Allow me to speak on Tillman Fertita

[TinmanZBoy]

Tillman for president!

An account from two months before Fertitta bought the Houston Rockets with the name TinmanZBoy.

You think we're all idiots, don't you Tillman?

My name is actually Tilman, get that straight son... lol

[cupcakesnake]

Gotta thank OP for writing and bumping this topic with a mini-update. This story truly is an all-time NBA classic.

[og15]

It's crazy how something can be destroyed so quickly and swiftly, just bad move after bad move after bad move. I have great compassion for any fanbase with a trash owner, it's just terrible.

[FinnTheHuman]

To me, this is not the story about only Fertita, but the story of Leslie Alexander and the league not taking a hard look at Fertita's history before letting him buy the franchise. Just read a couple of interviews by the guy, talk to him a lot, notice that he's a delusional narcissist, and realize that he's gonna ruin the franchise located in one of the biggest American cities, with a great opportunity to grow in value if the franchise is putting out a good product. Billionaires are fighting over the opportunity to buy an NBA team, and you allow this clown to buy it lol

[Triple M]

Sadly, can't see how Rocket fans get out of this situation, but they don't deserve the potential terrible years or decades to come. Personally, I'm not going to watch any rocket games or see them live.

[Onlytimewilltel]

To me, this is not the story about only Fertita, but the story of Leslie Alexander and the league not taking a hard look at Fertita's history before letting him buy the franchise. Just read a couple of interviews by the guy, talk to him a lot, notice that he's a delusional narcissist, and realize that he's gonna ruin the franchise located in one of the biggest American cities, with a great opportunity to grow in value if the franchise is putting out a good product. Billionaires are fighting over the opportunity to buy an NBA team, and you allow this clown to buy it lol

This

[Pharmcat]

It's crazy how something can be destroyed so quickly and swiftly, just bad move after bad move after bad move. I have great compassion for any fanbase with a trash owner, it's just terrible.

You take Simmons , three frp, thybulle and run with it. You can always flip Simmons and thybulle later for picks. Astonishing his ego got in the way

[ItsDanger]

I explained in another thread the financial rationale for some owners.

Place some blame on Harden at the same time. Most of their moves are atypical of desperation with time pressure.

[Slim Charlez]

To me, this is not the story about only Fertita, but the story of Leslie Alexander and the league not taking a hard look at Fertita's history before letting him buy the franchise. Just read a couple of interviews by the guy, talk to him a lot, notice that he's a delusional narcissist, and realize that he's gonna ruin the franchise located in one of the biggest American cities, with a great opportunity to grow in value if the franchise is putting out a good product. Billionaires are fighting over the opportunity to buy an NBA team, and you allow this clown to buy it lol

Not only that but it sounds like that guy can't really even afford to own the franchise.

[clyde21]

To me, this is not the story about only Fertita, but the story of Leslie Alexander and the league not taking a hard look at Fertita's history before letting him buy the franchise. Just read a couple of interviews by the guy, talk to him a lot, notice that he's a delusional narcissist, and realize that he's gonna ruin the franchise located in one of the biggest American cities, with a great opportunity to grow in value if the franchise is putting out a good product. Billionaires are fighting over the opportunity to buy an NBA team, and you allow this clown to buy it lol

Not only that but it sounds like that guy can't really even afford to own the franchise.

Tilman is a legit billionaire tho...when Lacob bought the Warriors he was barely worth 250m himself (about half of what he paid for the Warriors)...Tilman can afford it...he just doesn't want to do it

[trickshot]

I explained in another thread the financial rationale for some owners.

Place some blame on Harden at the same time. Most of their moves are atypical of desperation with time pressure.

Not the ones listed in the OP. Dumping a contender's assets to save money isn't desperation to appease anyone but your accountants.

Also can't blame anyone on Fertita somehow choosing an expiring Oladipo over Simmons/Maxey and Levert/Allen. Flip them if you don't like them but don't give it out for free. Goes with his theme of dumping assets for free.

