and the front office run the team now.

[cupcakesnake]

After reading this thread I am appreciative of the Raptors ownership group. Back in the day were horrible in terms of how they treated situations and managed the team, but they were never cheap. However, now they just let Masai do his thing and kind of sit in the back - which has been amazing.

The Raptors are blessed by not having a real face of their ownership group, or a singular personality that makes or breaks the franchise.

Though Edward Rogers tried his best to play that role last summer and almost single-handedly lost the Raps Masai

That situation illustrated it well though. Other MLSE executives were able to step in and muzzle Rogers and stop him from ruining the franchise. Teams with a majority owner are often victim to the whims of some singular rich idiot with an ego. Imagine if Edwards Rogers was the majority owner.

It lets Masai call the shots rather than being an extension of an irrational owner.

[Huskies1947]

After reading this thread I am appreciative of the Raptors ownership group. Back in the day were horrible in terms of how they treated situations and managed the team, but they were never cheap. However, now they just let Masai do his thing and kind of sit in the back - which has been amazing.

The Raptors are blessed by not having a real face of their ownership group, or a singular personality that makes or breaks the franchise.

Though Edward Rogers tried his best to play that role last summer and almost single-handedly lost the Raps Masai

That situation illustrated it well though. Other MLSE executives were able to step in and muzzle Rogers and stop him from ruining the franchise. Teams with a majority owner are often victim to the whims of some singular rich idiot with an ego. Imagine if Edwards Rogers was the majority owner.

It lets Masai call the shots rather than being an extension of an irrational owner.

Very valid point - Edward seems like one of those silver spoon kids that wants his way all the time. Seems a bit like the Canadian version of Dolan

[Soulyss]

The Kings haven't made the playoffs since 2006.

As bad as they’ve been, and as annoying as Vivek is, he at least wants to win. I also have no doubt he’d be willing to spend money to make it happen.

I agree... he's struggled to find his way with front office hires, etc... but he's PAID to learn the hard way. I suspect that the Kings will get sorted out eventually.

[Soulyss]

Suns fans would like to interject here I suspect...

Even after the Suns managed to have a season with the league's best record most of us would still tell you he's the league's worst.

Yeah, that has been my understanding... he's enjoying success right now, but overall he's been about one step above Sterling...

[jbk1234]

Fertitta, may or may not be a good owner. The CP3 trade was disaster pants, and if he insisted Morey do that regardless of the cost in terms of draft capital as has been reported, then hopefully he's learned from that experience. The Rockets did mitigate some of that damage with the Wall/Westbrook swap.

Also, when your team is built around a single superstar, and that superstar asks out or leaves, the road back is long and painful. There's not getting around it. The Rockets have a lot of upcoming draft capital owed by the Nets. Maybe wait until it starts conveying before deciding he's the worst of the worst.

[NJBuzz12]

Where is MJ in this discussion? Can’t imagine being much worse than him. Cheap. Meddlesome. Just a terrible owner. At least the other guys spend. Jordan refuses to tank, but at the same time can’t attract big name free agents and won’t pay big time execs or coaches. Assistant coaches budget is a joke. Absolutely abysmal track record at drafting. I’m no Dolan fan, but give me him over MJ any day of the week.