This guy is a hot commodity, believe it or not. First of all, this guy will never play basketball again. But his contract is what makes him so desirable. Since he has effectively retired from the NBA, insurance will effectively pay 80% of his salary. This saves Minnesota so much on luxury tax, it isnt even funny. Naturally, alot of teams are after him. Indiana is looking to get rid of Austin Croshere for him, so that they can have enough cap space to resign Jermaine and Brad Miller. Houston will try to send Taylor or Cato for him. Maurice Taylor / Kelvin Cato Terrence Morris (resigned) for Terrel Brandon This shld fit the 115% rule. Both those guys are definetly a better bet for Minnesota than Austin Croshere, although Cato and Taylor have killer contracts. This trade is great for the Rockets, they get rid of one of the 3 bad contracts (Moochie, Maurice, Kelvin) and go well under the cap, and still have Rice's expiring contract. This now makes Rice an easily tradeable commodity, and the Rockets wont have to worry about luxury tax biting them in the ass for years to come.
Are you sure about that? From what I've read/heard, even if they get rid of that contract, they are still at the. I could be wrong. In either case, it is not the type of move I expect the Rockets to make.
I would hope that if the Rockets are trading, they are actually trading to make the team better. Not just unload contracts. I hope we are trying to win, not just cut salary.
THis is necessary for winning. If they do this, then they can deal Rice's huge expiring contract for a decent player, and not worry about being way over once they sign Yao and Boki to extensions, dont forget Posey needs to be resigned at well, probably near the MLE.
Is it just me, or does it seem like you have to have a degree in accounting to be a sports fan these days...
If I am the Rockets, I don't see how taking on a $10 MIL contract for 2 years with no talent in return makes up for the loss of your two top reserve big men. I don't understand that trade at all.
I believe Boki will be a player eventually; however, could we see him develope into one before we actually extend his contract?
That's the whole point, they dont have to pay Terrel Brandon's contract, insurance covers 80% of it! But right now they can get rid of a BS contract like that of Taylor or Cato's for him... sigh, where are the hardcore fans?!
I could actually see the Rox doing this deal for T. Brandon. They have a history of giving away $10 million dollar contracts and not getting anything in return: Moochie Norris (I still can't figure that one out) Kevin Cato (until this past season, when he actually played well) Matt Maloney (OK, not 10 mill, but still....) Terrel Brandon could probably contribute more to the team than Moochie though, even with only one leg....
Someone correct me if I am wrong, but Brandon's contract still counts against the salary cap (whether insurance pays 80% or not). Now, if Brandon retires due to medical reasons or if the team gets an independant Dr. to verify that he can no longer play because of injury, then his contract still counts against the cap until two years from the date of his injury. I believe Brandon was injured in early 2002. So that means, his contract doesn't come off the cap until early 2004, which means his salary slot is useless to us until that following summer. Also, we can apply for a injury exception this summer, which would be around $4 MIL or so. However, we already have the MLE available to us and two exemptions can not be combined. So therefore, you are trading away two huge pieces of our team and we don't stand to benefit in any way, shape or form until next summer. Plus, I don't think the salaries do not match in your trade proposal. sigh, where are the salary cap experts that can clarify this?
That was my thought as well. I believe that it still counts against the cap. So we gain absolutely nothing, but lose our top two backups. Makes no sense. Cap experts, are you out there?
Why does everybody want to get rid of Cato? Blah blah blah about the contract. He is an excellent backup making too much money but he's still an excellent backup. Who would you replace him with? Who has equal talent for less money?