They could waive RIP. We could waive Honeycutt. We could pick up RIP and they pick up Honeycutt. Should put them right under the tax line.
Thanks, Bima. If I understand it correctly, does that mean we can still offer a European player a contract like this: Minimum 1st year + 4.5 mil 'signing bonus', minimum for year2 and 3 at team option? I assume the amount above $550,000 used to "pay a buyout" is actually equivalent to putting that money(4.5 mil in my example) to the pocket of the player right away - just like in a 'buyout' the player would get the money without playing. If so, the 4.5 mil would only count against cap this season, because that's the only garanteed season in my example.
Haha, I thought about that when the signing was announced. But Ohlbrecht's deal is non-guaranteed for next year, so he'll have little to no impact on any of the figures in my latest cap update. As for this year, the Rockets' available cap room for draft day trades drops to about $5 million flat. You are technically correct, but such a move is highly implausible. To the extent that Chicago later gives the Rockets something of value "for free" later, the league may even investigate the teams for circumventing the trade rules. I doubt either team risks being penalized for such a move. No can do. Signing bonuses cannot exceed 15% of the total GUARANTEED contract value. And a team option (I think) is not counted as a guaranteed year. Sorry, but that type of contract just ain't gonna fly. It's probably a moot point at this point after the signing of Ohlbrecht.
Don't want to miss this nice post from Euro-newbie Thoac. Potential Clutchfans lexicon addition? (in Mel Gibson "freedom!" voice): 4-ewe-r! Seriously, Thoac, your post was fine and thanks for contributing.
We can sign a Euro for the remaining cap however, around $5 million, which he can use to pay his own buyout. Rumor was Bobby Brown. But can't find anything on his buyout over there. Have to assume Goudelock and Daniel Gibson are on the radar. Personally, I'd like to pick up Shelvin Mack or even Donald Sloan. I think either of those guys would make a nice option to have, especially if Harden went down. Gibson is just a spot-up shooter with no D. I even think Goudelock would be a better pickup than Gibson. I don't see what residual value either Honeycutt or Garcia give us. I'd like to see us cut both guys, add another guard like Mack, Sloan, or Bobby Brown, and add a real center like Whiteside.
Garcia maybe better than you expected(nice 3pts shooting, plus defender, experience, good teammate). Honeycutt would probably be cut as soon as Morey decides to sign another valuable piece, so yes I agree the European player route may remain to be explored by Morey.
I agree with everything you said about Garcia. However, the odds of Garcia seeing a minute of playing time outside of garbage time is slim to none. He's behind Harden, Chandler, Delfino, and James Anderson on the wing. If we need defense we've got Chandler and Anderson. If we need offense we've got Harden and Delfino. Garcia is a great locker room presence but we got a bunch of good guys here. Already have a good locker room. I don't see that we would lose anything on court if we cut him. And by residual value I was talking about his trade value as an expiring contract. Don't see any value there. If somebody wants him, they want him at the minimum. So, they don't want to trade for him and cut him and then try to sign him. He has no trade value. I'd just as soon cut him and go after another combo guard in case Harden, Lin, or Beverley goes down.
I am under the impression that Morey would like for the coaching staff to start Carlos Delfino, and to play smallball primarily, rather than as a "curveball." The latest ESPN piece in their Grantland section presents information that there appears to be a disagreement between the coaching staff and management regarding whether a smallball strategy should be utilized a majority of the time or a minority of the time. Read the quotes attributed to the coaching staff (mostly Kelvin Sampson) and to Morey and you can infer that there is disagreement. I think it is reasonable to assume that management wins out here, since the coaches are ultimately employees. The point here is that Francisco Garcia's role down the stretch (obviously there is no role beyond this season, as he will not be back in 2013-14) depends on whether smallball is fully embraced or not. If it's fully embraced, then Delfino starts, and the team will need someone to replace Delfino as the backup SG/SF. My guess is that this replacement is going to be Garcia, but maybe it's James Anderson, who knows. If smallball is not fully embraced, then Donatas Motiejunas or Thomas Robinson (probably Motiejunas) replaces Patrick Patterson as the starting PF, someone else replaces Marcus Morris as the backup PF (either Motiejunas, Robinson, or Terrence Jones), Delfino remains in his sixth man (backup SG/SF who often finishes games) role, and you're right, Garcia is bench fodder. We'll see how it plays out over the next week or so. Very interesting stuff!
Also, as I pointed out elsewhere, I'd look for Daniel Gibson to be waived or, more likely, bought out by Cleveland, and if/when he becomes available, it makes a lot of sense for the organization to waive Tyler Honeycutt and sign Gibson. Gibson probably has more value to the Rockets as a shooter than as a PG, though. Gibson has a very good career 3P%. Gibson would obviously only be signed to a contract for the remainder of this season, so this would have no impact on the team's 2013-14 plans or cap space.
You think Morey wants Delfino to start...???? Lol.. Well if that's true _ Dirk, Duncan, Lee, Griffin, and Clark loves the idea and hopes they do...
Looks like Delfino is back to coming off the bench where he should be and DMo is going to be starting.
Yes, I believe he does, "lol": This is from the article on Grantland, "lol." Looks like the compromise between the front office and the coaching staff is for Donatas Motiejunas to start, but I'd expect Carlos Delfino to finish games, and I'd also expect Delfino's minutes to increase. I will be shocked if Delfino isn't in the top five in minutes/game from now through the end of the season. It will be interesting to see who replaces Marcus Morris in the rotation. Will it be Thomas Robinson, who is brand new to the organization and doesn't know the system, or will it be Terrence Jones, who has paid his dues in the developmental league? Further, who will be the backup C? Will it remain Greg Smith? Will Tim Ohlbrecht be given the opportunity to replace Smith sooner rather than later in the rotation? Or will the team tinker with Thomas Robinson as the backup C, given his strong rebounding skills and the desire to work him into the rotation?
