Harrell's agent is Rich Paul. The same Rich Paul that was going to do the 1 year tender with Eric Bledsoe and is pushing hard with Tristan Thompson.
I don't see how one person could have the time to post as much as Bobby does and also post at such length as basketballholic does. That's crazy. Capela has an advantage in playing the 5, but not enough to beat the experience deficit he faces compared to Jones. When Howard site, DMo can slide to the 5 and Jones plays the 4. Capela isn't getting more than spot minutes without an injury to someone. I think too much is made of people's agents. Bledsoe had leverage because of the potential he was showing. Same for Tristan. Harrell has to play some minutes before he has any leverage. He won't get any until he signs a contract, and probably not many for awhile after that too.
Like what some other posters said, there is actually a right answer: don't hard cap yourself over a 2nd round pick Of course in a perfect scenario you want to lock your guy on the cheap, esp with next year the salary cap is gonna rise and more than likely Harrel will be due a chunk of change if we keep him around next year vs locking him up now etc. BUT, in terms of risk vs reward I'd rather let Harrel walk outright right now then hard cap the team down the road. Most people voting on the poll don't understand the implications of a hard cap, it prevents you from absorbing additional salary via trades. For example if a team like OKC/Sac implodes next year and KD or Cousins etc demands a trade, you don't want to be unable to absorb his salary because you locked up Harrell to save a couple of million $$$. Flexibility is king, and if Morey wouldn't kill flexibility for proven contributors who could help the team win big now, he sure as hell shouldn't sacrifice flexibility for a 2nd round pick with limited upside.
Some clarifications here. There is no letting Harrell walk outright. We have him for two years no matter what. The MLE can be used to give him 2 additional years with options, which triggers the hard cap. For the record, if you use th MLE on Harrell, you are only hard capping yourself for this year. The only thing hard capping does is make trades more difficult this year, and seeing as how our roster is fairly stacked, you probably won't find any trades worthwhile anyway. Hard capping is not the disaster some of you are making it out to be. The only way I really see it a big issue is if one of three potential three names become available: Carmelo Anthony, Al Horford, Kevin Durant. It would be extremely difficult to put together a package for them if you are hard capped.
I really like Harrell's potential as he can make the Manimal look like a poor man's Manimal compared to him. Seriously though, has 3 years of college bball under his belt along with having very unique physical attributes, namely his crazy wingspan, along with good athleticism. Dude is a perfect contender to get his feet wet in the D League and learn our "system".
Well if all the bolded is true, then I would personally gamble on Harrell given our depth this season.
Yeah I know that we're stuck with Harrell I'm just saying that I'd rather eat his salary now and cut him than be hard capped, that's how much I don't want the team to be hard capped not that I want the Rox to actually cut the guy and then eat his salary. The point here is like insurance. What are the chances your house will catch fire or your car will be totaled? Very little, right? But you pay insurance anyway, because in the very little chance something bad does happen you don't want to be caught paying for a new house or car. It's the same thing here, sure the chances are low we'd get screwed out of a potential trade because of Harrell's contract...but would you risk that scenario that you could've had KD or another star but now can't get him because you stuck with Harrell's contract? I mean when the season started how many people thought the Rockets would be able to acquire Ty Lawson for a 2nd round pick, Nick Johnson, Joey Dorsey and Kpap? Nobody knows what the future will hold, that's why you need to maintain cap flexibility to take advantage of anything that can happen during the year.
The point here is that you don't really understand .... They haven't signed Harrell thus can't cut him so there is no salary to eat. Being hard capped now won't affect the team after July 1 (next years offseason FA period) when there is the possibility of adding Durant or another big name FA. The only thing it affects is "In Season" roster moves / trades where they would have to send out equal or greater salary than they take in , no more taking back 125%+100k of the salary you send out in a trade .... other than that , not much changes. I highly doubt that Durant or another big star becomes available during the season. Dont sweat it , next years FA flexibility is there hard capped this season or not. larsv8 makes an interesting point in that with the stacked roster (and balanced) they could play the season out as is (including Harrell) as there aren't going to be a lot of trades that move the needle. The only issue with that is any guaranteed money these "camp bodies" Morey mentioned in the recent interview earn has to be accounted for while staying under the apron (hard cap) and currently they have ~$1.07m in space to pay Harrell and any money those players earn prior to being cut. Basically for every dollar those camp bodies earn , its a dollar off that ~$1.07m that Harrell can potentially earn. Those potential camp bodies are pretty much the only thing that has me thinking he will avoid the hard cap .... and they don't move the needle so .... hell , maybe he does use the MLE.
