Richard Justice wants you to know something really important
by ak2themax on Jan 28, 2011 9:01 AM CST
in Random Commentary
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PrintI needed a pick-me-up, and I think some people here do as well. Here goes.
So, I was reading Richard Justice's new piece in the Chronicle (or Comicle, as some call it) last week and saw a statement that sent up red flags in my brain. Here it was (link):
Successful organizations are built on the simple foundation of good ownership and a competent general manager. That's where the Rockets separate themselves from the Texans and Astros. Leslie Alexander is a very good owner. He surrounds himself with smart people, and he's willing to spend money on players.
Now, I guess I can't refute the statement. Justice has always advocated the Rockets' organization over those of the Lastros and Texans. I like Daryl Morey. I like Sam Hinkie (really cool dude). Gersson Rosas knows what he's doing. And Les does indeed spend money, but only if he knows that Morey can still get under the luxury tax by the trade deadline.
But there's more to this statement that meets the eye. Maybe it's because I'm reading The Lost Symbol, but my mind is in super-analytical mode right now. And there's one fact that stands out.
Richard Justice says the same crap over and over again.
"Duh?" you say? Well, come with me to a magical place after the jump where we break down Justice's infatuation with one Leslie Alexander.
What follows are direct quotes about Les Alexander from Richard Justice's Rockets-based pieces from his online archive. No other statements about Alexander were made besides the block quotes below. All dates are also links to said posts. None of the quotes have been changed in any way, shape, or form except to clarify pronouns.
Things are tense around Toyota Center when the Rockets aren't playing well. Leslie Alexander isn't like the other owners in town. He's not a good loser, and when things are going badly, he demands answers. So for a day at least, things are a bit easier.
So Justice thinks Les is unlike other owners in Houston. He's right. So what? He said it twice within the same week. Big deal, AK. Get a life.
One other thing about Leslie Alexander. He wants to win. That is, he wants to win badly. And if it costs a few extra bucks to win, so be it. If you want the real back story behind this Yao Ming news, it's more proof that Leslie Alexander is a terrific owner.
The Rockets aren't interested in just being respectable. They want to win, and they have an owner who has put the right people in place and is willing to spend the money to make it happen. For that, we are lucky.
Here in the same piece, Justice thinks it's so critical that we know Les likes to spend money that he mentions it twice.
The Rockets have an owner who'll spend to win, and that's their advantage.
True statement.
They've got an owner in Leslie Alexander who is 100 percent committed to winning, to spending whatever it takes and to doing things right.
Just one question: is Alexander willing to spend money?
Last year, Leslie Alexander gave [Morey] the go-ahead to spend $6 million on three second-round picks: Chase Budinger, Jermaine Taylor and a Euro.
Ignoring the fact that, "and a Euro" sounds a little racist, here's more praise about Les spending money.
The Rockets are different. The Rockets have a great owner in Leslie Alexander. He hires smart people instead of friends of friends. He's willing to spend money. He's absolutely everything a professional sports owner should be and then some.
Wow. Keep it in your pants Richard.
As you know, the Rockets have a great owner in Leslie Alexander. The Rockets try to do things right. The Rockets don't want to be respectable. The Rockets want to be champions.
Alexander constantly challenges them, pushes them. He wants the bar set high. It's interesting to watch them hire people. They're not like some other teams. They don't go out and hire their buddies. They go out and try to get the best person, even a person that might challenge the way they've done things in the past. I know I sound like I'm doing a marketing campaign for the franchise, but in a pond of mediocrity and settling for average, the Rockets are a bright and shining star.
We get it. Les Alexander. Great owner. Spends money. Hires smart people.
Incidentally, I saw the Red Rowdies carrying an In Morey We Trust sign. Now that ain't right. That's my phrase. I want the Rockets printing shirts, and I want a dozen of those shirts plus a small fee if you know what I mean and I think you do.
Actually, I've refined the phrase slightly to curry favor with a special someone. It's now In Morey and Les We Trust. Without Les, there's no Morey. The Rockets are the smartest sports franchise I've been around, and it all starts with Leslie Alexander. When the Rockets have an opening for an executive or a strength coach or anything else, they don't go out and try to find someone who has friends in the organization, which is what the Astros and Texans seem to do. The Rockets try to find the best possible person for the job. Quite a concept.
