Dear Rockets fans,
Thank you for an amazing 14 years. Your love, support and energy has meant the world to me.
My family and I came to Houston as yankees, nervous about howthe city would welcome us and honored that Leslie Alexander had trusted me to help run a legendary franchise. I came into an organization with Hall of Fame players Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady already in place and a championship legacy built by Houston legends like Hakeem Olajuwan and Clyde Drexler. Walking into work on the first day was exciting, daunting, and inspiring.
Soon enough, the nervousness washed away and we came to feel like adopted Texans. What followed was the most amazing 14 years of my life. I could not imagine my good fortune to be surrounded by incredible people like Tad Brown, Carroll Dawson, Steve Clifford, Sam Hinkie, BJ Johnson, Keith Jones, Dennis Lindsey, Tony Nila, Gersson Rosas, Rafael Stone, Tom Thibodeau, and Jeff Van Gundy. The bar was so high that when we added additional talent -- such as Rick Adelman, Kenny Atkinson, JB Bickerstaff, Mike D’Antoni, Chris Finch, Sachin Gupta, Artūras Karnišovas, John Lucas, Kevin McHale, Monte McNair, Nick Nurse, Jimmy Paulis, and Eli Witus -- it took forever to find them. It is a testament to the deep bench of talent the Rockets have always had that eleven of these people have gone on to become GMs or head coaches of their own teams. I am thankful to everyone I have worked with at the Rockets. There are far too many to list each of them by name. Our success was only because of you.
Thank you to Tilman, Paige, Michael, Patrick, Blayne, and Blake Fertitta. Your unwavering support and trust inme -- fromthe moment you bought the team, and through both great and challenging times -- is something I will never forget. With your leadership, and with the excellent people you have in place throughout the organization, there are championships in the Rockets’ future.
Thank you for the memories. I have so many. As a rookie GM we started the season 15-17 and my nerves returned. We then went on a magical 22-game winning streak. The image of Rafer Alston going full Skip-2-My-Lou dribbling out the clock in front of Sasha Vujačić for win #22 will be etched forever in my memory. By 2009, wewere able to add some ofmy all-time favorite players, such as Ron Artest, Shane Battier, Aaron Brooks, Chuck Hayes, Carl Landry, Kyle Lowry, Dikembe Mutombo, and Luis Scola, to the core of Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady. I can’t think of a better group of players and teammates. That teamwas unfortunately derailed by injuries. We remained a fun, hard-working group afterwards, but it did teach us what life was like without a superstar in the NBA. And then...
James Harden changed my life.
An entire page could be dedicated just to James. He not only transformed my life but he also revolutionized the game of basketball -- and continues to do so -- like almost no one has before. The game is played differently because of James, and on every playground in the world, the next generation of talent is studying and imitating his game. I can’t believe I won’t be able to have another strategy session with James. I loved working together on how to get his incredible Hall of Fame teammates Dwight Howard, Chris Paul, and RussellWestbrook to the Rockets. I will be rooting for James to win a championship for Houston. It’s howthis story should end.
Finally, Iwant to say thank you again to the city of Houston and to all Rockets fans. Your support has kept me energized and inspired. You have been the driving force to our success. I am honored to have been a part of your story.
Sincerely,