[2019-20] Luxury Tax Watch

Possibilities dwindling....

I’m bracing myself

 

I know you are trying to remain optimistic, but move after move it appears this team is doing it's best to duck the luxury tax.

I have absolutely no faith that he will give Shumpert a nice traceable contract. I've lost faith in ownership and we are only lucky that Harden was already here when he became owner.

I hope that you can shove it in my face that I was wrong.

 

I think you may be right. Giving away future picks while putting all of your eggs in the present.

If you don’t go into the the luxury tax now. Then why would you when we are not a top 5 team in the future and don’t have our own draft picks.

It’s blatant.

 

Because Russ is a bigger star than Harden and STARS GET TILMAN CARS.

 

I'm slow. Why do people want Iman Shumpert so much? Did he recently stop being Iman Shumpert?

 

To trade for an upgrade at the SF/PF position. I'm not too sure on the setup of a potential trade though.

 

Why dont we just sign a SF/PF? Why the extra step? Is there no one better than Iman Shumpert?

 

Bird rights

 

We’re over the cap. So to alter the roster you have to make a trade I believe.

 

Gotcha.

 

Why would a team looking to trade for an expiring shump not just trade with us now for similar assets and less salary commitment (with the additional 9 million we can take in the Westbrook trade)

Option A
Trade unwanted salary for picks and no salary

Option B
Trade unwanted salary for picks and shump at whatever cost?

Either no one bit on our assets now or we weren’t looking to add additional salary.

 

You have already seem the ending of this movie/

 

QFT.

THIS is why not expanding the trade is so disappointing. This was FAR AND AWAY the best and most realistic chance to add salary via trade. A (big) Shumpert S&T was always a bit of a stretch, given that his contract would likely be a negative asset. This trade presented the opportunity to add someone without sending any “bad salary” back, or they could take back another large salary in exchange for much less outgoing salary.

If the Rockets end up either below or only slightly above the tax threshold, fans have a right to be upset. If the team truly didn’t want to pay much tax (but was okay paying some), maybe they should have just used their Non-Taxpayer MLE in free agency.

 

If the Rockets do win this next season they most likely won't for the next decade. 2030 seems far FAR away.

 

Yeah, the more you look at it, the more concerning it gets.

1) No significant use of the MLE, despite a clear message that we would.

2) Did not use the Westbrook trade to maximize talent on roster.

3) TBD on Shumpert, but given that we didn’t take advantage of the Westbrook trade, why would a team bite on a Shumpert SnT.

If we don’t sign Shumpert to a 1 year deal worth at least $8+ million in order to keep our trade options open into the season, then the writing is on the wall...we’re ducking the tax again.

 

It’d need to be a two-year deal to avoid One-Year Bird issues. Second year could be non-guaranteed.

 

This x 1000.

Folks, take time to read this and understand.