[ClutchFans] Morey Q&A: Expect Asik to remain a Rocket for duration of contract

He doesn't want to play for the Rockets anymore and likely won't. So they'll either have to trade, buyout or amnesty.

 

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"Getting hard. You've wasted the cheap part of his contract. & he hasn't played since Dec."
@Jonathan_Feigen on trading Omer Asik #Rockets

 

That's Morey's M.O. He's never needed to trade anyone, since he's been here.

 

Definitely. I been saying this for awhile. These stupid lil mind games and media tricks will only make other GM's resent him. I wish he'd just say "We are working on moving Asik, something may or may not happen".

However, if Asik stays a Rocket after the trade deadline it's a failure for our organization.

 

They will trade him if they can get value. If they can't get value they will keep him.

If they keep him and Asik continues to fiddle fart around they will suspend him. That likely won't take place until next season....when he's earning big checks. Morey will likely take this year to do everything in his power to make good with Omer if they can't trade him by Feb. 20th. Then after this season, once they move on to next season...if Omer decides to play games....it will get nasty. Morey's not going to dole out $15 million to a guy just jerking around. And Omer will be in his contract year. He's not likely to continue dogging it. That will hurt his value on the free agent market. So odds are he'll start playing and playing well. Too much to lose for Omer for him to dog it through next season.

We'll either trade him by Feb. 20th or we'll get him back to playing for real.

 

If another team isn't willing to make a fair trade for Asik, then it's a failure by the Rockets? The Rockets can't force other teams to trade with them. Do you want the Rockets to make a bad trade just to unload Asik?

 

Of course I know he is trying to play the poker game, but that also comes with the mistake of overplaying your hand.

Hypothetically, let's say we do hold on to him and he doesn't play. What does that do for team morale? Guys busting their but playing 40+ minutes every night while asik sits at home and collects a pay check is a chemistry killer and creates a rift between the players and f.o. You have a harden and Dwight duo with a finite championship window. So let's say we suspend him? What happens? Obviously it hurts Asik but at the same time it reduces his value to a bag of chips. If that weren't so, we would have already suspended him.

 

I agree,You don't want a guy who's checked out playing for you. That doesn't help your team or the locker room.

At this point, he's pissed and trying to screw the Rockets, which he can.

 

Thank you very much for sharing this. Very interesting tidbits.

 

Can we bring back Steve Patterson as a guest GM? He can accuse a Rockets C of faking an injury.

Championship: Guaranteed.

 

A buyout? Not during the season, I'd imagine. Morey wouldn't want to see Assik slither off to a competitor, especially a WC team.

 

Wow, that's a terrible conclusion. I think he is looking at it with a bit more professionalism than that.

 

Can the rockets withhold salary for failure to render services or conduct detrimental to the team? Surely, Asik can not say he is injured indefinitely.

My understanding is that if you sign an employment contract, and fail to provide services, the principal /employer can withhold pay or terminate the contract.

It is also my understanding that unless a contract states exactly what role a person performs (I.e. starts at center), the player has to provide services. Is Asik even showing up for practice and team functions? That is part of a players contract.

I am not a CBA expert here, so I am hoping someone can help me out.

 

Or maybe the team sucks with no real big on the floor and rockets don't have backup center

 

IF Asik is indeed faking an injury and refusing to play, of course the team can fine him or suspend him without pay. This is what they ended up doing with Royce White for a period of time, if I remember correctly.

However:

1. People here suspect that Asik is not injured, but no one know for sure that we are not dealing with other scenarios: Perhaps Asik is not faking an injury and/or perhaps the absence is more or less consenctual-- maybe the injury is something he could have normally played with, but he (and maybe the team) don't want to take on even a small risk of re-aggravation when they are working on a trade.

2. Even if Asik is just flat out refusing to play, it does not benefit the team to get into a public fight with the player right now when they are trying to trade him. Things might change in different circumstances-- like if Asik only has 2 month left under contract and the trade dealine is in the past-- but not now.

Some people here get so angry that they just want the team to do everything they can to punish/hurt Asik no matter whether it benefits the team or not. This is, however, not Morey's job. Morey's job and goal is to help the Rockets win. If this means Asik gets a few more undeserved paycheck, I don't think it maters to Morey.

 

The moment a suspension gets announced, is the moment Asik's trade value hits an all-time low, if its not there already.

However if they really are ok keeping him this year and next, and the injury is faked, a suspension will be the quickest way to get Asik on to the court ASAP to help them out. But you do run the risk in getting pathetic performances from Omer and of course, you are waiving the white flag for trading Omer before his contract is up.

The best thing to happen in this scenario (assuming he isn't injured and he's just pouting) is to keep him away from his team long enough to allow him and his agent to realize that the longer they stay off the court, the worse off he's going to do in free agency in two years, and if he wants to make money in 2015, he needs to just suck it up and play as a backup like he did in Chicago, and playing for the two weeks before the trade deadline will only help his trade value to get a deal done.

A suspension IMO doesn't really solve anything for the Rockets in their hopes of trading him at the deadline. It only hurts that option they are trying to accomplish.

I fully expect that the Rockets will try to trade him next month again, and Asik will play for a few weeks before the deadline to show off his talents for the rest of the NBA to take notice. If he wants out, than he's got to play actual basketball for at least a week before the deadline.

 

They did that with Maxwell when he went awol and refused to play.

One more question.
We can only speculate on Asik's injury and I am sure the Rockets are fully abreast of his health status.

Can you withhold salary without suspending a player?
In other words, why do we be need to suspend him. If Asik does not play, can we withhold salary for the games he refused to suit up in and when he is ready to play, start paying him again?

Again, I am not well versed on the CBA, so I am hoping you can help me out.

 

The offers for Assik must have been pure crap for Morey to keep him on the roster.

 

Can't wait to see what happens with asik. If nothing happens then the bass + lee + 1st round pick looks like a move money should've took.

I know I know lee contract was until 2016 but we saw how easy Danny got rid if him without even giving up a pick. He would've been solid here so I have no reason to believe morey wouldn't have been able to get a team to take him after next year especially if with a 2015 or 2015 pick from the celtics

bass & lee have been playing solid. bass jumper is legit and he's a guy with playoff experience especially on defense. A solid big with a midrange jumper is something we are missing here. Lee is the perfect 6th man 3 & d guy that could play the 1-3.

we could've resigned camby or signed Bynum to back up Howard.

then with the NY pick we have if we wanted to move Lin it would've been easier to find a taker for him with that pick, perhaps that could've got you a solid back up center if you didn't want camby or Bynum. Or whatever other position needed an upgrade. Packaging Lin + pick + dmo could've got something even better.

Feb 20th is right around the corner so we will see which formula was better.

 

Oh, ye of little faith. Get ready for crow souffle.