They speak out of both sides of their mouth because they know it is all about getting under the tax at this point. On one hand they claim that they love Clark's potential and may want him back..... on the other hand they claim they can get a better player. Which is it? Why wasn't he released two weeks ago if they believed better players were available? Let's see what happens at the deadline...... If we see the Rockets giving up draft picks to move players like Hilario and Thabo then fans better be pissed off. Tillman already sold multiple draft picks to get out of paying Ryan Anderson and it wasn't done for competitive reasons because the deals greatly HURT the Rockets competitive line....... it was 100% done to save Tillman money.
Agreed. However I don't think this makes them unique among NBA teams. They're all full of BS and PR nonsense, just some more than others. This is true. We'll see what happens. The logic of waiving Clark right now is fine, if imperfect. But... Tilman does have a history of cost-cutting at the expense of winning. Both things are true. We'll see what actually happens. If I had to bet, it would be that we do not add any money and the justification for waiving Clark that the Rockets fed to the media was just more Tilman bullshitting. Further, I bet that the Rockets will leak out that they very nearly added a good but expensive player who'd have thrown them deep into the luxury tax, but at the last second - through no fault of their own - the deal fell apart. Aw, shucks! So given my ultra pessimistic outlook, why do I not care about this specific move too much? Ultimately, it's because I got off the Gary Clark hype train earlier this season. If he's going to make it, he'll need minutes and reps (like Robert Covington did); he won't get those here. My personal belief is that Tilman is a crap owner who will throw the Rockets into irrelevancy as soon as Harden declines or is traded. Knicks of the South, but with an empty arena.
Greater flexibility when Harden is 31? 32? When Westbrook is in his mid 30's? When Tucker is nearing 40? When MDA is dead? It is all bullshit at this point. It was extremely obvious when they said "creative math" when letting Ariza go.......... when they didn't use the majority of their MLE.......... When Tillman sat on the JaMychal Green deal......... when Tillman didn't want to play Ryan Anderson for not playing, so we desperately tried moving him losing picks .... when Tillman refused to take on more salary in the Westbrook trade. Tillman is running the Rockets like he runs his restaurants......... it works in restaurants, it doesn't in the NBA...... he can brag about saving money by having less staff in his restaurants........ he can be proud of cutting his lemons and limes in half for Landry's and saving money...... he can laugh and tell everyone how much he saves by having all his sauces in smaller cups to save money.......... but you cannot cut corners in the NBA with a team in it's title window and expect to win a title........ you cannot low ball assistant coaches and think you can just hire someone else that isn't as good and win......you cannot have public spats with your head coach thinking low balling him will motivate him..... you cannot go around to the other owners and front office staff and complain about how much you are paying your star point guard right after you signed him. This isn't Rainforest Cafe.......... this is an NBA team......... Ask Donald Sterling how well cutting corners and destroying relationships over small money amounts helps you win.
FWIW The people that work in the front office for the Rockets still believe that they will be able to add salary at the deadline if it helps the team win. They have been told by ownership since before the season that ownership will approve adding salary at the deadline if the front office believes it materially helps the team win now. I am very skeptical but they seem pretty confident...... how or why? Tillman must be one hell of a salesman to his own executives because from my perspective, if it looks like **** and smells like **** - it is bull ****.
Typical of clutchfans to act like Gary Clark was (or was going to be) a legitimate contributor. KJ McDaniels syndrome.
