Another title should drive Fertitta
Bob McNair checks almost all the boxes, but his Texans have never come close to winning the Super Bowl.
Jim Crane came in with a wrecking ball and was despised by many devoted Astros fans for years. He now owns the best team in the American League.
Les Alexander wasn’t exactly a local fan favorite when he bought the Rockets for $85 million in 1993. Two world championships later, Galveston-born Tilman Fertitta is set to own a $2.2 billion basketball franchise.
The best advice I can give Rockets fans grading the team’s expected new owner: Give it time.
On first glance, it looks perfect on paper. Local guy. Strong University of Houston ties. An original Texans investor, the primary reason the Cougars were a contender to join the Big 12, and the man who gave $20 million so UH could renovate its long-outdated basketball arena (and put his name on it). Perfect, right? Fertitta is also part of the realityTV generation of billionaires. He commands the spotlight, doesn’t shrink when cameras zoom in and has hands-on written all over him.
Alexander said he couldn’t “have found anyone more capable of continuing the winning tradition of our Houston Rockets.”
For years, it’s been Alexander, CEO Tad Brown and general manager Daryl Morey running a franchise that consistently wins … but has only been to the Western Conference finals once since 1997.
How much Mark Cuban does Fertitta have in him? Steve Ballmer? Paul Allen? Only Cuban has won an NBA title and all three have made major mistakes with their basketball toys.
Or does Fertitta have just enough Alexander in him while truly being his own man? And can he discover a way for his new franchise to take the ultimate step, capturing the title that eluded the Rockets’ old owner for 22 years?
The first fear never materialized and has officially been erased: The Rockets aren’t going anywhere.
Now, Fertitta will have to prove himself to Houston.
He’s been handed the best backcourt in the NBA with James Harden and Chris Paul and has one of the NBA’s sharpest GMs. He’ll cut the check for Coach of the Year Mike D’Antoni, who directed 55 regular-season wins.
This should be hard to screw up — but the insanely wealthy do it all the time. What happens if the 2017-18 Rockets fall short, the team’s coach isn’t getting enough out of his stars, or the new owner wants to start pushing all the big buttons himself ? The smart path for Fertitta: Figure out how to get that elusive third ring, but only step into the spotlight when you have to.