What does mean being hard capped mean? What are the implications regarding their ability to trade for love?
I believe it means they are absolutely prohibited from going over the apron, by any means. Limits them greatly when trying to provide relief to Minny. I suppose they can kiss their TPE goodbye.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>GSWs started this period $11.2M under $77M lux tax line. So after spending $5.3M on Livingston, now have slightly less than $5.9M to go.</p>— Tim Kawakami (@timkawakami) <a href="https://twitter.com/timkawakami/statuses/484148863729561600">July 2, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> I don't think it hinders their pursuit of Love. From all reports, Minnesota's only looking to dump KMart at $7mil. Now, if they also want to dump a bunch of other guys, then the Rockets may have an advantage.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Tepid start to NBA free agency probably unavoidable. Says one exec: "Everyone in a holding pattern like 2010" 'til LeBron (and Melo) decide</p>— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNSteinLine/statuses/484315071330283521">July 2, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Wonder when Morey's meeting with LeBron's agent is. And how long will Lowry wait for Houston to find out from Melo if he's coming?
Wet dream: Rockets sign Lowry, Hill and retain Parsons and Daniels. S&T for Love. Lowry/Bev Harden/Daniels Parsons Love/Jones Dwight/Hill Wouldn't mind Carmelo, but I'd rather have Love+Lowry.
You do realize that's like an 83 million dollar starting lineup next year & only grows from there after everyone is signed back as well right? Les is willing to spend some cash, but dont get too overconfident in the guy.
I have a theory on Morey's plan. My thoughts. (P.S. I don't claim to be a salary cap expert so this is more of a rough draft. ;-) ) Plan A: Carmelo Anthony (keep Chandler Parsons) Plan B: Kevin Love (minus Chandler Parsons) + Kyle Lowry Plan A is pretty self explanatory. The Rockets add a 3rd star in Carmelo Anthony and keep Parsons in the fold and he gets paid. It has been said that Parsons is being mentioned in the Carmelo pitch. Parsons was invited to the meeting, though will not attend. We know via the HouChronicle that Dwight Howard really wants to WOO Carmelo at this meeting. Why? Because Dwight wants to keep his buddy Parsons. They have their big 4! Because if the Rockets don't get Carmelo, then we have plan B….. Plan B (part 1). Being a big Chandler Parsons fan, this is tough for me to write, but I think Plan B is Chandler agreeing to a S&T to Minny, for the big payday he is looking for, in exchange for Kevin Love. Minny was willing to max GSW's Klay Thompson. They probably won't max Parsons, but he will get close. Wouldn't be surprised if starting at 14M. Recently Parsons hinted at the fact he might be willing to do a S&T if big money was involved. If Morey could get Love without Parsons (using all of our liquid assets), I think he would. But I think the rubber meets the road here with Minny staying FIRM on getting a "quality player" back. They could just wait until the trade deadline if they wanted to. Boston will always be hovering. Minny tried to extract out of GSW Thompson+GSW 2015 Pick+Lee (salary match, minus asset). Rockets could offer S&T Parsons+Rox 2015 Pick + Dmo (or Jones). Notice I DID NOT include the NOP 2015 1st round pick or Capella. Minny gets Parsons (potential star) and that is the price of doing business. Maybe the Rockets could give up their 2017 1st as a last sweetener. Maybe. This trade could get morphed into something larger with NOP & Asik with Eric Gordon going to Minny and Kevin Martin back to NOP or something like that. I am not a cap expert but there could be something there. Lots of potential moving parts. PLAN B LYNCHPIN. Here is the key with giving up Parsons for Love. The next move. Plan B (part 2). Rockets meet Kyle Lowry at midnight July 1st. Give him the lowdown on the plan and the timetable and give him a good contract offer. Lowry takes that "offer" back to the Raptors to get their counter. They probably do, and might even add the 5th year. Lowry now has two good offers. Lowry SHUTS DOWN. He does not talk to Miami, or any other suitors. I find this very curious! Rockets try to engage in S&T of Lin+Asset for Lowry. (Lin could be routed to a 3rd team - Utah, Philly etc). If Toronto balks, Rockets can just move Lin to Utah/Philly and take Lowry into CAP SPACE (BTW, this move probably has to happen before the Love trade to keep cap space). The Rockets would rather not use cap space but rather structure everything into trades to stay above the cap and keep MLE options available. At the end of the day, it would be LOVE + LOWRY (the two K's, Kevin and Kyle). So, Morey is looking at these options 1) Carmelo + Parsons 2) Love + Lowry 3) Parsons + Lowry (Rockets just offer Lowry and then go home. This is the "single" and not the home run) The lockerroom (Howard) probably wouldn't be too happy to lose Parsons, but I think they would get over it. I HATE to give up Chandler Parsons. But if the Rockets added Lowry AND Love that makes the lineup pretty strong. Then you just have to add the 3+D guy on the wing next to Harden. Lowry gives the Rockets another D guy, guy that can create his own shot and hit 3s. We know what Love brings to the table. If the Rockets stay above the cap, they use the MLE on a 3+D guy (Sefaloshsa etc). Also, in the original Love/Parsons trade, the Rockets KEEP the NOP 2015 1st rounder which could be used for this position next year. Anyway, I am not a cap expert and the timing of these events probably have to be pretty precise, but from looking at the landscape and what we know, I think this could be pretty close to a Morey plan.
I don't know why people get excited if lowry is back, James Harden will probably dominate the ball again this year, lowry will not tolerate this , there will likely conflict between them.
$13M for Lowry? Really? Sorry, I see that as being fair value for a team like the Raptors (who are young and building around him), but that's WAY too much for a player that will likely be the #3 scorer after Harden and Dwight. $13M is just $3M shy of Love... and Lowry just isn't on that tier. $11-12M is probably the upper end of reasonable for a player of Lowry's caliber. $13M just make NO sense to me at all. You're better off taking that money and shoring up 2 or 3 other positions or waiting on a top shelf FA.
Pop quiz, who had a higher usage rate...Demar Derozan (who played with Kyle Lowry last year) or ball dominating James Harden last season? Spoiler DeMar Derozan with 28% usage rate led James Harden's 27.8 usage rate. (barely) Pop quiz #2, who took more shots (FG+FT)...Demar Derozan (who played with Kyle Lowry last year) or ball dominating James Harden last season? Spoiler DeMar Derozan took more total shots with 25.8 total shots per game (FG+FT) compared to James Harden's 25.6 Pop quiz #3, who took more shots (FG+FT) per 36 minutes...Demar Derozan (who played with Kyle Lowry last year) or ball dominating James Harden last season? Spoiler DeMar Derozan took more total shots per 36 minutes with 24.3 compared to to James Harden's 24.2. How could Kyle Lowry possible thrive next to a ball dominating shot hog?