I agree with you 90 percent of the time. This falls in the 10 percentage more or less where we may not see eye. The focal point of the Sun's offense attack was Nash/Stoudemire PnR lockout to shooters like Marbury. Iso with Nash or Marbury or Matrix. Houston with D'Antoni runs the same concept of Harden/Capela PnR with kickouts. Iso with Harden or Westbrook or Eric Gordon. Big deal....I could be a hall of fame coach too. D'Antoni idea of defense is clapping (much like Jason Garrett) and saying play harder. I can put that on a sign in the locker room....I guess that makes me a hall of fame coach. I posted how no team has won an NBA championship without a top 10 defense in the last x-amount years since the Lakers of way back. Rockets are something like 17th while only being a tenth of a point better than Sac. Bucks are like 1st and 2nd in offensive/defensive rating.. Good luck out scoring them without injuries in a 7 game series. Our defense will have a tough time stopping them. I don't believe Bzdelik had one of the best defensive teams as the Grindhouse Grizzlies and just forgot how to coach defense. D'Antoni overrules how his team is coached. Onus falls in his lap.
well because both harden's/wb's contracts balloon in the coming years faster than the league cap limit, it's the reason why tilman is so scared of the repeater. harden's contract is 3 more years after this one and wb's is 4. tilman is basically planning for the future by not paying tax now, which wastes harden's now prime years. that's why he avoided it last year but got set back to square one with wb and his longer contract
Perhaps this is why Adam Silver didnt let Tilman win 2 years in a row? because he doesn't pay luxury tax like golden state warriors?
Correct, although I'm sure that doesn't provide much solace to most fans. Going into last summer, I thought the Rockets would dip into the tax this season. But then they made the Russ trade (pushing the "repeater tax clock" out another year) and then somehow managed to bring back both Danuel House (with only part of the MLE) and Austin Rivers (for the freaking vet min!). At that point, it occurred to me that ducking the tax this season would be just manageable enough that they'd probably keep that option open. They tried to keep the "all-in & pay the tax" door slightly open with the Nene contract (and presumably tried the same approach with Shumpert); but when the league and union struck that contract down, that door was (mostly) shut. At this point, I am resigned to the fact that the Rockets will avoid the luxury tax. Now, as for NEXT season... Bringing back their starting five plus Gordon, McLemore, Hartenstein and Clemons (that's 9 players), the Rockets will already be just $8 million below the currently projected tax threshold. But that projection was made BEFORE the blow-up with China, so that reduction in revenues could lead to a lower-than-projected cap/tax threshold. Once Gordon is trade-eligible, perhaps the Rockets look to package him and/or Capela with a pick or two (2020 & 2022?) for a significant upgrade elsewhere. While I'm not holding my breath on such a move, it's still a possibility. Who knows if Austin Rivers will be back. He might be looking for a bigger deal in 2020 after doing the team a favor and taking the vet minimum this season. The Rockets may already have his replacement(s) in McLemore and/or Clemons, both of whom are already locked in on vet minimum deals. But the Rockets could use Early Bird rights to re-sign Rivers to a bigger deal if they so choose. Figure another $2M-$2.4M or so for their 2020 first round pick (assuming they don't trade it). With Clemons locked up, there's (currently) not another Non-Bird free agent in-house who would be expected to tie up the team's Taxpayer MLE next summer. Maybe they add a buyout guy later this season who could fall in that category, but we'll see. Otherwise, and with it expected to be a buyer's market in free agency this summer, the Rockets could maybe find a good outside free agent willing to play for that MLE. Between returning salaries, trade possibilities, the MLE and possibly re-signing Rivers, the Rockets could end up $10M to $15M over the tax threshold. That's IF they commit to spending next season. If the team tries to duck the tax again next season (assuming they successfully duck it this season), THEN I'm not going to be a happy camper.
This seems to be what most people are missing here. Is Clark worth the extra money to go over the tax? Apparently NOT. As GM I would likely do the same. You are protecting someone at the end of the bench by overpaying for him? I love Clark, but the move makes sense. The other 2 'bubble' guys are Clemons and Heart. 1 is a microwave scorer and the other is showing flashes of potential in the paint. Clark just becomes the odd man out.
Will the Rockets defintely have Early Bird rights for Rivers this summer? I read it needs to be two seasons, does joining in December last year count, it doesn't have to be two full seasons without playing for any other teams?
