Rockets Owner Les Alexander was interviewed by Eddie
Sefko of the HOUSTON CHRONICLE. Sefko: "Alexander has
remained a very private owner, preferring not to step into
the media limelight to champion his causes. ... He's an
intense businessman, true, but he also is a caring
philanthropist, a determined competitor and a proud father."
Alexander, on the "lowlights" of being an owner: "[T]he
political process of getting a new arena so we can be
competitive is the one thing that is the most exasperating
and hasn't worked as I thought it should. And, sometimes,
the media not knowing what you really like in writing
articles that really don't represent how you are."
Alexander called a new arena "an absolute necessity" to the
team's future. He added that within the next two or three
years, there might be "only one or two" teams with arenas as
old as the Rockets. Alexander: "The Clippers won't, but
they're the Clippers. I like Donald (Sterling, Clippers'
owner) personally, but they're the Clippers." On salaries
in the NBA: "The salaries are going up way faster than
possibly revenues can go up." Asked if there were any
circumstances in which the Rockets would leave Houston: "No.
The Rockets are here to stay." On being an NBA owner:
"There's almost no camaraderie. That's one thing I don't
like about it." On the NBA's future: "[W]e're just in the
beginning stages of sports being central to America's
culture. And especially the NBA. I think the future is
brighter now than it's ever been. We are what the kids
think about, what they enjoy" (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 9/27).
