I think its almost a no-brainer that the Rockets operate above the cap from the outset of the coming offseason because that's really the only way they maintain their current level of talent. If they do , keeping Brewer is the easiest decision for both player & franchise. I'm not really concerned about him because they can exceed the cap to resign him due to owning early bird rights. The only real question here is how do they keep Smith & McDaniels - both of which would have to fit within the confines of the MLE because they have no bird rights on either which means they have to use either cap space , a minimum contract or an exception , the only one they have being the MLE. Basically it all boils down to how much McDaniels is offered on the open market and if there is enough remaining to tempt Smith to stick around.
Morey will never overpay to Brewer and Smith. I think he will let Brewer go, but he will give effort to keep Smith here