Plus, I really want Leslie to like me. Memo to Red Rowdies: update your sign. Memo to Rockets: print those shirts.
Now you're just getting creepy, Richard.
[Morey's] ultimate vision is a team capable of playing deep into the playoffs in 2011, and every move he has made the last year has been aimed at getting the Rockets to that point. There were moves he could have made that might have made the Rockets better this season, but this franchise's goal is not to be respectable or just be pretty good. It's to win a championship. That's the mandate from Leslie Alexander. Others talk of doing the right things. Alexander does them.
Apparently, Alexander just stopped global warming and starvation in Africa. On to cancer!
And with the game's economics being what they were and Leslie Alexander being willing to spend, [Morey would] probably be able to trade into position to get an impact player in the draft.
Where does Les get all this money from again? Oh yeah, China. And apparently he doesn't keep any of it. He just spends it all. That's why there's no danger of the NBA going into a lockout. Oh wait...
I'm done. Those are just from the last 12 months. Trust me, I could keep going. But the question I have to ask: has the guy ever met Les Alexander? There is not even one quote in any of his pieces from the Greatest Owner to Walk the Earth. I like that Les is our owner, but not that much. Even we have a line with our Daryl Morey love. At least, I think we do.
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Richard Justice is a bad writer? The Chron may be mouthpieces for the teams?
WHAT A SHOCKER.
I know I shouldn’t be mean to you, ak, but it is fairly obvious to anyone who’s lived there.
Minnesotan Rockets fan
The point wasn't that he's a bad writer
everyone knows that. I meant that he’s not only terrible, but that he’s also lazy.
How many Biletnikoffs does he have? NOT TWO!
the saddest thing about this...
is the articles from about 10 months ago with the rockets and a deep playoff run and whatnot. :(
Pfft
Les Alexander isn’t Vince Young, so Les is still safe.
A Texans fan. Really. No, I'm not kidding.
http://www.battleredblog.com
"Blind fandom is all I got left." - LoneSpot
hahahha
so rec’d.
I also like how you manage to comment on the one article talking about the comicle.
Pavlov agrees.
A Texans fan. Really. No, I'm not kidding.
http://www.battleredblog.com
"Blind fandom is all I got left." - LoneSpot
by bigfatdrunk on Jan 28, 2011 10:56 AM CST up reply actions
HAHA!
Touche.
A Texans fan. Really. No, I'm not kidding.
http://www.battleredblog.com
"Blind fandom is all I got left." - LoneSpot
by bigfatdrunk on Jan 28, 2011 10:48 AM CST up reply actions
The nice thing about this Justice guy is…
… since he seems to only write the same kind of stuff over and over again, you can save your time by not bothering to read his column at all.
The even bigger problem (IMO) than having him write the same stuff all the time is that people keep reading it. If they would stop, he would be forced to write other stuff or the paper would get rid of him…
I had to stop arguing with drunks, Steeler fans, and all other fools.
It was making my brick wall jealous...
I'm cereal you guys
Les Alexander is willing to spend money to win. I just thought you guys should know that.
P.S. He hires smart people.
by basketball is cool on Jan 28, 2011 12:39 PM CST reply actions
Laugh at me all you want, bitches.
Just remember, I invented this little internet thingy you guys enjoy so much.
The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us. ~Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes
by TheChuckwagonisrolling on Jan 28, 2011 8:05 PM CST up reply actions
Alexander is willing to spend?
Holy shit. The Ariza trade for a lesser cost player and TPE was an aberration. The lack of a Brooks extension is a myth. His offer to Gortat actually happened. His offer to Lowry wasn’t contingent on losing him to the Cavaliers. His offer to Scola wasn’t a kneejerk to the money Lowry was offered to leave.
Thank God all that was a lie. Phew
I don't usually plan out my days because the word "premeditation" gets thrown around a lot in courts today.
I'm just offering some extra
for ya. I think people take this kind of belief as truth that Alexander will spend but all of what I’ve seen is gunning for mediocrity.
I don't usually plan out my days because the word "premeditation" gets thrown around a lot in courts today.
I respectfully disagree.
Was Lowry NOT going to test the market? So why not see what he’s offered, if you have the ability to match. They matched in like 20 minutes. Rockets said they would sign Scola, and they did. It was for the money I thought he’d sign for.
