Excellent, Bima! Loved the conclusion. And some people wonder why Morey has fans. Go figure! The Houston Rockets have set themselves up beautifully for this summer. They are in position to have enough cap room to offer a max salary contract, with the flexibility to even offer a “super-max” deal with some minor additional moves. The Rockets also control every single player on the roster, either via team option (Garcia) or via non-guaranteed salary (Delfino, Honeycutt, Smith, Anderson, Beverley). While the addition of a superstar like Howard or Paul is far from likely, the Rockets have positioned themselves as one of the most attractive situations for free agents over the next several years. And with significant cap flexibility, Houston is positioned nicely to improve via trades as well.
Thanks Bima. Great as always. Love the Anderson and Beverley signings. Solid role players locked up for the league minimum = more cap space for star players.
I would be very surprised if Delfino is back, unfortunately. I don't know who the Rockets try to sign next season if they can't get Paul or Howard. I think Smith and Millsap are both worth the max. Andre Igoudala is another possibility. It is very difficult for me to judge how valuable his defense is, but if a wing was ever worth the max for his defense, Iggy would be it. After that, I expect Rockets would only offer one year deals and they may not even offer all the above max.
Awesome read, repp'ed. I noticed you say "in the unlikely case" we get Howard or Paul, if that is indeed the case and we get neither, who could the Rockets realistically use that cap space on?
Bima explained Delfino's situation very well. If we're lucky, Morey will manage to get his target this summer, and also hang on to Carlos. I like what he brings to the team. Yeah, I'll be surprised if he's still here next season, but I hope he is.
I have been waiting for this one. Pretty excited to read your analysis. This summer is what Maury has been working for. Congrats to him. He deserves all the praise he's getting.
Re: Delfino: If he gets traded, most likely it will be to a team that wants to pick up his $3M guarantee. He is a good enough player to be worth at least that much. Moreover, if a team wants him strictly for salary dump purpose, HOU can just absorb the salary with its cap room without including Delfino unless we are talking about a salary above $5.2M or so.
Thanks BimaThug, very good read now I understand a little more about this year heading into this summers free agency ... Hope the rockets get that "other" star this summer
Based on what Bima wrote, I'm not sure how we can get Dwight and retain Carlos. If we keep him that means we've missed on Howard I think. Even if we waive Carlos, we're still another $3m from being able to have enough cap to get Howard. I agree he's definitely worth more than $3m.