Gortat: How did he escape us?

I believe he was too 'spensive. Besides this was right after his moster playoff series... could be too small a sample.

 

He already had an iPad

 

He was a restricted free agent, so we couldn't have offered more than Dallas.

Many people think its a mistake that we never made an offer. I think what happened is if we made an offer, we'd be stuck for a week or whatever waiting to see if Orlando would match. And, in all likelihood, they were going to match. Even though Gortat was the top guy we wanted, the Rockets weren't willing to lose out on other possible targets (like Ariza) while playing the waiting game.

 

I buy this. A lot of people forget that when you tender an offer sheet to a restricted free agent, that money is completely tied up until the other team matches.

That may not seem like a big deal at first, but it's actually a huge deal, since the window on getting the really desirable free agents is very short, and other teams are going to have a free hand in doing so while you wait around to just see an offer get matched anyway.

Consequently, the free agency signing period becomes a game of chess, and it can often be bad strategy to lock up that much money early on a guy you have zero chance of obtaining.

 

He wanted to stay in orlando. They traded him to the suns a year after.

 

to add to this.

IIRC, all the Rockets had available to offer was the MLE, which ORL could easily match.

 

The mistake instead was not trading Kevin Martin for him. Orlando wanted K-Mart for this guy, but we turned them down.

 

Too bad Martin ended up being worthless to the Rockets.

 

All the Rockets could offer was the full MLE. The Rockets made an initial offer of slightly less than the full MLE. Gortat did not agree to sign it, because he agreed to meet with Dallas. Cuban upped the Rockets offer by offering the full MLE. Gortat signed the offer sheet and Orlando quickly matched it. Gortat intended to stay in Orlando all along.

Rockets could not offer more than the full MLE and were never in a position to get Gortat. Orlando intended to match from day 1. The Rockets made numerous offers later to trade for Gortat, but Orlando was not interested. Eventually we just moved on...

 

Rockets had no chance. Orlando played Dallas the same way Morey played the Knicks with Lin/Douglas. The Magic pretended to concede the loss of Gortat, bowed down to Cuban and said sorry my Lord, please at least trade us Bass, after they got Bass they signed Gortat, drove off in a Ferrari being towed by a Lambo, laughed at the world, then traded for Arenas.

 

My memory of that deal basically it went something like this.

1. Morey made Gortat his #1 FA target, and spoke to him before anyone else. However, he did not offer Gortat the full MLE. He said he had a figure that was fair for a player of Gortat's caliber and offered him. I don't remember the exact figure though.
2. Dallas offered Gortat the full MLE, to which Gortat signed.
3. The Rockets then offered the full MLE to Ariza, to which he accepted.
4. Orlando matched Dallas' offer sheet for Gortat.

Although in the end it didn't matter, Morey's decision to somewhat nickel and dime Gortat was quite frankly a rookie mistake. In that he offered what he thinks Gortat should be worth, rather than what his market value was. Morey has since changed this methods. Ariza got the full MLE from us. Lin and Asik both signed with us for a number no other team would match. He would've offered Nene more than the Nuggets/Nets, but didn't pull the trigger because of 'basketball reasons'. So Gortat was the one and only time Morey made a wishy washy type of a FA offer.

 

1) Gortat did NOT intend to stay in Orlando all along. The Magic sent mixed signals about whether they were going to match.

2) The Rockets were not willing to offer the full MLE and told him that. (In the end it was irrelevant, but Morey's evaluation of Gortat was off. He was better than even Morey thought)

3) Having your money tied up matters. It ultimately hurt Dallas as Orlando was able to steal another player while Dallas was tied up waiting for them to match (Was it Bass?) and then Orlando matched on the offer anyway. Cuban was furious.

 

I remember, except they signed Bass as a FA. That was badass.

 

Ha, my sentiments exactly.

 

I recall him saying something along the lines of he wasn't interested in Houston because he didn't want to live under the pressure of replacing Yao.

 

James Harden says hello.

 

Rookie mistake right here

 

I know it's been said, but it's worth saying again:

Dallas didn't get him either..........


(r****d thread?)