How much salary is Sergio Llull worth and how much $$ gets him here?

Sounds more like a Bima question to me. Could have already been answered. Someone should do a search.
(I'm still busy drinking coffee and catching up)

 

Sorry, this isn't a direct answer to your question. But in the Gersson Rosas podcast a few days ago, it was said that Llull will only come over when the time is right:

"He's playing on one of the best teams in Europe in Real Madrid. His message to us is he's motivated to come to the NBA, but he wants to come at the right time. A couple of things that come into play with that are: We wants to win at a very high level in Europe, and he wants to come over when he has an opportunity to play. We can understand that. When we draft an international player we work with those guys hand-in-hand to make sure the timing is right. The worst thing you can have is to bring a guy over too soon and it doesn't work out. ... What he is doing over there is special. I think we're very fortunate that he is playing at a high level and having the success he has had... that's a day-to-day process... We'll be prepared when that opportunity arises."

 

I thought Bima said it would take a minimum of $3 million to get him here, plus there's some kind of buyout (though his buyout under his new contract is supposedly more friendly to the Rockets).

I wouldnt be surprised if Morey offered $3.5 to 4 million for 4 years, with the 4th year being non-guaranteed. We have to be under the cap to do this, however.

 

You are probably right. Dwight coming and Lin leaving are both major if's though. I certainly wouldn't be opposed to it.

 

I don't think he's anything special. #StayLull

 

Yep, basically Llull wants to secure his European legacy with a Euroleague championship. That was what Morey said a while back in an interview, and Gersson Rosa repeats the point here. It's not the Rockets you need to look at. It's Real Madrid. Llull doesn't want to leave till he wins a championship in the Euroleague, which he fell short of this season. He won the Spanish Cup but lost the Euroleague championship.

The Euroleague Championship is the highest tier out of all the European basketball tiers, above the Eurocup or the Spanish League.

So he's not coming over till he wins one with Real Madrid. He wants to conquer that mountain and secure his legacy in Europe before heading to the NBA. That's when the "time will be right" and why he doesn't want to "come over too early." It's the competitive spirit in him and his loyalty to all the years with Real Madrid that won't let him come before he wins a championship with them. It's why he signed a long-ass contract with Real Madrid. He intends to stay there for a long while till he wins one.

 

Rosa also said "he's done that"...meaning he's won at high level in Europe. Checking it off, so to speak.

Personally, I think he's waiting for two things...

1) Dwight (or any 2nd superstar) to sign with Houston.
2) Lin to be traded.

 

Why would you guarantee anything to a guy that hasn't played a minute in the NBA? We aren't talking about Ricky Rubio, kid was a late second round pick, if there was any value to him, someone would have talked to the Rockets about getting him and Morey probably would have traded him already.

 

If that's the case, I can certainly respect that. He's putting in the work not because he needs to, but because it's all that he has on his mind. That says a lot about his character. He's entirely devoted to the task at hand, and he's devoted to his team. I have not seen him play other than a few highlights, but if anything, his character and leadership he's displaying by staying put and fighting for a Euroleague championship would make him very valuable to this team. Hopefully he does win one, I'm certainly rooting for him.

 

Not sure that I'm the expert on this subject or anything. I've actually been wondering the same thing for a while now. Here's my take (FWIW):

I don't see Llull coming over this summer. The Rockets will attempt to maximize their cap room this summer to add Dwight Howard. Assuming that they sign Howard, the Rockets will likely be capped out both this summer and next summer. But I think, if Llull is ready and willing to come over next summer, the Rockets could offer him the amount of the Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception (up to $3.278 million starting salary, up to a three-year deal totaling ~$10.3 million). Basically, something similar to the contract the Rockets gave to Luis Scola as an NBA rookie.

It's possible that the Rockets would want to carve out from some of that Taxpayer MLE amount enough money to offer a longer-term deal to one or more 2014 second round picks (if any). Also, even though the Rockets are unlikely to be taxpayers in 2014-15, they probably wouldn't want to exceed the Taxpayer MLE amount in order to avoid a hard cap at the "apron" above the tax level.

Of course, the selection of Isaiah Canaan might change the team's thinking about Llull (at least a little bit). So much can happen between now and next July/August, but the Rockets now have Lin, Beverley and Canaan on the roster. My guess is that at least one of those guys needs to be gone before Llull agrees to come over.

Again, this is all just my guess on the situation. But there it is.

 

Is it just me or it's really cool and odd that his last name is made out of 4 L's and a voweL.

 

Reductio ad absurdum? The Rockets aren't going to offer him a max contract, nor are they guaranteeing him a championship.

If I recall correctly, when he signed the new contract, Real Madrid put in a 5 Million Euros buyout. That translated to a $6.5M American Dollars buyout after accounting for exchange rate. About $500K of that can be covered by the Rockets without charging the cap. That leaves $6M that needs to be charged to the cap unless he's willing to fork over money out of his own bank account with cash upfront. That $6M buyout can't be more than 15% of his total compensation as a signing bonus (if you're not using it as a signing bonus, then Llull has to dig into his bank account and put up the cash up front for the buyout).

A 15% signing bonus of $6M means a total compensation package of $40M package spread over the standard max of 4yrs means you have to pay him $10M per year in order to fit in his buyout as a signing bonus.

Now, it's possible that his buyout diminishes each year of his Real Madrid contract so that it's no longer the $5 million euros of last year.

 

Any trade that involves the use of available cap room necessitates that the Rockets WAIVE the use of all salary cap exceptions (except for the Room Exception).

However, what you seem to be describing (by trading Lin and taking back little salary) is a situation in which the Rockets have enough CAP ROOM left over after signing (or S&T) Howard to use on Llull and Canaan. That's theoretically possible.

Still, I don't see Sergio Llull as a Houston Rocket next season.

 

From the many Sergio Llull threads that were posted when he was debating between signing with the Rockets or going in for a new contract extension.

http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=218367

 

Forget this guy, he isn't worth it.