YUP. Totally Agree. That's why I'm wondering if the plan isn't to find a home for EGo/Capela...that brings back some useful players on longer contracts with lower salary and/or draft picks ......that gives us enough cap to re-sign Shump without going into the tax...yet. The idea being that if a deal presents itself at the deadline we can cobble Shump together with enough salary and picks to get our guy...which would be then worth going into the tax for. What I don't see happening is going into the season with EGo as a trade chip at the deadline. This is historically not how Morey has treated mainline players. Especially those that are trying to earn a big payday going forward. Morey has been very honorable towards players in that regard. Of course Morey has already broken player protocol in regards to the CP3/Westbrook trade. So..............who knows what kind of knot he's going to get twisted into next............by..........#TWOCHOPPERS.
Using my analogy to make new analogies is like entering a barbecue competition and bringing Rudy's barbecue sauce instead of making your own recipe.
Interesting find. I watched a bit of his highlights at Real Madrid. 1) I like how he gets his hands in the passing lanes 2) He's a quick dunker 3) He's long 4) He can shoot the deep ball now But.. I didn't see him play much pick n roll. Has he done well playing in that system previously? I say we sign him so long as he brings Llull with him. Then Manimal, Iman and call it a day: 65 wins, 1st seed.. and a good chance at a chip this year.
Are we sure okc was much interested in helping us take more salary? Perhaps they want we struggle to add good pieces to our roster?
The motivator on moving Kristaps was the Mavs eating the rest of the Knicks contracts so they would have max room.
Yes that was the motivator but it still was not a salary dump. And it has no bearing on this conversation because we don't have those type of assets.
I think right now, that is the case. When we get to December when some teams are already out of it, other things have worked themselves out (DLo), and more players become tradeable...then I think you could see those picks carry more value. For example, one guy I’m watching is Aminu. Orlando is really stocked with forwards, and their bust potential is significant.
This is very simple for me. Tilman is going to dodge the luxury tax again. Morey left to his own devices would have absolutely gotten the maximum 125% in return for Paul's $38 million salary. That's such a Morey move and a no-brainer. He values assets -- even expiring contracts -- to be used in bigger trades later that he would never let such an opportunity pass. With positive media reactions and generous rankings from 538, etc after the Westbrook trade, an embolden Tilman will spin this offseason as huge success, therefore no need to overspend and pay luxury tax when you can "run it back" -- or whatever crappy slogan he can come up with.
Per spotrac, OKC today has 14 players on their roster. https://www.spotrac.com/nba/oklahoma-city-thunder/cap/ The Rockets have 15 + 3 on summer contracts. Despite having fewer players than the Rockets, they are still about 4.7 million over the tax line. If that were to hold until the end of the season, they would owe the NBA a tax bill of not quite 11.8 million. It would take a lot of willingness to cause the Rockets pain to eat a nearly 12 million dollar bill. Trade P. Pat to the Rockets, which could have easily been done in the WB trade, and they save 5.7 million, and more importantly, stop paying tax. Of course, the Rockets then might have to start paying some.
Yep. I don't buy game tickets, so I don't know, but have ticket prices gone up since the Brodie trade, and if so, by how much? Can't imagine they haven't.
If we sign Shump to a $13.2 million non-guaranteed deal, but can't trade him by the deadline, can we cut him and not have his salary count against the cap? Or does the pro rated portion of the salary already paid (through about half of the season) count against the cap, and push the Rockets into tax land?
I understand the argument that it may not be worth '$x' millions in return for a player that only improves slightly at the margins, but I think people are forgetting that we PUNTED away a season where the only real competition (Warriors) suffered injuries and suddenly became beatable. In a series that close, small additions at the margins very well could have been the difference. No doubt in my mind we beat the Blazers in the WCF and had a very good chance against the Raptors in the finals had we advanced. The only reason I was able to come to terms with the luxury tax avoidance was so that we could spend for the next three CONSECUTIVE seasons before ducking out away from the repeater tax. Keep in mind, we traded Knight (expiring salary this year) and a first for Shumpert, and didn't sign House to the SAME deal he just signed so that we could spend heavy the next three years. In other words, had we not ducked the tax last year, we could have used the MLE to sign House to his 3 year deal (thus opening up this year's MLE for another rotation player), we'd have an extra first round pick, and we'd still have Knight's sizable expiring contract to use for matching purposes. The only, and I mean ONLY reason last year's nightmare of a trade deadline was even remotely defensible was the premise that we would be a luxury tax team each of the next three consecutive seasons (remember, repeater tax is only applicable after three consecutive tax seasons). I am open to the Westbrook trade and I'm excited for the team, don't get me wrong, but the Tilman era is looking like an absolute joke. As it stands, it looks like we gave up assets to punt away a season, all for nothing. Sorry for the random caps and long post, but this is maddening. It's one thing to duck the tax, but don't spoon feed the fans your garbage lies.
The sad part is they wasted a first round pick for Shumpert and pretty much look like they’re not interested in re-signing him. Just another wasted opportunity.
