[ClutchFans] Houston Rockets Salary Cap Update: Lockout Edition

That's what sucks being mediocre. Personally I don't think we'll have an 82-game season, maybe a 50.

 

1. I am thinking Nene might be one player the Rockets can get in a "harder but higher" cap scenario. First, he's not restricted, so no matching rights. Second, it doesn't look like Denver is quite willing to splurge on him. They probably will be allowed to offer him as much, or more than Houston does, but there would seem to be a chance that there is a set price in their mind. Their pre-lockout negotiation ended at Nene's rejection of (I think) 4-year $50 mil. I can see the Rockets offering him a little bit more than that-- or maybe Nene will pull a Trevor Ariza and sign with the Rockets for the same money offered by Denver out of feeling underappreciated?

2. Failing being able to land a significant C at a price they like, I can see the team go with the "status quo" plan for the offseason by bringing back Hayes and call it a day. Morey has been aggressive in pursuing deals, but when it comes to actually making a transaction, he's never been afraid to not make a deal instead of making a bad deal.

 

Would a 29 year old Nene who offers us neither the rebounding nor the rim protection we need really be worth that?

 

Nene is already not worth it. Just bring back Hayes and play the roster we have.

I don't want to plan for Dwight Howard's arrival: chances of getting him are minimal at best.
Instead, spend the season before 2012 draft biting the bullet/taking lumps for a hard decision and tank.
Chances of drafting a franchise player are higher at this time than luring one from another team. Enough dilly-dallying

 

My questions exactly. I'm not so sure why there is so much excitement over Nene. He's a nice player, but the one thing he's best at - knowing his role and how to score effectively at and around the rim, isn't exactly a huge need for the Rockets. Nene is an average rebounder and rim protector...

To me, if you can find a way to get Gasol, you do that. He has some rebounding issues as well, but his playoff rebounding numbers were ridiculously improved, but he is excellent at taking up space in the paint and getting a good number of blocks. he's still an efficient offensive player.

i don't see that as possible, though, so I think the stay the course approach makes more sense.

I agree with this, but DM has said repeatedly that this isn't their/Les' strategy. Les doesn't want to "tank". Personally, I would try and get as many 2012 realtively unprotected lotto picks as possible, regardless of who you have to trade.

 

Agreed on questioning all the interest in Nene.

Personally, I'd rather see how the new CBA shakes up and pursue a guy like Gortat (plus a bad contract -- i.e. Childress) and tackle the five position that way. If that's an option, of course.

 

Yes. He's worth it.

Nene doesn't personally rack up a bunch of rebounds, but when he was on the court, the team's defensive rebounding % goes up by roughly 4-6% in each of the last 3 years. My speculation is that he's pretty good at blocking out with his massive frame even if he's not a guy who gobbles up lose balls. He also generally had a positive +/- numbers, too, on both ends of the court.

The Rockets had the problem of having bigger opponents overpower or out-jump their smaller C/PF for boards, Nene's mass would help that significantly. Yes, the Rockets were pretty decent offensively, but getting more efficient always helps. It's not like giving Nene shots will take away from someone else who shoots .657 TS%.

And of course, it's nice to have a guy who can give you 15 or so points around the rim per game (can be more if you actually pass to the guy) on a .657 TS%, especially when you pair him with Kevin Martin and his .600 TS% from the perimeter.

 

Great article Bima, truly enjoyed it.

I wonder if the Rockets, in trading for Hasheem and picking up his guaranteed year, knew that it would kill this year, but really didn't care because of a looming lockout?

Therefore they don't have to pay it anyway, and when the season resumes (hopefully) they will not have to pay that much.

Personally, I think 2012 is exactly what they are aiming for, unless something falls in their laps this year.

Again, great read, well presented, and one of the main reasons to be here at Clutchfans - great content you can't find anywhere else.

DD

 

Right, and I can guess part of the reason would be fewer ticket sales in that time. But there are a few facts that he cannot avoid now:

1) this team plus a center of Nene or Gasol caliber is not talented enough to win it all
2) all said and done, with the 14th and 23rd picks, we weren't able to trade up significantly in this draft and pick higher... there's no guarantee that stock-piling unprotected lower end picks will be useful for trade purposes later
3) we need better chances at drafting franchise players (higher picks)
4) Houston is a Center-fixated team. The only way we know to win is with a great center. Dwight Howard exists, but we need to put our own efforts into finding and developing the next great one for ourselves. Houston has the best resources out of any team to train a new/promising young center. We need to play to our strengths, but we need a high draft pick for that
5) With all the young guys on the team, we are in the best position to tank... we couldn't do it when we had Yao/Battier on the team because we owed it to their service to give them a shot at the playoffs... now there's only Scola who we are really obliged to. I'm sorry to say it's time to move on and begin the next era. This team composition is the best it's ever been to do that
[6) I have more reasons that I'll type up soon...]

