Rockets fire social media manager after tweet directed at Mavericks

ByCALVIN WATKINS
April 29, 2015, 5:02 PM

— -- The Houston Rockets fired social media manager Chad Shanks on Wednesday, a day after an inappropriate tweet was sent out toward the end of the team's series-clinching victory over the Dallas Mavericks.

"Sometimes you can go too far," Shanks said on Twitter. "I will no longer run @HoustonRockets but am grateful to the organization that let me develop an online voice."

Rockets officials also confirmed the firing.

Toward the end of the Rockets' victory Tuesday night, the team tweeted emoji of a pistol next to a horse and text suggesting the Mavs succumb to an inevitable end.

The Mavericks responded, and the Rockets later deleted the tweet and apologized.

Shanks had attended a majority of the games videotaping pregame and postgame interviews with players and coaches, as well as updating the team website and social media sites. He was deemed so valuable that when Dwight Howard returned to the Rockets on March 25 from swelling in his right knee, the organization decided to send Shanks to New Orleans for the game after he previously hadn't been scheduled to go.