How is Dragic a unrestricted free agent after the season?

In hindsight, hell yeah. Like Lowry (assuming Dagic got ballpark Lowry money), he would have not only been locked up, but more valuable as a trade chip. Oh, well. :-(-

 

In hindsight that was clearly the thing to do if that was an option. We could have got him for MLE money. Even if Lowry doesn't get injured Dragic probably would be had for 6-8 mil. Now I suspect we will be lucky to get him for 10 mil. And that's only if no one offers him stupid money.

If Dallas doesn't get DWill they will be in pursuit. Cuban realizes his biggest mistake was losing Nash to the Suns. If New Jersey doesn't get Dwill they will try to avoid walking away completely empty handed. They were ready to offer big money to Scola expect a bigger contract offer to Dragic. Portland is rebuilding and with no superstar pg's in the draft expect them to look long and hard. There is at least a couple of other teams that will be interested.

Dragic will get his money. The question is whether he gets it here or somewhere else. I think we got the inside edge, but no playing the waiting game here. Give Dragic a fair offer right out the gate. Explain how much you and the city love him and how the cost of living is so much cheaper here and that we see him as our future. Plus he can get a chinese shoe deal and how there is no state tax. If Morey was going to do any stupid Red Rocket Truck driving after a free agent this would be the time. I think Dragic is very happy here and that might worth taking a few million less.

But again if someone offers him stupid max money it will be hard to walk away from that. He is not worth Max Dollars but he is a winner and looks like his best is ahead of him and consider he may be the best player on the team right now he is worth paying Scola type money IMO.

 

Which would be a contract they do not want. The Rockets are doing exactly what a vocal group on this board wants, ie rebuilding.

 

Yeah rebuilding with young talent, Dragic is good young talent.

 

Dragic's a veteran in his prime years. His level of talent coupled with a MLE sized contract is exactly what a rebuilding team doesn't want if they're to tank.

 

It's easy to talk about all this stuff in hindsight. But signing Dragic to MLE money would be a big part of a rebuilding process. Morey wanted the cap space to explore the star free agents that might be available. But unfortunately only DWill is available and he he is not coming here.

I suspect Morey would be elated to sign Dragic for MLE money now. Dragic may be the best FA on the market not named DWill. At 10 mil Dragic is still a good deal. He helps us win games now and he is still improving. He is not as flashy as CP3 or the scorer of Rose but he plays both sides of the court well and plays smart. I won't argue whether he is better than Lowry now but he definitely looks like he will only get better and has more upside than Lowry.

Letting Dragic walk for nothing might be a bigger loss than letting Lin walk for nothing.

 

See, this is the issue for me, I no longer believe the org is all that good at evaluating talent or projecting forward, otherwise they would have done exactly that.

I really do not like the way contracts are handled and think the reputation of the Rox is suffering amongst the players because of the way Morey handles his business.

DD

 

The point is that the Rockets can not afford to let ANY good talent walk for nothing - they need to be keeping the talent and jettising the chaffe

DD

 

And trading for Camby and signing Dalembert are also things a team trying to tank would never do. If that is what they were trying to do they could have got a draft pick, probably a first, as opposed to letting him walk for nothing. That is what a rebuilding team does. That's what Portland did. Trade Wallace for a great 1st round pick. That's rebuilding smartly.

 

People keep citing this but has there been an example of it being done prior? That is, a player in Dragic's situation, an upcoming unrestricted FA on his first contract, who's dealt for a first pick?

 

It's a double edged sword.... you miss out on extending a player like Dragic for below what his asking price will now be... but you dont stick yourself with a Stromile Swift contract prematurely....

It's a very conservative approach, but I think with the pending shakeup, due to the implementation of the new cba, it is a good course to take...

That said, I think we can still wrap up Dragic for around 7M/yr - and should do so! 3 guard rotation of Dragic, KLow and Clee covering most all 96 guard minutes... at a total of about 18-20M/yr - still gives up one of the best bang for buck backcourt ratios in the league...

 

I agree and I got to believe Morey agrees too. Which is why I also believe Morey must feel pretty confident he can sign Dragic this offseason. I can't believe he would be so stupid to not trade him for something if he didn't think he could re-sign him this offseason. I think Morey and Dragic have an understanding. I feel confident Dragic wants to stay here. I also feel he is not all about the money and if he is given a fair contract he will sign.

The problem is a fair contract may be 10 mil. I know many will scream we are getting raped but that is less than the market value and a bargain price for a young improving pg with Nash like skills. ANd Dragic's shooting and leadership skills will only get better as he gets more minutes. Remember when Nash left Dallas he was older than Dragic, with similar numbers as Dragic and didn't play as good defense. And Cuban still thinks letting Nash walk was still one of his biggest mistakes. Letting Dragic walk will be a big setback for the Rockets.

 

Can we still do sign and trade of Dragic?

 

Many times. Morey was about to give multiple 1st round picks and a whole lot more on Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard who both had no desire to play for Houston. Dragic is no where near there level but he is certainly worth a lottery protected first.

 

Sorry, love Dragic, but no.

 

Yes but there is no advantage for a team under the cap to do so. All the advantages of Snt were taken out in the new CBA. The only way that would happen is if there was a team over the cap who both wanted Dragic and Dragic wanted to play for and were willing to give some value to get him. Could happen but with more than a few teams under the cap and some of those needing pg's expect Dragic to be given an offer from someone who doesn't have to give us crap to steal him. That's the most painful way to lose. Even the Cavs who swore they would never SnT James succumbed to the the 2 free 1st round draft picks and did it. Those days are over.

 

Come on now, they're not comparable at all. Dwight and Melo are proven franchise players and their max contracts bring up different considerations.

I think we're overlooking that as a starter Dragic is on the same path as Marquis Daniels in his rookie year.

 

How much would you say he is worth?

You don't think something around 3-4 years, $30M-$40M is fair for Goran? Starting at between $8M-$9M. How many legit starting PGs are there getting less than that? (besides Lowry, rookie contracts. Even Sessions is due for a large contract this offseason)

Lowry gets around $7M and is considered to be one of the best bargains in the league.

 

If we gave Goran a deal averaging $10M per year, I would not mind it all because if he continues to play on the level he has been, he is more than worth it imo.

 

If that is the market price you pay it.

Good organizations KEEP their talent, you are not winning anything with a bunch of $4 million a year players.

If Dragic is worth 10 on the market, that is what you pay.

DD