They made a play for Gortat as far as I know.
Brooks extension? They don’t do that. Why would they? So the way it’s supposed to work is if you like what a player is doing you tear up his contract so you can pay him more that he’s legally owed? You lock him up for money he likes without letting him see the market, and using your matching advantage?
I personally hate the new deal and extension concept unless you’ve got a talent so stellar you never want him to be on the market (Durant). Why? Because it only goes one way. TMac didn’t tear up his deal so he could make $2 million instead of $23, even though that’s what he was worth last year, if that. So if the player won’t take less because he’s hurt or sucks why should a club pay them a cent more than they’re owed a day early? Brooks, Lowry and Scola do not qualify as talents that you tear up the contract to make sure you keep them.
The Rockets are over the cap. Alexander never whined that most of his payroll was tied up in two players who were hurt. I look at management in Houston and the main weakness I see is that they won’t overpay even if an asset is rare, and that Morey won’t draft a MFin center.
"Each in turn... volunteered his suggestions, his invaluable suggestions."
Twitter - xiane1
The Dreamshake
So which is important
the team or the individual? To me, a team with players that are happy and paid are productive. Guys don’t want to have to sit and wait on pins and needles, hear their names in trade rumors, and hope they can catch a pay day the next year. Financial security does a lot for people.
The Lowry example, if he’s as good as he is and the Brooks/Lowry tandem was as important then as it should have been this season, why not lock him up and pre-empt the market? Do you run the risk of overpaying? Yes. Conversely do you run the risk of getting a cheaper deal out of them? Definitely. It’s a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation and erring on the side of the market can generally land you into the overpaying territory rather than playing cheapskate and matching.
By made a play for Gortat I assume you mean they sat on the sidelines watching another opportunity go to waste because they were too cheap to make an offer straight up. Gortat was an RFA, Morey started some dumb e-mail spam thing for him, and then they waited for the Mavericks to make him an offer so they could be on the outside looking in as Orlando matched the offer and Houston didn’t do anything.
The Brooks extension to me would have been important. He wouldn’t be bothered by it (I think his performance is part inconsistent minutes, part injury, part concern of the contract, and part transition to the bench role) and his productivity, I think, would be a bit better. The “matching advantage” is a double edged sword on this issue. It can be an advantage or a disadvantage. If you have a player that would have happily extended with your team in simpler times (No frustration, etc…) for 5 million or so but you seek to test your “advantage” in the market and he gets offered 8 million you let a guy walk who you would otherwise want to have because you would have to pay more than 150% of what he would have gladly signed for before. Now is there a chance the market returns a 5 million dollar offer? Yes, and in that case the “advantage” is moot. Only if a player is offered less than he’s worth is it an advantage and in a game of less, even, more like this you have a 33% chance of success. I don’t call 33% an advantage.
As far as the way the Front Office spoke last year they certainly sounded like talents you tear up to get (Lowry and Scola “Bring them back at any cost”). That any cost however just happened to be what other teams wanted to pay for them, which is basically saying “You could just go trade for someone if you want.” because we’re paying our players in relation to what other teams would sign them for, not what we can get them for (This applies for better of for worse).
As far as the McGrady example, that’s just contracts. If you have a contract for services from a company and you like the service, even if you have 4 months left, do you not extend the contract to keep getting those services you enjoy? If not you let the contract expire then re-negotiate, that’s how contracts always work and the NBA is no different and I don’t see how it’s possibly defective. The only difference in the example is a service contract won’t increase in price but if an NBA player provides you more services in a year you rightfully owe him more because you’re getting more than your initial paycheck. If I pay Comcast for the internet and then I want TV, I have to pay for TV, they don’t just fork it over because I’m a nice guy. If a guy gets hurt, that blows, and that’s what you have to live with because people aren’t predictable commodities but that’s the nature of the game.
The Rockets are over the cap, yes. Alexander never whined for most of his payroll being wrapped up in two players because of two main reasons. First, he raked in a decent amount of income off of Yao’s exposure and what not. Second, what kind of owner will come out and say “Hurrr, I’m a dumbass! I’m paying two recognized superstars big bucks!” Come on man, that one was weak.
