If Les Alexander and Mark Cuban switched teams, would the Rockets be better?

There are so many murals of just the team. Picking one out seems kind of biased.

Also, Les has been well known to say he's willing to pay for talent. Have I missed the statement you're talking about? If so, just provide sourcing and I'll agree. But from what I can tell, he's willing to spend. Also, that article points out that Les is willing to spend more.

Finally, you didn't really look at the Forbes stats did you? From an accounting based earnings perspective, we shouldn't really have a higher operating profit. Our stadium is worth more than AA Arena by 10+%. Not to mention, the players salary expenses have been pretty stable and low for the Mavs while the Rox have recently upped theirs. The likelihood is because now we have a core player to build around and have begun paying high dollar amounts to get them here. We would have done the same for Bosh, Melo, or LMA.

Historically, yes, our payrolls have been low, but that's a function of payroll efficiency. To make my point, Dallas' wins-to-player cost has been 102 and 100 for 2016 and 2015, respectively. The Rockets are 83 and 151 for those periods. The reason being is that we dished out some heavy dough this summer which mathematically makes that ratio smaller. And we're actually in the quarterfinals while Cuban is putting Kevin O'Leary in his place. The biggest point to be made here though is this: in 2015, when Rox payroll was lower, our wins to salaries was 151. That's a MODEL of efficiency. According to Forbes' calculation, we were on the same footing as Dallas in terms of playoff appearance advantage (refer to footnote #7 at the very bottom).

We're better at picking player talent. It's just hard for us to attract talent to this market.

 

Only because of the term "sellout", and I'm not talking about money.

 

Les gouges the fans. Is that a good thing?

 

Do you understand supply and demand as well as the consequences of massive city growth? No, it's not a good thing, but Houston has a higher income rate than they did a decade ago. It's economics: if everyone has more income, there stands to be some inflation in the face value of certain things (e.g., ticket prices).

Look, I'm not a pro-corporate individual, but that's what the world is. I might as well understand it if that's the way it chooses to run. Plus, even TM's link proved that Les is willing to spend that money to provide you a better product and do so while weighing the benefits to costs (or effectively future flexibility).

If ticket prices are so high, just watch it on a feed or the TV. Best seats, no parking costs, and you don't have to go through that awkward armrest battle. I don't go because I want to avoid the headache.

 

Does Les control the prices that Toyota center charges? I think all Arenas are separately owned/managed, and their respective teams pay a rental price.

 

Because Les knows NOTHING about basketball. He literally knows nothing. And Cuban knows NEXT TO NOTHING. So that puts Cuban > Les.

In terms of running a business - Cuban didn't buy the Mavs to make a buck - he bought it because every fan's dream is to buy their team. It's not about stats or anything like that - both Cuban and Les are great business men. I think Cuban knows more about marketing and branding though by far - but both are shrewd businessmen.

My whole point is just that Morey should get credit for the Rockets fortunes. You can say Les hire Morey, but you can also say that Les make a lot of poor decisions that set the organization backwards.

 

tinman, your Cuban worship is nauseating for us old-timers, and embarassing for a '99er.

Les owns the Rockets. Our Rockets.

 

Can you provide evidence that Les knows nothing?

I respect your position. Lets say I agreed. Then tell me, ex-Morey, what has Cuban done that definitively proves his knowledge or management is greater than Les. Because operating losses, poor salary management, the resulting wins inefficiency, lesser market value, and track record that shows ZERO ability to recognize talent or their value don't make for a solid base (I'm specifically talking about C. Parsons here).

I found the below article, which I think you may find interesting. He keeps the seats filled by offering rock bottom prices. Admirable? Sure. Attempt at keeping the illusion of relevance? I would think so. Look at the last couple of paragraphs...tv ratings down 53%. Demand is dying. We can't be sure his "generosity" isn't marketing spin.

Anyways, man. It wasn't that bad debating with ya. But next time, I ask that you not read more into my replies than written. I like debate. I grew up on it, and I find that it's very informative.

http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/n...an-on-how-the-mavs-keep-attendance-up-in.html

 

It's a picture, TM. Get over it. Plus, Charlie Thomas likely had his picture blown up for various reasons. Where's your anger towards those? I think you hate Les, and you are supremely convinced that only your reality reflects the truth. It ain't so brother.

And before you comment on the sheer depth of my arguments, I'll say that I was just responding to various misinterpretations, misdirections, and challenges. My right to respond comes from others who think they can just yell their positions without backing it with objective evidence and with varying subjectivity.

I get that you don't like him, and I'll let you have that. All I've provided were counter arguments that made the strength of my position. Welcome to world. It's not planning on rolling over for you.

 

Then you couldn't go to games at all. And if you could, Les' tix would be far cheaper by comparison.

Also, Elon has a massive ego. You don't watch CNBC or Bloomberg, do you?

 

Elon has run out so much of his management due to his insane demands. Previous employees don't think he's very reasonable. His cars are showing great weakness right now because he rushed them, and likely because he needs to start showing returns for his investors (he does have other investors) or else all of it falls on his pockets. And at this point, those could bury him.

Don't be fooled by the popular sentiment around en vogue celebrities or causes. If his cars are crap, they will add a ton of garbage wherever they were bought. Also, you do realize his cars run on electricity, which is powered by (likely) natty gas, right? Home solar panels aren't very effective. They have varying degrees of power conversion, include potentially harmful chemicals to the environment and people if their casing cracked, and honestly they're not very economical if users cannot sell power back to the electric companies.

You want a company that's going about solar intelligently, look at FirstSolar. Second (maybe third now but should soon regain position with their new solar cdte film) best conversion of the ready-for-market supply. Their construction process is cheaper and far more environmentally friendly due to the simplicity of their manufacturing process not to mention make better use of panel space. Furthermore, they aren't looking to create home solar panels. Until recently, they were concentrating on solar panel farms that allowed them to get even better efficiency from their products via economies of scale.

I hope Elon does catalyze a huge shift towards renewables, but he comes with his worts.