Parsons's deal started at $850,000. If Canaan sees that the Rockets are literally offering him every penny left over after signing Dwight, plus the security of two fully guaranteed years, he may take a starting salary of a little over $570,000 and give the Rockets a partially or non-guaranteed third year.
If instead of waiving Anderson and Ohlbrecht, we trade Smith for a second rounder and retain Ohlbrecht...we can then give Canaan a starting salary of $665,985, about $90,000 more than if we let Ohlbrecht and keep Smith with no second rounder. I would rather try to do this than keep Smith.
What makes you think Canaan deserved $665,985 + trading Smith. He's a ****ing rookie...he doesn't deserve anything until he proved it.
1. BECAUSE Morey is an excellent talent evaluator and consistently hits on guys in the 2nd round. 2. BECAUSE we can probably get a second rounder for Smith. 3. BECAUSE we might need to give Canaan a little more money to get him to commit to the third year. The third year is very key to controlling these players' salaries into restricted free agency and then being able to sign them for good value or let them walk after getting 3 seasons out of them for a little bit of nothing in the grand scheme of the salary cap. 4. Because if he blows up in the first 3 years, we can sign him or sign-and-trade him if it is better for us.
I wouldn't doubt it if the Rockets are exploring exactly this scenario. If the Rockets are DEFINITELY keeping Asik for this season (which is far from certain), such a move makes some sense. They'd probably want to get a GOOD (projected) second rounder for Smith, though. That's probably the Rockets' goal. May largely depend on Canaan and his agent.
New Salary Calculations based on the announced 58,679,000 Cap Assuming T-Rob and White trades are executed and Ohlbrect and Anderson waived. Howard signed to the max. 1) Howard 20,513,178 2) Harden 13,701,250 3) Asik 8,374,646 4) Lin 8,374,646 5) Jones 1,551,840 6) Motiejunas 1,422,720 7) Garcia 1,300,000 8) Caspi 1,000,000 9) Parsons 926,500 10) Smith 884,293 11) Beverley 788,872 12) Canaan 490,180 (Rookie Min. assumed) 13) Covington 490,180 *Honeycut 100,000 Total Salary = 59,918,305 Luxury Tax Line 71,748,000 Available: Room Exception 2.652
I think I was incorrect about Canaan, I thought once we sign him, the cap hold of $490,180 goes away and we can add that to his starting salary...my bad. Also, Robert Covington has a minimum contract, doesn't change anything though. Player: Yrs. ('13-'14) Current ('13) Howard 4 $20,513,178 Harden 5 $13,701,250 Parsons 2 $926,500 Lin 2 $8,374,646 Asik 2 $8,374,646 Jones 3 $1,551,840 Motiej 3 $1,422,720 Beverley 2 $884,293 Smith 1 $884,293 Canaan 3 $575,094 Garcia 2 $1,265,977 Casspi 2 $947,907 Covington 2 $490,180 Total $59,912,524 Cap Room -$1,233,524 Tax $11,835,476 Accounting for those changes...nothing is different in the overall cap, it is still the same (that $490,180 I thought went to Canaan just goes to Covington instead).
I actually believe Ohlbrecht would be a better back up option to Dwight than Greg Smith. He's longer and plays better D (IMO) and has a more varied offensive game. Smith has bigger hands and is stronger. (so what)
As far as Anderson goes.....here's a typical conversation when he is waived....... "Hey James, we really like you and we want you back. If you get waived by (insert name of team) we will pick you up and you will have a guaranteed minimum salary deal." Anderson then goes to team that picked him up and decides if he wants to stink up training camp, get cut, and go back to Rockets or if he wants to stay on a non-guaranteed deal and plug away for another team. I'm not for sure Anderson would actually get picked up even. But if he did, he would really control where he wants to play.
