Rockets Owner Tilman Fertitta Calls Reporter a 'Fraud' After Budget Cut Tweet

Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta is unhappy with a report that said the team has been directed to cut costs across the organization. 

After Brian Geltzeiler of HoopsCritic.com reported Fertitta is "feverishly cutting costs in all facets of the Rockets organization," the owner responded directly to Geltzeiler by calling him a "fraud" on Twitter:

While the Rockets are paying into the luxury tax, their spending hasn't gotten out of hand.

Per Yossi Gozlan of USA Today, general manager Daryl Morey has managed to drop the team's payroll from $135.41 million before the start of this season to $122.855 million after the Feb. 7 trade deadline. Their tax bill is a reasonable $12 million, compared to the $21 million it was going to be before the season started. 

In September, after Tim Bontemps of the Washington Post wrote an article asking if the Rockets were going to start tightening their purse strings, Fertitta seemed baffled by the suggestion. 

“Why would anyone think that?” Fertitta asked SB Nation's Steven Godfrey. “Why?”

Feritta's approach has certainly worked out well for the Rockets on the court. They won a franchise-record 65 games last season and reached Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals. 

After a slow start in 2018-19, the Rockets have moved into the No. 3 spot in the Western Conference and currently own the NBA's longest winning streak at nine games.