Tag: Tilman Fertitta

In his third year as the owner of the …

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Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta says he wouldn’t have filed protest

Houston’s owner says he wouldn’t have filed a protest after the loss in San Antonio, but he deferred to his basketball operations staff.

Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta wishes his team hadn’t filed a protest over a Dec. 3 loss in San Antonio. However, he says he left that decision to his basketball operations staff, led by GM Daryl Morey.

In denying Houston’s attempted protest, the NBA said it agreed with the Rockets that rules were misapplied, noting that it had disciplined the officials involved. However, Commissioner Adam Silver suggested there was too much time left when the errors occurred to justify a replay.

In an interview this week with Kirk Bohls of the Austin American-Statesman, Fertitta said:

I don’t think we should have filed the protest, because honestly, we blew the 22-point lead. But if something is important to my players and basketball ops people, I give them a lot of leeway.

Many analysts around the league were critical of Houston’s decision to file a protest, with some calling it the act of a “sore loser.”  Fertitta may not have liked seeing his franchise receive that type of publicity.

That said, the Rockets aren’t alone in challenging game results in the 2019-20 regular season, since the Dallas Mavericks recently filed their own protest after a controversial loss last weekend in Atlanta.

As of Wednesday morning, the league office had yet to issue a final ruling regarding the Dallas protest.

As for the Dec. 3 game, Houston’s goal was for it to be replayed from the moment of James Harden‘s uncounted dunk with 7:50 left, with the Rockets up by the 15-point margin that the dunk would have provided.

The game was tied after regulation, with the Rockets ultimately losing by two points in double overtime. Houston’s argument was that the bizarre mistake was relevant to the final result, and thus worthy of a replay.

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“While agreeing that the referees misapplied the rules, Commissioner Silver determined that the Rockets had sufficient time to overcome the error during the remainder of the fourth quarter and two subsequent overtime periods and thus the extraordinary remedy of granting a game protest was not warranted,” the league said in its December statement.

The statement also clarified that head coach Mike D’Antoni was incorrectly denied the right to challenge the play.

The nature of the discipline given to the officials involved — led by crew chief James Capers — was not disclosed.

The Rockets enacted some revenge later that month by rallying from 25 points down to defeat the Spurs in Houston. That Dec. 16 game remains the best regular-season comeback (by margin) in franchise history.

The Rockets and Spurs have another home-and-home series looming on April 8 and April 12, as the regular season nears its conclusion. The latter date will be Houston’s first return visit since the protested game.

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Rockets reportedly made push for DeAndre Jordan at trade deadline

The Rockets reportedly went after DeAndre Jordan at the trade deadline. What might that tell us about their strategies with buyouts?

Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey has indicated that the team’s strategy with regards to options on the NBA’s buyout market is targeting the best player available, regardless of position fit.

However, the team’s reported pursuit of Brooklyn center DeAndre Jordan might indicate a more narrow focus.

Here’s how ESPN‘s Adrian Wojnarowski described Houston’s interest in the 6-foot-11 big man leading up to Thursday’s trade deadline:

The Rockets tried to engage the Nets on DeAndre Jordan, their center, when they were working on that four-team, 12-player trade that landed them Robert Covington and moved Clint Capela out.

They had a window, once that trade was agreed to, of about 24 hours where they could have added up to $12 million in salary. Their owner, Tilman Fertitta, had okayed that. Now, Brooklyn wasn’t interest in moving Jordan. But it shows you, they would certainly like to have some more size around.

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Now 31 years old and a native Houstonian, Jordan is averaging 8.0 points (67.3% shooting) and 9.7 rebounds in 21.1 minutes per game this season.

What could be most interesting about the reported Jordan pursuit is his contract. He’s making nearly $10 million this season, which would have easily pushed the Rockets into the luxury tax.

In the short-term, this would seem to confirm the recent report that owner Tilman Fertitta had indeed given Morey the green light to spend into tax territory on the team’s payroll.

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With Jordan backing up young center Jarrett Allen in Brooklyn, it’s understandable why teams around the league — like the Rockets — may have wondered if Jordan was available. On the surface, it’s a slightly odd allocation of salary resources, since most NBA teams don’t have backup centers making roughly $10 million each season.

At one point on Wednesday, The Athletic‘s Kelly Iko reported that Houston believed it was closing in on a deal for an Eastern Conference center. That description certainly could apply to Jordan.

In the end, the Nets opted to stay the course, and perhaps Jordan’s friendship with franchise centerpiece Kevin Durant was a big reason.

But it’s the longer-term implications that could be even more telling. Jordan is signed for three additional seasons after the current 2019-20 campaign, which means he wouldn’t have been a short-term rental or experiment for the Rockets.

