[BimaThug] Houston Rockets Salary Cap Update: 2018 Offseason Pre-Draft Edition

Klay Thompson would be a good fit but he's going to stay with Golden State so we wouldn't be able to acquire him.

 

Bima I have been confused about one thing. Can Rockets SnT Capela as part of a package? For example, if LBJ agrees to come here and opts in and CLE agrees to trade, could we offer a maxed or whatever Capela + Salary matches for LBJ or something? If Capela can be SnT to CLE in such a fashion, we gain a real trade chip, no?

 

Yes you can include a SnT player in a package but the deal that you outlined wouldn't work.

There's two issues here:

1) A team is not allowed to receive a player in a SnT if at the end of the deal they are over the tax apron. Cleveland would be so they cannot receive a SnT player.

2) Since Capela's new deal would be for more than a 20% raise, he's a Base Year Compensation (BYC) player. That means that for the purpose of a trade, he only counts at half of his new salary ($12.5M) for the Rockets outgoing salary but he counts at his full amount ($25M) for the other teams incoming salary.

It's not impossible, but his BYC status makes it more difficult to match salaries.

Since Cleveland couldn't receive a SnT player, you'd have to ship Capela to a third team that would be below the apron after the completion of the deal. Also, the team that received Capela would immediately be hard capped for the remainder of the season.

 

Interesting.

Another avenue Morey has to attack that isn’t your typical player for player trade. Would be significant maneuvering through the CBAs lesser known areas that Morey excels at.

Could this example work, if you would entertain;

SnT capela, valued on our end at 12.5m, along with ego at roughly 13m; could we combine these 2 options in order to acquire say LeBron?

So SnT capela to a 3rd team without cap space for picks and a salary within 125% of 12.5m. A team not worried about being hard capped obviously.

Trade ego into space of a 4th team for picks.

Send those picks plus our future pick(s) and the salary from the capela SnT to Cleveland for lebron.

Would this work? Essentially it’s capela SnT + ego for lebron?

 

I don't think the Cavs would want a player like Capela on a maxed out 5 year deal. Cavs want more expiring or close to expiring contracts + picks. I don't get why everyone here is still throwing Capela into these deals. Capela is probably not going anywhere.

If the Rockets get a deal done for LeBron they're going to be sending out just fat besides maybe Gordon. The teams they'll be working with are NOT going to want to be taking on any huge contracts that can't be unloaded easily when they're ready to start competing for championships.

If you can find a taker for Anderson and then throw in Gordon + a bunch of picks I think this **** can get done.

 

Did you only read the end?

I’m not advocating anything. I don’t want capela going anywhere and I expect him to stay here resigned. I’m just curious about possibilities.

I was asking @aelliott about the possibility of a certain combination of events.

Again, if you read it in full you would see I had capela going to a 3rd team and ego to a 4th team because I recognize Cleveland likely don’t want either and would likely value picks higher.

 

Two problems with your trade: In the scenario that Capela agrees to a SnT for $25m, that team (if above the cap at end of the trade), must send out $20m, whereby, we can only receive $15.6m-ish back. Thus, you have the extra problem finding a 5th team to eat that gap for us, for just the SnT to work. 2nd Problem: *any* salary we take back in the Capela SnT is essentially added to Lebron's salary to calculate our overall salary matching. So, you're still left with our outgoing salary isn't enough to absorb Lebron plus whatever the SnT spits our way.

BYC makes this all very messy.

However, there is one simple way to make your trade work nearly as stated.

Teams under the salary cap may make trades as they please, as long as they don't finish more than $100,000 above the salary cap following any trade. Salary-matching rules (the Traded Player Exception) do not apply in such scenarios.
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Easiest way to SnT Capela as part of a Lebron trade is to find a team under the cap to take all of Capela's new salary (plus the $100k buffer). Such a 3rd team wouldn't have to match Capela's salary. So, your scenario can work, if Capela is traded into space.