Thanks so much for your analysis and insights, Bima! Great to know someone is giving lawyers a good name! Can you confirm something for me? I understand that under the new CBA a team over the apron cannot receive a player back in a sign and trade. Therefore, is there anyway a team like Brooklyn can get Dwight now? Since DH is a free agent and BKN is over the cap, they can't sign him outright. Even if LA signed him and wanted to trade him to BKN, they can't do so unless BKN somehow dumps enough contracts to move below the apron during the summer? Also, under the new CBA, is there ANY incentive for a player to agree to a sign and trade at this point, other than to help out the team he is leaving (since the player can't get the extra year in a sign and trade anymore)? For example, if DH decided to leave LA for HOU (unlikely I know but the odds are better now than the start of the year), or if Josh Smith doesn't resign with HOU (and HOU decided they wanted to sign him) would there by any reason why HOU would want to give anything up to LA/ATL in the sign and trade, rather than just outright signing DH/JS as a free agent? The only benefit I can see to a sign and trade to a free agent now is if there is a team under the apron who doesn't have outright money to sign the free agent, and the free agent wants to go there directly because that team will pay him more money than another team. In that situation, I can see the free agent (and the other team) agreeing to the S&T. Is that correct? Thanks again for your insights!
The only way the Nets can get Howard would be in a straight up trade which I dont think can happen since his contract expires at the end of this season and the Lakers wont have him under contract to trade him once they are allowed to trade again. In order for the Nets to free up enough room to get anywhere near the tax line, they would have to find some under the cap team to take Wallace(10M) or Humphries(12M) without sending salaries in return.
You're welcome. You've basically got the gist of it on both questions. As Rockets2K mentioned, the Nets would need to drastically reduce their team salary in order to absorb Howard's salary (expected to be just over $20 million) and still be below the "apron" (expected to be in the $74-77 million range). Brooklyn's team salary for 2013-14 is already expected to be over $84 million. I just don't see any feasible way in which Brooklyn could acquire Dwight via S&T. You're right about the limited remaining benefit for a player to agree to a sign-and-trade deal from his former team. If his desired destination team could take on his salary without exceeding the apron but did not quite have enough cap room to sign him outright, there is benefit to the player to ask for a sign-and-trade. It doesn't really matter if that desired destination is offering more than other teams. Of course, the player's former team would want something of SOME value to make a S&T happen. Hypothetically, the Rockets could convince Dwight to sign with Houston outright but may fall just shy of super-max cap room. If the parties agreed, the Rockets could offer something like Terrence Jones and Royce White for Dwight in a S&T. I don't see that happening; but that's the type of situation we're talking about.
Sorry if I'm missing something, but why does Chris Paul want to leave the Clippers? They've already eclipsed the Lakers, and they're already regarded as an elite Western Conference team (at least in the regular season). Why's he already looking to bolt? Does he think that Blake Griffin sucks or something?
If you already explained this then I apologize. Harden has already agreed to a max-deal with Houston for his next contract has he not? Even if he qualified for a super-max deal, he still has already agreed to a non-super-max deal. Does the CBA allow him to renegotiate in this situation? Or did the new contract he agreed to have a stipulation in it for if he wins MVP this year?
Howard and Mitch appeared to be tied at the hip. I suspect they are going to help each other. Mitch is going to help Dwight get a brand new 5-yr contract with a player option midway through it, and Dwight is going to help Mitch get a little bit of a security blanket and a whole lot of a power grab back from Jim Buss now that Jerry is gone, and I suspect Mitch is going to tell Dwight if it doesn't work out for Dwight next season that Mitch will trade him to the Nets if he asks him to. In other words Dwight is gonna get his 5-yr max deal and still have a verbal agreement to be traded to Brooklyn at his discretion. Nice little package put together very creatively by Mitch to get his man and also get himself in a position so Jim Buss can't run him out of town without breaking up the team. So, the whole thing is, Dwight gets his 5-yr deal and he will still be able to force his way out of town if he doesn't like what is going on. There is a ton, I mean a ton, of politics at the upper echelon of the basketball world. Our best chance to acquire Dwight has come and gone. If we get him this next offseason it will be some kinda sales job by Morey. And honestly, the longer this saga has gone on, the more doubts I have about Dwight. If he can't get it going and be happy in LA running pick and roll with Nash and Kobe, is he ever going to be happy here running pick and roll with Harden. I can't see building an offense around Dwight which seems to be the only thing that will make Dwight happy. Build the offense around Dwight and sign up his buddies...you know, the old Otis Smith Championship Strategy.....that didn't work. Get Paul in here so Paul and Harden (two of the most efficient offensive machines in basketball) can throw the ball to Dwight in the post and he can dwaddle around with it while they stand around waiting to see if he'll throw it out to them with the shot clock winding down. I just don't see it anymore. Last year, yes. I could see getting Dwight in here and selling him on the opportunity to play here. But we didn't have Harden then. Whatever moves we make from here on out, it has to be with the idea of building around HARDEN, not Supergoofboy! When you look at the offensive machines in this league, you've got Lebron, Durant, Paul, and Harden. After those 4, everybody else is on a lower plain. That includes Melo, Love, Lamarcus, Dirk, Dwight, etc. Unless we bring one of those other three guys in here, then everything we do offensively should be done to complement Harden. If Dwight or any other superstar player can't accept that....do we really want them? I am thinking more and more every day that the best use of our salary cap is taking on Pau's expiring deal and getting him to extend for Tim Duncan money.