They would have had to believe in Jordan’s fit and/or expected him to address a major need, which could be the center position after the trade of 6-foot-10 big man Clint Capela.

As of Sunday morning, the Rockets had yet to be formally linked to any of the players receiving contract buyouts to this point. Forwards Marvin Williams and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist each received buyouts from the Hornets, but Williams is bound for Milwaukee, and the only confirmed suitor for Kidd-Gilchrist at this time is Dallas.

At the moment, the Rockets have two open roster spots after their deadline trades. They also have more money to offer bought-out players than most other contenders, including both the Bucks and Mavericks.

It’s certainly possible that the Rockets showed interest in one or both players, only to have them choose a different destination, instead. (That said, any interest hasn’t been reported since Thursday’s deadline.)

It could also be that despite their public statements about seeking the best player available, perhaps behind closed doors there’s a greater focus on a more traditional center, like Jordan would have been.

On HoopsHype‘s initial list of 2020 buyout candidates, Charlotte’s Bismack Biyombo could fit the bill. The 27-year-old big man is averaging 7.4 points (53.4% shooting) and 5.8 rebounds in 19.1 minutes per game with the Hornets this season.

Perhaps the Rockets are hoping that a buyout eventually happens between Cleveland and Tristan Thompson, who the Rockets reportedly showed interest in leading up to Thursday’s deadline. While initial reports have indicated that a buyout there is unlikely, it’s possible that one or both sides could change their minds before March 1.

March 1 is the date by which players must be waived from their old teams in order to be playoff eligible with a new team.

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Other bigs with expiring deals on losing teams who theoretically could emerge as buyout options include Washington’s Ian Mahinmi, Detroit’s John Henson, Phoenix’s Aron Baynes, and Sacramento’s Alex Len.

The NBA’s All-Star break begins in the middle of this week, which could be the sweet spot in the schedule for financial negotiations to take place. From there, the buyout candidates might become more clear.

For now, the Rockets wait with two open roster spots and a rotation that’s currently devoid of traditional size up front. It doesn’t guarantee that they will address that issue in the buyout market, but a closer look at their actions in recent days suggests that it’s a real possibility.

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Daryl Morey says Tilman Fertitta ‘incorrectly gets beat up’

Though some fans have criticized the Rockets for again avoiding the NBA’s luxury tax, GM Daryl Morey says ownership is misunderstood.

Although the Rockets reduced team salary in the deadline trade sending out Clint Capela and others for Robert Covington, Houston GM Daryl Morey insists there was not a mandate from ownership to cut salary.

In fact, Morey suggests that owner Tilman Fertitta was encouraging him to add to the team’s payroll. That would jive with a report earlier this week from CNBC, which said that Fertitta had greenlighted Morey to improve the roster with “no financial restrictions.”

In a new interview after Thursday’s trade deadline with Mark Medina of USA TODAY Sports, Morey was asked how much significance luxury tax savings had in his dealmaking, since the Covington deal sent Houston from slightly above the tax line to nearly $6 million below it.

“None,” Morey replied. “I was happy because it gave us a window to add someone. But no one was moving any players in that window, unfortunately, that we thought could help us.”

The “window to add someone” came after the four-way trade involving Covington and Capela was agreed to but not finalized. At the time, reports said the Rockets were working to expand the trade, with the ability to take on a salary as large as ~$5.8 million and stay beneath the tax, or up to ~$12 million if they were willing to pay the tax.

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The Rockets ultimately did not expand the trade at all, with Morey saying their desired options didn’t materialize. Understandably, some wondered if Fertitta had asked Morey to limit payroll, since the Rockets had also narrowly avoided the tax in each of his first two seasons as owner.

But when asked about that scenario by USA TODAY Sports, Morey strongly pushed back on the notion:

No. Actually, I’m being totally up front. I was getting strong encouragement to go the other way. …

Ownership incorrectly gets beat up. We operate like every other team in the NBA. When you’re a contender, you’re right around the luxury tax line. That’s how we’ve always operated. That’s how we’ve operated since I’ve been here since 2006. We still have a huge payroll in the league. I know people like to focus on it. But that’s a weird thing. Focus on the team on the floor.

If people don’t like that we don’t have a big man or don’t like how we play, that’s fine. But judge us for how we are. Judge us on our wins and losses. We’ve had one of the best records in the league for 10-14 years and have been a perennial playoff contender. We got an exciting roster with top players. I would talk about that. I don’t understand why people are focused on the other stuff.

