Rockets Owner: Anything Less Than West Finals Would Be a Disappointment

Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta will accept nothing less than at least matching his team's performance from last season.

"Anything less than the Western Conference Finals would be a disappointment," Fertitta told reporters at Monday's media day session.

Fertitta is making a sizable investment in the 2018-19 Rockets, who have the NBA's fifth-highest payroll and are $11.4 million over the luxury tax, per Spotrac. Houston re-signed Chris Paul to a four-year, $159.7 million contract this summer.

Fertitta spoke at length, calling the tax a "horrible hindrance" but acknowledging he's willing to pay big money for results: 

"At some point, you have to be smart, and you cannot get into the repeater tax, which happens if you’ve been in the luxury tax three years in a row. And that’s something to really look at. And at some point, you have to do some things so you never go in the repeater tax. You’re just dead in the water, and it can ruin your franchise for years. So, it’s something you have to be cognizant of.

At the same time, a team is built is on superstars. If you have your top four or five players, you can always see other players move in and out.

Because it is a chess game playing with the luxury tax. That’s why there’s only three or teams in it.

This year, to be able to make sure that we hopefully get back to the Western Conference finals, we were going to have to be in it around many millions of dollars. And I am here to win championships, and I’m not going to let 5 or 10 or 15 or 20 million dollars make a difference. Because if you do win the championship, that’s easy money back.

Now, if we’re in the luxury tax every year and we’re barely getting into the playoffs and a first-round game is a struggle, then I’m going to go find me a new general manger."

That is a clear message to Rockets general manager Daryl Morey: The check is blank as long as you're producing results. Fertitta has no interest in being Knicks South and trapping himself into years' worth of bad contracts that make his wallet lighter and have the franchise near the bottom of the standings.

The Paul contract could get ugly in the end. He has a career littered with injuries and is scheduled to make $44.2 million as a 36-year-old in 2021-22. There's almost no feasible way Paul will be worth that type of money three years from now, so the only way the deal makes sense is if the Rockets produce a title when CP3 is still capable of being the second-best player on a title team.

James Harden and Paul will combine to make more than $86 million in 2021-22.