Tilman Fertitta: Rockets expect to make ‘big move’ by 2023-24 season

The only problem is there aren't any superstars to be had in 2023 free agency. We'll need to go the trade route to get a tier 1 star, though your point still stands.

 

So you have to spend to the floor .... or you are forced to .... spend to the floor.


May as well spend it on more players that can contribute.

 

In theory yes. As long as the deals aren't long term that take away from future flexibility.

 

I'm not sure what you mean by destroying a 65 win team. Did he want to get rid of Chris Paul or did Harden?

I mean, they could have said no and watch Harden jake it a year sooner to force his way out....

You act like a rebuild was a completely ludicrous option. Harden was at the end of his trade value and it accelerated things greatly.

I do believe the Westbrook move was dumb, but that seems like it's on Harden for wanting it...

 

Obvious Tilly Troll…even managed to put “Landry’s” in your username.

 

They weren't a contender based on how Harden played in Brooklyn... they got out of the James Harden business just in time it appears...

 

So sad you can't effectively troll...


https://www.espn.com/nba/news/story?id=4755953

 

Is there a Hakeem Olajuwon Jr?

 

His destroying that 65 win team had nothing to do with CP3 or Westbrook, those were moves on the periphery .... stuff like letting Ariza walk for nothing while you had his bird rights - instead opting for Ennis and a broke down Melo at the veterans minimum. Then cutting Melo & dumping Ennis on the 76ers again to get under the tax line at the trade deadline.


Or failing to spend the MLE in back to back years to duck the tax.... with some BS about plying the buy out market.

Thats the stuff that led to the cupboard being bare & Harden seeing the writing on the wall and demanding a trade.

Once Harden demanded a trade, a rebuild was inevitable and I embrace the idea in full ..... tank till you get the star you need then build around him & fill out the roster via FA after Wall , EG , Wood & Nwaba expire.

 

And Ariza did what after leaving?

 

Obviously you weren't here back then, unless you were under another alias .... but to answer that, you have to have some understanding of how salary matching works ....

1 Signed a 1 year $15 million contract with Phoenix

2 Traded to Washington (WAS) from Phoenix (PHX) for Kelly Oubre and Austin Rivers

(The Rockets sure coulda used Oubre & Rivers in a playoff run.)

3 Signed a 2 year $25 million contract with Sacramento

4 Traded to Portland (POR) from Sacramento (SAC) with Wenyen Gabriel and Caleb Swanigan for Kent Bazemore, Anthony Tolliver, 2024 2nd round pick [POR pick] and 2025 2nd round pick

5 Traded to Houston (HOU) from Portland (POR) with 2021 1st round pick [protected] and Isaiah Stewart for Robert Covington

6 Traded to Detroit (DET) from Houston (HOU) with $4.6 million and Isaiah Stewart for 2021 1st round pick [2021+2022- Top 16 protected, 2023+2024- Top 18, protected 2025- Top 13 protected, 2026- Top 11 protected, 2027- Top 9 protected, 2027 2nd-round pick] , Christian Wood and 2021 2nd round pick



It's not "what he did" that matters, its what he represented. He took a one year deal at $15m from PHX. What he represented was salary matching up to $18.75m to upgrade that position or another. The Rockets could have gone over the cap / tax to retain him, .

The team had no other sizable salary that they could move. They had no other options aside from the MLE which they didn't spend and minimum contracts.


Instead of using Ariza's salary space, they let him walk and tried to make do with scrubs making the minimum.
Funny that they expected to compete with GSW who was spending deep into the tax and had a deep roster on top of having multiple superstars.

 

So your issue is we didn't overpay him so we could try to dump his salary for additional help?

Hindsight is nice but there's no way to know what, if anything, they could have gotten for him. He may have cost us a pick to unload his salary.

You notice he didn't last long anywhere he went?

He wouldn't have made a difference in winning unless you trade him for someone who can; which wasn't a guarantee of happening...

Weird justification for keeping him... to have a bad contract to trade...

Who were the warriors paying 15 million or more to and does their recent championships justify it rather than the speculation the Rockets might win a future one?

Sorry, i was done with Ariza. He was awful in the playoffs and looked done as a contributor. He was one of our 2 worst offensive players in the playoffs that year in terms of efficiency.

I saw letting him go justified. Ennis and Carmelo have done more since, but they were wise to move on from them too.

 

It's was the end of the road....turning into a dirt path.

House suspension didn't matter either as micro-ball got it's backside
handed to us by the bigger Lakers.

Tucker was upset he didn't get an extension greater than $8M
Cap was forcing players like Austin Rivers to bail on us.
Westbrook didn't want to hire a shooting coach to improve a 3-pt shot
Harden started wearing a fat suit.

Turn out the lights, the party was over. Moving towards micro-ball set this
franchise back years. I blame Patrick Fertitta for that.

 

Bingo. Ariza is Just one of many. And to No surprise they never actually replaced him until they got RoCo years later. Years too late. In between time they laughably grabbed bottom barrel scrubs that stood no chance and expected that to compete with GS


It’s the usual low iq folks who can’t see that who have the same loser mindset as tilman

 

Uh he gave away all our first round picks to duck the luxury tax. Then refused to go over the cap to resign players that completely zapped our depth. We had no chance of winning in CP3s second year. Luc and Ariza were key pieces to that 65 win team and we didn't replace them. By the time we got Westbrook it was already over. Don't know how you didn't see that. Stars still need good role players. Harden had to score 37 a night cuz he literally played with 4 dudes we picked up off waivers the week before.

 

Microball was on response to Westbrook. Westbrook was in response to Harden appeasement...

Fertitta's mistake was letting them do it...

 

There was a thread here about Morey cryptic message before he left.

A song he tweeted about or phrase claiming not to being able to do
what he needed to do.

Westbrook was brought in after the Rockets collected a ton of guards like
McLemore, Austin Rivers, Chris Clemons, CP3, Eric Gordon, Brandon Knight,
Iman Shumpert, Michael Frazier, Chris Chiozza

Not sure if Morey and D'Antoni truly approved of Capela trade to bring in Covington?

But I can say this, most billionaires only bet on sure things. Tilman won't spend
over the cap and chance luxury tax penalties unless it's year one or two of
the dynasty window. People here wanting Tilman to splurge his money
when they won't even upsize their drink and fries on their combo meals because
they can't afford it.

 

years later and same boring old news topic comes up because the Tilman apologists and newbs have no idea wtf they're talking about.


remember when the rockets had a deal in place for JaMychal Green and Garrett Temple but Tilman and his LTS took precedent. remember when Uncle Jeff was sitting out there in free agency but they went after MCW instead. folks around here tried to tell themselves MCW was a great pickup and Uncle Jeff was done.

 

Seems like the culture is shifting away from the "super friends" mentality that Lebron made popular. Jokic is going to re-sign with the Nuggets. Giannis already re-signed with the Bucks. What other superstars are out there? Doncic and Trae aren't going to go anywhere. Zion? Morant? Who are the superstars these days anyways?

 

I don't even bother debating with people who defend Fertitta's actions his first 3 years, I just assume they're a dumbass.