Basically, we have avoided tanking for long enough... now we need to suck it up and play the young guys

 

Bima ! Just thanks for making it so easy and clear for us! Y

 

Same could be said of Chuck on the rebounds. Completely ignoring offense, Chuck is better at best and 3x more valuable contract-wise at worst. And we should completely ignore offense unless you're getting a go-to guy, which you're not.

 

The rebounding is good to know, and I particularly like his passing, would fit Chuck's role at the high post seamlessly, with added offense of his own.

The biggest concerns for me is still his age and lack of rim protection, especially for the price that it would take to get him.

Rim protection- I don't want to get a center just for the sake of getting a center if he does not address the needs of the team. 65%TS is nice, but at some point stacking the team full of offensive weapons just becomes overkill, given the limited resources to build a team, and only one basketball. No one will complain when Nene shoots and converts at his high rate, but every shot that he shoots will be a shot that Martin isn't taking. And when Martin isn't shooting, he is useless. I would rather take the slightly lesser TS% and actually put Martin's $10M to good use, and spend Nene's money plugging in the team's bigger deficiencies.

Age- Every move that the team makes should be moving towards the ultimate goal of contending for a championship. Adding Nene does not make us an immediate contender, and given his age, when we can realistically expect to contend in 2-4 years he will be on the decline/contract will be up. I don't think signing him would contribute to the bigger picture.

And of course, what exacerbates both those things is the price tag he comes with.

 

On the other hand, adding talent is probably an even bigger need for this team. And we could always trade Martin to balance the team/plug the other holes.

 

Agreed, but young players with a new coach playing a 54 game season (approx without 1/3 of the games due to lockout, just a guess here) could easily find themselves off to another bumpy start to the season....

What was the Rockets less than stellar record at the beginning of the 2010/11 season? It took a while to get to .500.

My point being, if you shorten the timeline in which the Rockets have to recover from a sub .500 record, the Rockets will not be the worse, but they would definitely be picking better than the #14 pick. Perhaps #7-#12range?

Thats not tanking, that is just what young teams do in a very unique season.

 

I've certainly been for winning over tanking and said so towards the end of this past season (and every season), when some were calling for playing Williams and Thabeet, a recipe for losing. However, if we have a shortened season, similar to the 50 game season in the past, with a short training camp, no summer league, etc., then tanking takes on a different light for me. Perhaps "tanking" is the wrong word to use. Giving the just drafted young guys a lot of minutes, along with more Williams and Thabeet, is likely to put us well into the lottery, so in for a penny, in for a pound! Players like Patterson would get more burn and Scola can play less than 30 minutes a game. Keep down Martin's minutes. Luis and Chuck might have to be hogtied to the bench, but would be invaluable in practice. After next summer, make some noise.

Hey, I've been hearing calls for tanking for a long time. "Getting a top five lottery pick is the only way we'll get better in the long run. Heck, top three! " If the lockout goes deep into this coming season, now's the time to do it, if you ever are.

 

Bingo! This is exactly the kind of stupid moves I have been screaming about. Thabeet and TWill as castaways from other clubs being our riding the bench flops. Signing Scola to a long large deal at such an older age. Giving Miller three years at 5 mill a pop and turning that into super flop scrub Johnny Flynn. Turning Tmacs large cap number into.....Jordan Hill and Jared Jeffries.

A team of flops and supposed assets. And some of you are excited about these. Congrats we have the 2009 all flop and bust team.

Even when I look at our situation as outlined by BT, basically I see the Rockets as screwed for a long time. We aren't going to pick up anything useful this year with our limited ability, and waiting it out for 2012 for a Nash (uhh no thanks) or Chris Paul or D Howard isn't going to happen. Why on gods green earth would D Ho come to Houstons depleted roster of scrubs when all he gripes about is roster in Orlando. At least Orlando's roster minus D Ho is lightyears ahead of Houston's.

We are screwed for years. Our only only shot at anything is to tank and hope for a game changer in 2012. Sucks, sucks, sucks.

Drinking the DM kool-aid has cost Houston as an organization big time. Overrated and not producing. Hey at least he got us one bad ass coach in the process.

 

Nene turned down a very generous $12.5/year from the Nuggets. Definitely do not want him for more than that, he's not worth it.