[slicedbread2]

It is quite scary how the NBA screwed up royally and allowed this scumbag to own an NBA franchise. You think with the resources the league has that they'd audit and screen potential owners before letting them in. They must have been high on drugs. For Tillman he reminds me of Glen Taylor, Howard Schultz, Donald Sterling, James Dolan and Robert Sarver blended into one for the following reasons:

1) Robert Sarver: Cheapskate who wasted Steve Nash's prime and gave away draft picks that'd cause Billy King to gush in envy. After the Nash era, the Suns withered in the desert until they found their oasis in CP3 who led the dying Suns back into relevancy. Tillman makes Sarver look like Ballmer by comparison. Maybe Sarver will get out of the way and let James Jones do his thing.

2) Glen Taylor. To quote KG "Glen doesn't know **** about b-ball". Neither does Tillman. Thankfully for Wolves fans there may be light at the end of the tunnel after watching KG's prime go to waste and suffering through a lost decade asides from the one year Butler was there.

3) James Dolan. Meddlesome owner who stuck his nose where it doesn't belong. With Thibs+Rose around, the Knicks actually may see light at the end of the tunnel. That is if Dolan doesn't wreck the team.

4) Donald Sterling. Slum lord of LA and well known racist who the NBA turned a blind eye towards and was allowed to get away with anything he wanted. That is until the bottom line was affected. Anything that affects the bottom line is a crime and Sterling was given the boot albeit he turned a $13M investment into $2B. 1.4B after taxes and split half with his wife and got $700M. Fertitta's antics and association with Trump has been frowned upon. Tillman's questionable business practices in the casino and restaurant industry are of concern and he's decided to take his businesses public in particular the golden nugget in Vegas. Good luck with that.

5) Howard Schultz. Like Tillman, Mr.Starbucks thought he could come in and use the same approach in the NBA that made him successful with Starbucks. He learned the hard way when he got into beef with Gary Payton and complained about him to the media and wouldn't give him a new contract. Payton doesn't show up for the 1st day of camp and Schultz burns all bridges with the glove and the fan base when he trades him to Milwaukee. His petty ego sold the team and got them relocated. His ownership group included 57 people(himself as well). Scary thing is Tillman could put Houston into a battle with the Rockets except the NBA won't allow them to relocate thankfully learning from the Seattle debacle.

Tillman pulled this crap with Harden and the latter had enough and demanded out. Coming into camp out of shape and violating health&safety protocols didn't help but he made it loud and clear.

For those who don't know how he got this team basically he leveraged his business empire to buy the franchise and took out a $200M loan from outgoing owner Les Alexander. Les decided to take the 2 Larry O'Brien trophies the rockets won with him as collateral and had replicas made. My guess is that the Rockets won't get the real ones back until Tillman pays back the loan. COVID-19 has wrecked this plan and BBB has declared his business bonds to be junk. Crazy thing about Les Alexander is that he drove out the Houston Aeros of the AHL due to having beef with them despite the fact that they had some of the best attendance in minor league hockey and could've brought the NHL to Houston if they were allowed to stay. Gordie Howe and his sons played there during the WHA days.

Here's the sad part. He's ran away some of the best people in the business who built the Rockets into what they were prior to this guy taking over. Daryl Morey built this team with zero lotto picks. Highest pick was maybe 10th? He sold T-Mac to the Knicks for pennies and got nothing for Yao but managed to build a team around Harden and if not for KD going to the Warriors the Rockets could've had another title. They were on the verge with one of the best HC in Mike D'Antoni.

After the Hong Kong debacle and being forced to report to Tillman's son Patrick after being overruled on the Russ trade, Morey knew he could do better. As an Notre Dame and MIT graduate and one of the co-founders of the TED conference he knew he could do better and left at first opportunity along with D'Antoni. Others have followed. I feel for Rafael Stone as he's a Morey disciple and hasn't been allowed to do what he could've done. If he was allowed to do what I think he could've done something like this:

1) Flip Harden to Philadelphia. The reported package was Matisse Thybulle, Ben Simmons and multiple 1sts. Reportedly Philly was also interested in P.J. Tucker whom they could've absorbed via the 8.1M Al Horford TPE. Maxey was considered off limits but we won't know if Morey was willing to include him or more picks as they weren't given the opportunity to counter offer what the Nets offered.