I’m happy to see that I’m not the only one who sees that some players do need to be overpaid (Every roster has some bad contracts but that just means in a trade you have a debatable value contract that essentially helps you net more in return than you get). The lack of a Center to draft is a puzzling one to me all these years as well. But I think ultimately this franchise’s management gets overrated. Leslie doesn’t “spend as much as he can to win” Leslie green lights mediocrity to trade, sells it off as asset building, and scurries underneath the luxury tax.
Winners pay the luxury tax, that’s just a proven fact of the last NBA titles for 5 + years or so. So, logically it has to follow as such:
Winners pay the luxury tax. The Rockets do not pay the luxury tax. The Rockets, therefore, are not winners. Winners applies to a large scale winning, of course.
As it stands, the only one in control of that kind of spending is Alexander, and he’s not doing it. Morey’s moves have all been to bring in guys who can play but to get under the luxury tax. What do we have to show for it? Guys who the FO pisses on by calling them all “assets” on cheap contracts who give you inconsistent production. Every trade we’ve been involved in only returned guys that either helped us avoid paying money in the NBA or just cheap players with a decent to good skill set. His gems, Martin and Scola are the exceptions but come on, we’ve been involved in far more trades than the two there and predominantly the Martin move shuffled cap space for us to take a stab at something, it failed but it was an encouraging sign but when I look at the totality of this franchise of the last few years of Alexander I see a tight watch on the pocketbooks just in case we accidentally have a good talent in house we’d rather trade him, not sign him pre-emptively, or let him walk because we’re too impressed by what everyone else has.
I don't usually plan out my days because the word "premeditation" gets thrown around a lot in courts today.
Just on a completely aside note, I wonder what that team would be like if we had let Lowry go.
And how he would be feeling.
Minnesotan Rockets fan
Team would probably look a lot more sloppy
but Ish did a decent job while AB was out. C-Lee would be getting more time at the point until he came back, too. And maybe T-Will if that trade still gets made.
As for Lowry, honestly he might have been happier on another team. The guy wants (and deserves) to be a starter. That’s why Cleveland was a good fit for him. With AB going down, he’s had his chance here, so he’s been good. In the long run obviously I would say that staying in Houston is better than Cleveland.
How many Biletnikoffs does he have? NOT TWO!
Who's the guy sitting next to Mr. Alexander?
Ketchup & Mustard BABY!!!
by Start the Bench on Jan 28, 2011 8:03 PM CST reply actions
Looks like my undergrad American History
professor. Then again my undergrad history professor was an ultra-feminist that I eventually respected and feared.
I don't usually plan out my days because the word "premeditation" gets thrown around a lot in courts today.
Well done everyone. That's the mayor of Houston.
"Each in turn... volunteered his suggestions, his invaluable suggestions."
Twitter - xiane1
The Dreamshake
I'm not from Texas
and haven’t stepped foot in the state in my entire life. I somberly request an exemption.
I don't usually plan out my days because the word "premeditation" gets thrown around a lot in courts today.
That's my first time seeing her
Since Bill White left I haven’t given a damn anymore because I felt like he was great and anyone else would just be wasting their time trying to duplicate what he did for Houston.
Me against the world is a mismatch in my favor.
I have a fresh perspective on Richard Justice that nobody has considered:
He is a no talent ass-clown.
Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
Never use a long word where a short one will do.
If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
Never use the passive where you can use the active.
Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.
-Orwell, Politics and the English Language
www.battleredblog.com
by tehGrindCrusher on Jan 28, 2011 11:42 PM CST via mobile reply actions 1 recs
That's the prevailing school of thought.
To see if it was accurate I asked a friend whose opinion I respect, but who has no interest in sports, yet reads most of the Chronic every day. (No, I don’t really understand it. Comes in handy when I want to know the weather, though.)
She thought Just-Ice (his new, tough, nickname) was entertaining and made it easy for non-fans to read about Houston teams. So, this may, apparently, be what he’s good for. Who knew?
"Each in turn... volunteered his suggestions, his invaluable suggestions."
Twitter - xiane1
The Dreamshake
I agree
if I wasn’t a hardcore fan of any team in Houston, Justice kind of gives a litmus test. Are the Astros doing good? Justice says no. What about the Rockets? Bright future, spend money. Well, they’ll be good soon enough.
How many Biletnikoffs does he have? NOT TWO!
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