Bottomline: can we trade both Capela and Ego into capspace. If not, you'll need a 5th team to help deal with the BYC.

 

hmm...aside from the BYC issues you state:

I don't think we can work out a SnT prior to July 1st...not even one to consummate later. You can't talk to free agents, and two teams certainly can't announce to the world that they completed a signing, as part of a Lebron Opt-in in June.

@BigMaloe while having fun working out a BYC SnT for Capela, the obvious just dawned on me. I don't think it's legal to do it prior to July 1st.

 

I'm just saying because I see a lot of ideas around here that assume the Rockets MUST give up key rotation pieces. I don't think Morey wants to gut this team as much as yall think. I also dont think we dont have to gut the team based on salary constraints. Why would any team care for PJ Tucker at this stage of career given his contract? People are thinking too much in terms of player ability and not in terms of finances down the line. PJ Tucker is 33 with 3 years remaining on his deal, no one is going to want that 2 years from now, maybe not even 1 year from now. Believe or not the Rockets and Warriors are probably the only seasoned contending teams right now in the league while everyone else getting into the playoffs were just a bonus.

 

CP3 deal was done June 28th/29th of last summer.

LeBron isn't a FA until he officially opts out.

 

irrelevant to what I said.

I said a Capela SnT cannot be agreed to prior to July 1st. Name me one SnT that was ever announced prior to July 1st.

 

Of course, If Lebron opts in, then you can do the deal after July 1.

 

Agree.

But would Lebron do an Opt-in without a trade in place? I think he would, but many (including Bima) don't think he would.

I guess Morey, CLE, Lebron, Capela and the 3rd team could all keep a secret that the Capela SnT was worked out prior to July 1st in order for Lebron to Opt-in, but I'm not going down that path of blatant, yet secret, circumvention, other than to say, league could block the trade....then Lebron is stuck as an Opt-in.

 

Yeah I guess that’s the clearness I was seeking.

While, theoretically it is a possible trade “after” July 1st, it would take _holic level conspiracy and circumventing.

Practically would be illegal, and likely to get a lot of backlash. I mean the cp3 trade received a fair amount of criticism. If a lebron trade where consummated along with a capela SnT, that I’m sure would warrant an investigation of some sort.

Thanks @heypartner

 

Welcome, Kuba!
I agree a great catch-and-shoot player would be a great addition to this team (what Ryno was supposed to be). I bet JJ Reddick will consider Houston this summer, especially if we are able to land LeBron. We know the Rockets offered him the MLE last summer before signing Tucker instead. Will be interesting to see if both sides revisit a deal this summer.

 

i don't believe that Houston has any intention of trading Capela. I believe that the intention would be to acquire Lebron and retain Capela.

 

I keep seeing people talk about a Sign and Trade for Clint. I was under the impression that this doesn’t work anymore under the current CBA.

Can a CBA expert clarify, I have read over it briefly and haven’t come to the conclusion that it’s viable.

 

Sign and Trades are still legal but the rules have been tightened some. They aren't as beneficial as they were under the prior CBAs.

If you want full details the take a look at Larry Coon's FAQ

http://www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q92

 

This and subsequent comments were exactly what I was looking for, thanks!

I never thought anything involving Capela was likely (with regards to getting Lebron), but was wondering if it were even possible.

Small question. You mentioned the other scenario of trading Capela into cap space avoids BYC issues. Yet you also mentioned EG Would need to be traded into cap space as well. Could you help clarify as to why?

Couldn't it be Capela SnT into cap space of third team and EG straight up to CLE with picks for Lebron? Would we even need to trade EG in that scenario, i.e. If Capela goes to a team with cap space in a SnT, does the BYC issue of us only counting As $12.5M for outgoing still apply or it counts as the full $25M? We would only need a Zhou Qi+ to get within 25% of Lebrons opt in salary then.

 

@BimaThug @aelliott how would the Lakers go about fitting either Kawhi or Lillard into their cap in a trade package and still have 2 max slots available for Bron/PG?