2) Flip Simmons to a contender. Minnesota was a potential hot spot due to Simmons being friends with Russell and Towns. They could've built a package around Anthony Edwards and multiple 1sts.

If that didn't work there was another team that could've been very ideal: Portland. The small back court experience with Dame and C.J. has run it's course. If anything they could've ran a 3 way deal with Miami and could've ended up with the following:

Portland: Ben Simmons, Kelly Olynyk, Danuel House Jr.
Miami: C.J. McCollum, Zach Collins, Ben McLemore
Houston: Tyler Herro, Precious Achiuwa, Rodney Hood, Andre Igoudala, multiple 1sts from Miami+Portland

Due to the emergence of Gary Trent Jr., Portland now has options and getting Simmons is someone who would've filled a lot of defensive holes on the roster not to mention he's a solid passer and can be a mismatch for teams. Olynyk and House Jr. are good rotation pieces that'll help out with the scoring and be less reliant on Melo while cashing in on Collins who can't stay healthy and is due for a new deal. Simmons deal expires at the same time as Lillard and they could've give Trent Jr. a deal that'd expire at the same timeline and the team would get younger and more agile.

Miami gets McCollum who's on a long-term deal and has a deal that'll expire a year after Butler's. He's a great scorer who'd thrive there while they take a shot on Collins who could use a fresh start elsewhere and add McLemore as a cheap scoring punch off the bench.

Houston gets much needed cap relief, but more importantly they get cost controlled assets in Thybulle, Achiuwa, Herro and 1sts from multiple teams. They diversify their risk and instead of being over reliant on Brooklyn to suck, they put their eggs in multiple baskets while rebuilding their own basket. They could even flip said expiring deals to a team looking for cap relief like NOLA and eat Bledsoe's deal while getting more picks and simply throw away the year.

Tightwad Tilly could've went this route and the league would be wide open, but instead he let the personal get in the way of the professional and has nothing to show for it except this:

1) Kelly Olynyk+Avery Bradley+Dante Exum+D.J. Wilson+D.J. Augustin. All these contracts will be gone except Bradley who has a T/O which will be declined and Augustin who has 2 more years on his deal although his last year is only guaranteed for $333,333.

This dude gave up Jarrett Allen to get out of Prince's deal just for cap relief and a late 1st when he could've flipped Allen alone to another team and get a 1st+couple of 2nds if he didn't want to pay him. Then he gives up 2 2nds to get out of Levert's deal when it emerges he has a cancerous mass in his kidney just for Oladipo who was washed up. Thankfully he rejected the Rockets offer of 2/45M. That deal would be horrible for the Rockets as Vic is cooked. Oh and here's the picks they have instead:

-MIL 2021 1st. They can swap their 2nd with this 1st provided the Bucks pick falls to 10 and lower. Will convey due to the Bucks locking up their big 3 for the long haul.
-Brooklyn 22 1st. The Oladipo trade allows the Rockets to swap this pick with Miami's provided the pick falls to 15 and lower. Otherwise doesn't convey.
-MIL 23 1st. They gave back the 22 1st they got for Allen in order to get the 23.
-BRK 24+26 1sts and the Rockets can swap picks in 21+23+25+27 for Brooklyn's 1sts if they want.
-3 heavily pro. 1sts from POR, WSH and DET that won't amount to anything. POR will convey as it's lotto pro. till 27 and becomes a 2nd but the other 2 won't convey for a while.

Basically they are screwed and they don't own a 2nd till 24. Then to add insult to injury they aren't even guaranteed to keep their 21 1st as it's a top 4 pro. swap and could end up with Miami's pick this year and they owe 2 top 4 pro. picks in 24+26 to OKC that could end up as 3 2nds in 24-26+$1M cash if not conveyed. Not to mention they have John Wall's albatross contract hanging from their necks and Eric Gordon can't stay healthy which makes it hard to move him.