On Friday night, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski seemed to corroborate Morey’s version of events by noting that the Rockets attempted to trade for Brooklyn center DeAndre Jordan during the trade expansion window. Jordan will make nearly $10 million this season, which would have easily pushed Houston into the tax, but the Nets declined the deal.

Now 31 years old, the 6-foot-11 Jordan is averaging 7.9 points (67.7% shooting) and 9.6 rebounds in 20.9 minutes per game this season.

Only four NBA teams are projected to spend into the luxury tax this season, and only two of those teams (Miami, Oklahoma City) are on pace to make the 2020 playoffs. So the Rockets certainly aren’t alone, as it pertains to perceived title contenders who narrowly avoided the tax

There could be a potential advantage in the weeks ahead to being below the tax line by a sizable amount. After the deadline deals, Houston now has two open roster spots to potentially sign veterans who are bought out of their contracts. Unlike most teams, they also have a pro-rated portion of their 2019-20 Mid-Level Exception (MLE) available for use.

Being nearly $6 million clear of the tax could make it easier for Morey to sign multiple buyout players and/or to use the leftover MLE money to give the Rockets a leg up in the bidding process, if need be.

The buyout market will likely take a few more days to fully take shape around the league, with teams, players, and agents negotiating over exact financial terms. The deadline for a player to be bought out and still be eligible for the playoffs with a new team is March 1.

The NBA’s All-Star break begins next week, which could be the sweet spot in the schedule for negotiations to take place and to more easily integrate any new player(s) in practice — since there won’t be any games.

If there are truly no financial constraints, as Morey and Fertitta have said, there would seem to be very good odds of the Rockets adding at least one more capable player in the near future.

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Tilman Fertitta reportedly signs off on Rockets’ deadline spending

Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta reportedly isn’t putting any financial restrictions on GM Daryl Morey entering the 2019-20 trade deadline.

Houston GM Daryl Morey will not be limited financially in his attempts to upgrade the Rockets by Thursday’s NBA trade deadline, according to a new report from CNBC’s Jabari Young.

Citing a source, Young writes that Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta has given Morey “full rights” to improve the team at the deadline with no financial restrictions. “Fertitta [is] not happy with team’s current standing and wants to win now,” Young wrote on Twitter.

The previous day, Young quoted league sources as saying that Fertitta wanted to shed payroll in hopes of avoiding the NBA’s luxury tax.

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The Rockets are reportedly shopping center Clint Capela on the trade market while hoping to bring in a wing player and replacement center. They’re also said to be monitoring the potential buyout market, with high-profile targets such as Cleveland big man Tristan Thompson.

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But some of those moves could push Houston into luxury tax territory, leaving many fans wondering just how viable they actually are. In Fertitta’s first two seasons owning the Rockets in 2017-18 and 2018-19, Houston avoided paying the tax.

However, it seems Fertitta could have a different mindset heading into the 2019-20 deadline, with the Rockets (31-18) mired in the No. 5 spot in the Western Conference and perhaps needing further roster upgrades to reach their expected status as an NBA title contender.

The trade deadline arrives at 2 p.m. Central time on Thursday.

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In All-Star push, Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta backs Westbrook

With the hashtag #DeservesIt, Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta took to Instagram to make his case for Russell Westbrook as a 2020 All-Star.

Houston Rockets owner Tilman J. Fertitta took to Instagram to make his case for guard Russell Westbrook in the 2020 NBA All-Star Game.

In a post on his account Saturday night, Fertitta congratulated Rockets guard James Harden on his starting spot and said he looks forward to the league’s coaches adding Westbrook to the team to join Harden. Fertitta concluded his post with the #DeservesIt hashtag, referring to Westbrook.

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The All-Star reserves, which are determined by votes from the league’s coaches, will be announced next Thursday, Jan.30.

For the 2019-20 season, Westbrook is in the NBA’s top 10 in scoring and assists at 25.8 points and 7.4 assists per game. He also averages 8.1 rebounds, which is among the league’s best at the guard position.

But Westbrook, a former MVP and eight-time All-Star, has improved his game even more as the season has progressed. Since Dec. 7, in his last 19 games, Westbrook is averaging 29.9 points per game on 49.6% shooting.

That per-game total over the last six weeks is No. 2 in the entire NBA, trailing only Harden. Moreover, Westbrook’s shooting percentage in accumulating those points is higher than anyone else in the top five.

After acquiring Westbrook last offseason, Fertitta made it clear that he was a big proponent of the trade bringing him to Houston.

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Westbrook, Harden, and the Rockets (28-16) return to basketball Sunday afternoon at Denver (31-14), though Harden is questionable to play with a bruised left thigh. Tip-off is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Central time.

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