Dragic is getting more attention, but Courtney Lee will become a free agent. So, I am wondering how much everyone thinks he'll get offered. A couple notes: 1. Courtney Lee is a Restricted Free Agent. Thus, the Rockets have the right to match any outside offer. Morey said they intend to keep him, but this is what you always expect a team to say in such a situation (even if they don't really want to keep him badly, threatening to match might cause another team to give you something for a sign and trade). 2. Until Lee is either re-signed or let go, his contract carries a $5.56 million "cap hold." This means that keeping Lee would eat into the Rockets' available cap room by $5.56 million until he is either re-signed (in which case the actual contract number counts against the cap) or let go (in which case the cap impact becomes $0). I am thinking his value tops off at about the MLE (4 years $21.39 milion total). On one hand, he is the very model for the good role-player wing: good shooter/slasher/defender and a good teammate. On the other hand, he is undersized against some match-ups and doesn't really create any offense for the team (his moves off the dribble is really limited to pull-up Js and straight line drives). My thinking is that team without cap room can do worse with its MLE than using to sign Lee. However, a team with actual significant cap room will not want to reduce such cap room by $5 million (or more) by signing Lee to a long-term deal-- they probably want to either sign a bigger fish, or keep that room for next season (by not signing anyone or by signing a 1-year deal). Anyway, you thoughts? (A poll is coming up)
No way. Not under today's CBA. I believe that if we don't acquire Dwight this offseason we may actually let Lee walk unless his offer is something like $15 mil over 4 years. One of the biggest traps teams fall in is overpaying for undersized shooting guards. The league is full of 6'2" to 6'5" shooting guards that are either very good defenders or can light it up (Marcus Thornton). And the worst teams in the league (Sacramento) stack them up like cordwood on their rosters. You can almost pluck them off a tree like apples. So, there is no need to overpay. Of course, if it means getting Dwight to stick around and sign long term, that's another story. We would need to match up to the MLE (Courtney's top end) in that case.
I can't wait to get rid of Courtney Lee and Kevin Martin. Vernon Maxwell Clyde Drexler Cuttino Mobley Tracy McGrady Ron Artest/Shane Battier Wish we had that Evan Turner kid...
He'll still be a multi millionaire. He and LerBon will laugh while we continue living our poor lives.
He's proven that he is not a starter in this league unless he's playing with a very dominant wing PG or SF, so I think he makes slightly less than the MLE which is about 4 million.
The T-Wolves seem like a potential player for Lee. That is if we don't trade Martin to them, of course. I haven't looked at all the teams that will have cap room, but I think there'll be a few other teams (Jazz, Suns, Wizards?) that will go after Lee as well. So, I think Lee will get either close to or more than $6M.
They were the worst team in the league when he was with the Nets. When he played with Orlando, Jameer Nelson was averaging 17 ppg and Hedo played well enough to get his ridiculous contract and Rashard Lewis was borderline All-star.
I think the full MLE is $5m to start. So, I think he will get neither less than nor more than $5m. Unfortunately there are two buckets with that number. One caveat is that there are a lot of teams with cap-room this season, so it's possible that a team with money decides to frontload a contract offer to Lee in hopes that the Rockets won't match. Given the precarious timing issues this offseason -- trying to do whatever trades and free agent signings before the possible signings of Lee and Dragic with Bird Rights -- I think it's quite possible that a team will go hard at our 2 free agents early to force us to choose between keeping them and preserving the $8m cap space.
Full MLE is also likely the ending point. Which non-contender with capspace would tell their fans they just spent it on Courtney Lee? Not to mention any team that puts in an offer for Courtney Lee can't go after any other FA(unless they have loads of cap room) for the duration in which the Rockets decide to match or not.
1. Regarding the prospect of an outside team offering Lee a "front-loaded contract," the following are worth noting: First, the maximum annual decrease on a multi-year contract, I believe, is 4.5% (same as the maximum annual increase). Second, an outside offer for Courtney Lee must be for at least 2 guaranteed years. So, while a team can attempt to offer Lee a "front loaded" contract at more than the $5 million MLE if it has sufficient cap room to do so, such a team cannot sign Lee to such an offer without significant implication on its future cap room for at least one year. For example if a team offers Lee $7 milion for next season, it must also offer at least $6.7 million guaranteed for the 2013-2014 season-- and more importantly, eat into its 2013 salary cap by $6.7 million. Given that the 2013 FA class still has Dwight Howard and CP (unless otherwise extended), I think teams with cap room now and are projected to have cap room next season will likely be hesitant to offer Lee even a front loaded above-MLE contract. Remember, multiple teams who struck out on the top players in 2011 free agency ended up signing guys to 1 year contracts (including the Rockets, who only guaranteed $1.5 million of Dalembert's 2nd year). 2. To me, if a team offers Coutney Lee much more than the MLE, I wouldn't hesitate to let him go. Lee is a nice complementary player, but it's not like you can't find another Courtney Lee making less money in the draft or in a trade. Hell, if Morey has one elite skill, it's finding guys like Courtney Lee. For example, Morey got Parsons (who is kind of the SF version of Courtney Lee) with a 2nd round pick. He also got, you know, the actual Courtney Lee (who is the Courtney Lee version of Courtney Lee) via trade.
I said it before this past season that he needed to start....he was better than Kmart bc he played D....and what did we find out-ya hez good. I'm guessing a 6 mil per maybe something like a James posey even (speaking of what a good comparison)- anyways he is a player a team needs to be good. Hope rox re sign him