Like McHale said last year "flexible doesn't score" https://youtu.be/JSdF9idE6vg JK Hahaha Morey got the last laugh. What a difference this summer compared to last summer.
We need to keep Harrell. Just sign him Morey. If he doesn't I feel as if he has something lined up for another PF.
To me, hard capping is a disaster because it shuts you out from churning the last few roster spots in case of injury or ineffectiveness. I'd be extremely surprised if all three of Marcus Thornton, Chuck Hayes, and Jason Terry are on the roster on the final day of the regular season. Veterans can become unplayable almost overnight, and inevitably there will be a few mid-season buyouts whom the Rockets will want to take a look at, or guys returning from China. Even something as small as signing Christian Wood to a 2-year min deal if he shows something with the Vipers would be impossible. Roster spots are precious to the Rockets. They've proven over and over again that they're willing to eat minimum salaried deals if necessary, rather than carry dead weight. They're willing to guarantee a year to Ish Smith and Marcus Camby and cut them before they play a single game. They gave Dexter Pittman a contract for 4 days, play 0 games, and paid him about $40k for it. They gave BJ Young $40k to sign with RGV. I can't imagine them forcing themselves to hold onto an injured end-of-bench guy, and not be able to make these kinds of moves, just to get an extra year of control on Montrezl, but I've been wrong before.
I really hope we sign and keep Harrell. To me, he's the perfect fit for PF now that we have a PG in Lawson that can drive and dish. Harrell knows exactly what to do with the ball when he gets anywhere near the rim... DUNK it. He's also developed a nice mid range jumper and he's a solid defender/shot blocker. But most of all, he plays with high energy, much like Manimal. This is EXACTLY what the Rockets need to compete with teams like GS and SAN. Sorry, but TJ got destroyed by LA when we played Portland a few years ago, and he doesn't have an answer for Draymond Green either. A PF that can defend, much like the way Josh Smith did, is what the Rockets are now lacking. Oh, and let's not forget that the Rockets would also have to rely on TJ or DMO to guard Griffen, should we get matched up with the Clippers again.
Option 3: other Morey has proven that he is capable of some crazy stuff. Especially via trade. Carve out space thru trade AND sign Montrezl. If anyone can it's Morey. If anyone believes that this is final roster has not been paying attention.
Offer him the minimum and it Paul doesn't like it then Harrell can sign the 1 year QO. They don't have the leverage in this situation, McHale could sit him on the bench for the year and they are back where they started.
Harrell does have "some" leverage here .... he could decline that QO and play in China or Europe with the Rockets retaining his NBA rights. That could actually benefit the Rockets .... stashing him overseas for a season and avoiding the hard cap while being able to sign a veteran to that 15th roster spot (Boozer? ugh that Jazz stench) and still being able to swing mid season trades with the 125%+100k rule rather than taking in equal or less money. In that scenario they could use the MLE to lock him up next season ....
If Montrezl was just another 2nd rounder with some intriguing upside I would agree. But the kid is a legit first round talent that dropped. With the way this team collects injuries, that solution is a luxury that could bite Rockets but come playoff time. Imagine if Houston forced Capela to play overseas last season. 2nd round seed and success in playoffs is not worth that risk IMO.
Although I believe we are far from done on the trade front, the idea that Morey would carve out space to sign Harrell with cap space is ludicrous. We are over $85 million in salary. Morey would have to lose $!6 million in salary for nothing to create space for Harrell. Put that to bed. It ain't happening.
