I know now is not the time with the playoffs and all, but DraftExpress had this section on the Rockets. Does anyone know how the money actually sorted itself out as far as the Francis to Memphis trade. How much did the Rox actually save. I know they avoided the luxury tax, but didnt they also pay most of Francis' salary anyway and give up the early 2nd round pick. Anyway, here is what was said: The Houston Rockets managed to secure a very valuable asset on draft night last year when they picked up the Memphis Grizzlies’ 2^nd rounder, as part of the Donte Greene-Darrell Arthur-Nicolas Batum 3-team trade. Unfortunately for them, they were forced to give back that pick when they unloaded Steve Francis’ contract back on Memphis, which saved them a substantial amount of money in luxury tax savings, and allowed them to resign veteran Dikembe Mutombo. They also parted ways with their first round pick as part of the Ron Artest trade, and thus will convey the #23 selection to Sacramento. Now, Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey tells us that his team does not plan on standing pat in this draft. “We plan to buy our way back into the draft using some of this money” Morey told us via email this week, referring to the money his team was able to save by trading Francis. Morey did not specify which round the team will be looking to move into. It’s widely believed that due to the global economic crisis, there will be numerous draft picks available in the bottom half of the first round this year as teams look to avoid being burdened by guaranteed contracts. With how weak this year’s crop of European prospects is currently shaping up to, it likely won’t be as attractive to “stash” players overseas considering the poor value involved with taking a player 10-15 spots higher than he normally would have went.
Hopefully we can pick up a early second rounder again like when we got Landry. With a draft meister like Morey you have to get him the chance. What did we pay like 1 million for th 31st pick that year?
Why not just buy 1st rd picks like the blazers have been doing for the last couple of yrs? It cost the salary slot if i'm not mistaken. Teams just outside the lotto that are against the lux tax are more willing to sell than normal.
I'm past the point of thinking I could even understand half of what the rationale for Morey's moves are. I'll just get behind them and know that the percentages say that he'll be right more often than not. Originally I was happy that we had no draft picks this year, since the down economy combined with underwhelming draft class could have led to first round picks that were just wastes of money, impinging upon our financial mobility for a couple of years as a result. But if Morey thinks he can find value by buying where others are looking to sell, by all means... just let me know what happens and I'll be ecstatic we did it.
The contracts in the 2nd are not guaranteed so it gives us more roster flexibility. Plus once you get past 10 or 15 there is not much difference to 31-35.
Dorsey has a 2 yr yr deal plus option yrs just like a 1st rd pick. Chalmers from miami does also. If you see a player and you know a team is selling, you get that player. There have been some pretty good players picked in the 20's. Josh howard,parker,prince and guys like that. portland bought fernandez from phoenix if i'm not mistaken. denver gave their last yr's pick away to the bobcats for the this yrs picks. Looking at their cap situation, they might be willing to sell their pick this year because the guy probably wont play on their team.
To get the 24th that was used to select Rudy Fernandez. The Blazers coughed up the max cash considerations of $3M and used a TE to take on James Jones ($2.9M) contract that the Suns wanted to salary dump as part of the bargain. Blazers also traded a 2nd round pick and $3M cash considerations to Philly for a 30th pick that was used to draft Petteri Koponen.
If it makes your team better, who cares. james jones was a pretty good player, but his salary allowed him to be easily moved.Rudy looks like a pretty good player also. The rockets had to take on jackie butler contract plus give scola 3m per to get him. Thats basically 5.5m for scola. Would you say he's worth 5.5 m? My answer is yes.
Morey will probably look for another big man or spacing 4, my hunch. Our back court and wing positions seem ok, depending on what we do with TMac, and what Artest and Wafer do.
I don't think the Rockets will have the necessary assets/salary space to trade for a first round pick. As they are now they'll be around $5.8M under LT when they head into free agency. There's only one possible scenario for the Rockets to create significant salary space next season and it would involve trading McGrady to the Pacers before June 30th.
The problem is Scola needed a Landry to compliment him at the time. IMO, he still does sometimes, and Chuck Hayes is not the answer. I think Artest will make a big difference on who or how we draft.
Les has been blamed for being cheap-- and sometimes, it's frustrating that he doesn't spend like Paul Allen or Mark Cuban-- but to be honest, he has been far from a real cheapskate as an owner. He never wants to pay the luxury tax, but would otherwise spend plenty of money on buying picks (Landry, Scola's draft rights). He also has certainly not underpaid coaches and front office (Morey's army of stat guys cost money).
Well to be fair, he's not as wealthy as Cuban and Paul Allen. And praise needs to go to Morey and the scouting staff. Les just ok's the moves, he's ok'd moves from CD and Rudy T that didn't work out too well and strapped us and hurt us long term. Credit Les for nudging those 2 out the door, even if the official reasons of why Rudy and CD left were on the their own terms. Credit Les for hiring Morey and not CD's heir apparent, Dennis Lindsey. I don't having anything against Lindsey, but my gut feeling tells me Les made the right decision.
I think Les spends the extra money when he sees true potential in the team. If we don't have the super stars then why bother overpaying for an average team? If their was no cap, i think we'd have one of the higher payrolls in the NBA.
Spending over the cap also is almost never worth it. Look at New York or Dallas from a few years ago. They spent wads of money and just wasted it. Even LA when they brought on Malone and Payton were thwarted by the fiscally sound Pistons in the finals. I think Leslie Alexander is willing to spend money if it guarantees championships, but it doesn't. The only thing it guarantees is less flexibility. That money is much better spent arming Morey with a team of scouts/number gurus to better evaluate talent. That extra brainpower is what has allowed us to steal brooks, landry, scola, wafer, and Lowry (in other words, every single one of our supporting guys).
But that was a strong draft and an even stronger economy back then. I agree with Leebigez that there will be some fire sales in this upcoming draft. If Morey has targeted one or two players that they really like, I don't see it as being difficult like the years past to make a trade for those players at certain areas.