Order of operations, guys. Rockets will likely make their (reported) moves in the following order: 1) Consummate the Robinson and White trades 2) Waive salary (Anderson and Ohlbrecht, most likely) 3) Sign Dwight Howard (upon which $490,180 in additional cap room will open up) 4) Sign Isaiah Canaan to a 3- or 4-year deal 5) ONLY THEN, sign Garcia and Casspi to their deals. Fair Dinkum, you are also off on your cap figures for Garcia and Casspi. While they will get paid close to the amounts you listed (go look at cbafaq.com for the actual veteran's minimum salaries for players with their respective levels of experience), you neglect the fact that they will only count against the cap at the 2-year vet minimum, or $884,293. I can pretty much guaran-damn-tee you that James Anderson, a veteran of the San Antonio Spurs' system and someone who Gregg Popovich continues to think highly of as a young man, WILL NOT do any such thing. Dude is a professional and will bust his ass to make whichever team might claim him off waivers.
Excellent post. We're most likely to re-sign Anderson to similar contract after he clears waivers if he wants to stay in Houston. Boston may be interested in picking up Ohlbrect and he would probably have more opportunity there than playing behind Howard and Asik. Interesting proposition of yours in trading G.Smith for a second rounder. It has to be for a likely high second rounder and has to happen in the next few day. Therefore i think its unlikely but a good idea.
We lose too much if we don't get a PG in return. Advanced metrics says Al is a fantastic player, but Ferry and the Hawks haven't been about that life. They're interested in profitability as a small market and possess tempered expectations of success. Further as I understand it, Jeff Teague had wanted his contract situation sorted earlier but the Hawks held out and are now rumoured to be in negotiations with the Bucks for a Teague-Jennings swap. Very un-Ferry-like move though as he's been about salary cap management after shedding ISO-Joe and is a Spurs graduate of "no bull****". Bringing me to the point of how Josh Smith also developed an untenable situation with management at the Hawks, and Al Horford has continually expressed his desire to play PF but with the acquisition of Paul Milsap it's apparent that Al will have to be playing C again. A core of Jeremy Lin, Lou Williams, Kyle Korver, Terrence Jones, Paul Milsap and Omer Asik is more than enough to maintain 5th-7th seed in the Eastern Conference. Sure they're likely first round outs or second at best, but that's what their roster looks like now regardless - with or without the PG swap. In this alternative scenario however, they have a still developing Lin who is better than Teague and especially Terrence Jones which has shown glimpses of great promise. Important to them as a small market is that if Lin can assume relative success being the lead guard they may register back on the NBA map, rather than continue to be a desert wasteland. So those are the reasons why the Hawks would consider it. Al Horford is a very, very good player. Importantly as well is that he's also a very cerebral and well-mannered guy. He'd be a perfect 3rd banana. Al Horford consolidates the PF position from one of uncertainty into an All-Star two-way player with incredible versatility. Asik & Lin alone, imo, aren't as valuable as Al Horford on a $12M per year contract unless the other team already has an all-star PF and huge holes at the PG and C position.
No. Bima is right. No way Anderson goes in the tank to come back here. But I'd bet the Rox will tell him they'd re-sign him if he clears waivers. However, Orlando or Charlotte or Milwaukee...somebody will pick him up.
No way...i watch this dude play...he sucks. Smith is more polish and fit the team better. You're probably a fan of Ohlbrecht that's why you're favoring keeping him and trade Smith lol. No way in hell Morey is trading Smith...mark my words down. Players like Ohlbrecht and Anderson are just garbage and they WILL let them go.
LOL, famous last words. I'm not a fan of Ohlbrecht necessarily. I gave my reasons why I prefer him. Reason I want to keep him is because it gives us greater trade flexibility. He fits better at the 4 than Smith does as well because of his ability to stretch the floor with the jumper. If you've watched Smith that much then you do realize he is less than zero on the defensive end. He is not a good rim protector and he's a terrible post-up defender. And if he's in space against a shooter....nada..nothing....either the shot goes down or he has to scramble to get up and the opponent just busts by him on the drive. He's a minus defensively.
What...? Ohlbrecht can stretch the floor w/ a jumper?? That's new. lol. I wouldn't bet my life on that.
Thanks Bima! So both players are on minimum contracts. Caspi 884,293 Garcia 1,272,279 Total Cap from my post before = 59,774,877
Yes, after reading Bima's post I agree. No way Anderson tanks, it'll be like pulling a Royce White. Definitely someone will pick him up, maybe even the Spurs again.