Maybe Tillman is using the Rockets as a tax write off to launder money who knows. Knowing the family history with his cousins who owned UFC prior to selling it I wouldn't be surprised with the mob connection.

I found a song that perfectly describes this situation and Houston sports in general now:

Watch on YouTube

;ab_channel=TheBudgie29

[FinnTheHuman]

To me, this is not the story about only Fertita, but the story of Leslie Alexander and the league not taking a hard look at Fertita's history before letting him buy the franchise. Just read a couple of interviews by the guy, talk to him a lot, notice that he's a delusional narcissist, and realize that he's gonna ruin the franchise located in one of the biggest American cities, with a great opportunity to grow in value if the franchise is putting out a good product. Billionaires are fighting over the opportunity to buy an NBA team, and you allow this clown to buy it lol

Not only that but it sounds like that guy can't really even afford to own the franchise.

He was cheap before the pandemic, zero seasons paying the lux tax after Harden’s mvp season, and then he’s the restaurant chain owner in the pandemic, so he gets even cheaper. A disaster.

[Michael Jordan]

Legit inherited Harden and CP3 and now he's only got Wall to show for it.

It's like turning Cury and Klay into Kemba Walker

[Nate505]

I hate Tilllman Fertita.

I'm a huge fan. He has run the hated Rockets right into the ground.

[ItsDanger]

I explained in another thread the financial rationale for some owners.

Place some blame on Harden at the same time. Most of their moves are atypical of desperation with time pressure.

Not the ones listed in the OP. Dumping a contender's assets to save money isn't desperation to appease anyone but your accountants.

Also can't blame anyone on Fertita somehow choosing an expiring Oladipo over Simmons/Maxey and Levert/Allen. Flip them if you don't like them but don't give it out for free. Goes with his theme of dumping assets for free.

"moves" plural going back few seasons. I agree the Harden deal was bad. Seemed focused on no term beyond 20/21.

[trickshot]

I explained in another thread the financial rationale for some owners.

Place some blame on Harden at the same time. Most of their moves are atypical of desperation with time pressure.

Not the ones listed in the OP. Dumping a contender's assets to save money isn't desperation to appease anyone but your accountants.

Also can't blame anyone on Fertita somehow choosing an expiring Oladipo over Simmons/Maxey and Levert/Allen. Flip them if you don't like them but don't give it out for free. Goes with his theme of dumping assets for free.

"moves" plural going back few seasons. I agree the Harden deal was bad. Seemed focused on no term beyond 20/21.

Yeah even those ones couldn't be down to Harden. Look at them. Moves like offloading Ariza and refusing to get the team more help to save money make up the majority of the OP

[Bornstellar]

During the offseason and in the beginning of the season, I thought the Spurs had the bleakest outlook in the the southwest division. Holy moly did Fertita prove me wrong. He has taken a prime time NBA franchise and completely ran into face first into the ground with nothing to show for it in only 2 seasons.

Feel sorry for Rockets fans, what a complete clown this guy turned out to be as an owner. Silver needs to do something, people like this should not be allowed to own an NBA team

[MoneyTalks41890]

The silver lining here is that if the Rockets can have good lotto luck and not end up giving their pick to OKC, they will luck into an elite prospect in this draft.

[Sedale Threatt]

It's crazy how something can be destroyed so quickly and swiftly, just bad move after bad move after bad move. I have great compassion for any fanbase with a trash owner, it's just terrible.

Yup. Pretty much every challenge or setback in pro sports has a potential way out. Make enough smart decisions, get a few breaks and you'll have a good team and enjoy some success. But there's absolutely nothing you can do about crap ownership.

The mural thing is unreal. I think Sterling pulled the same garbage with billboards in San Diego when trying to promote the Clippers way back when. You're the owner. Nobody gives a F about you. Your job is to sign checks, stay out of the way and not screw things up. And that's pretty much it. Nobody wants to see your face front and center, especially when you have an MVP on your team. You can't get any more delusional and egotistical than that.