This "move" is intriguing. Because this "move" is a rumor. There's nothing concrete about it. We won't know until June 30th whether Morey opts in to Parsons' last year or actually goes forward with running him through restricted free agency. So, this "move" or "rumor" was put out there by someone. (Any guesses who?) and for a specific reason (Any guesses why?). Ring Ring D1: Yello D2: Yo, what's up? Are you really considering trading Chandler? D1: Probably not. We're most likely going to match any offer. D2: Dude, I know you better than that. You can't match any offer and still get Melo (or somebody else). D1: I'm comfortable with things going forward. We're most likely going to match. D2: Now....we talked about Lin previously. And we've already discussed Asik. If you're going to trade them..I'm telling you I'm still interested. D1: Well....what are you offering? ......
Is it still possible to sign Melo (close to the max) and resign Parsons? As long as we sign Melo first, correct? This of course means we trade Asik/Lin before.
I will say this.... Back last year during the "Open Asik Auction" did anyone in their right mind think the Rockets were not going to trade him? I mean even Woj came out and said they were determined to trade him & the basketball world responded as if its gospel. You are totally right that this chess move is basically to start a rumor that everyone thinks is a foregone conclusion & they so they prepare their counter moves in response. Not saying the Rockets back out of waiving his option, but I am saying I wouldn't completely rule it out if "Things Change" just as they did with the Asik Auction. I'll say this much about Morey.... the guy knows how to keep Bball nerds entertained.
If you trade Asik & Lin first, the most you can open up in cap space is like 16 million and some change. Not really that close to Melo's max to be considered a competitive offer unless he decides to take considerably less. However if you can work a S&T for Melo (obviously using Asik & Lin's contracts) you can get much closer to that max deal you need to sign Melo in the deal by taking advantage of trade rules that allow you to take back more salary than you are sending out. Than from that point on (assuming Parsons played along and waited to sign with another team) you could sign Parsons above the cap for as much as Les wanted to since they own his "Bird Rights". So... Yes, Yes, No.
Morey said one of the worst things you can do as a front office is let everyone know what your plan is. If Morey annouced that we were picking up Parsons option at the end of the month, we would all know exactly what he was trying to do......leverage our cap space in 2015 to force a team into a deal. Whether or not he actually picks up the option, RIGHT NOW none of us have any idea which direction this team will take. To me......that means he's trying to get something done before free agency hits and everything becomes more clear. We have no idea what's going on....and perhaps that's exactly what Morey wants. This could also mean that we're really focused on a tradable player right now......ie not Melo.
Think the Lakers are going to try to offer him good money. Just have a gut feeling. After signing our last SF metta(artest) in free agency, they are going to definitely look at parsons.
I for one thought the deadline talk was all a ploy to satisfy Asik and his agent. Morey hates dealing without leverage and Asik killed that with his trade request and 'injury'. I always figure Morey wanted to keep him for depth instead of dealing him for peanuts. He sabotaged Asik's value to the point he could justify keeping him to Asik and his agent.
Lakers can have Parsons for max money if we get Melo. Haha, that would be a joke. LA would be thinking they screwed us, they'd be the ones stuck with max money Parsons.
As Jonathan Feigen alluded to, the Rockets' incentives for dealing Asik (and Lin) now vs. during the season were completely different. Specifically, the Rockets will be perfectly happy to trade Asik+Lin and get nothing but cap space in return right now if they find a big time free agent willing to sign. In essence, "trading them for nothing" is actually "trading them for [Insert Name of Free Agent]." You are getting something actually valuable back in return, it doesn't matter that this "something" doesn't come directly from the team receiving Asik or Lin. At the deadline or even in December, though, trading Asik for only cap room is not of much help because there were no free agents worth signing with that cap room at that time. Hell, the Rockets couldn't even find someone to spend the room exception on. So, the Rockets were perfectly rational in keeping Asik vs. getting some minor asset for him during the season, but may be perfectly rational to trade him for little more than cap room in return now. The usefulness of that cap room is just different when we are talking summer vs. in-season.
So, if Morey announces (or lets a rumor fly) that we are not picking up Parson's option, doesn't that tell us something? Or at the very least doesn't it tell us what Morey is trying to convince the other GM's and player agents of? Ummmmmmmmmmmm, yep! We may not know EXACTLY what's going on but these things are all clues. We do know these things: 1. Morey would like to add Lebron James to this team first and foremost. 2. If Morey can't get Lebron James he most likely wants to add either Love or Bosh or Melo. There might be some debate on whether he wants Bosh over Love or vice versa. But there should be no question that he would prefer to add Love over Melo. Because of Love's age and because Love's max deal is around $5 million per season less than Melo's max deal. 3. We know that if Morey can create the cap space that if none of the guys in #2 want Houston then Morey will make a huge play for Dirk Nowitzki. 4. We know that if Morey doesn't get one of the guys in #2 or #3 and he cannot find another max free agent available in trade that he is going to play this off season to maintain the opportunity to participate in 2015 free agency and possibly have a second shot at Love, or a shot at Lamarcus, or possibly a second shot at Bosh or Lebron or Melo, or a shot at some other max superstar like Marc Gasol, etc. 5. Morey wants to add a 3rd superstar without trading Parsons or losing Parsons to free agency. -------------------------- Now knowing the above things we can start to put a picture together. Although not entirely clear we can start to construct the picture and understand somewhat what is going on here, and even speculate some very logical endings.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Chandler Parsons on his contract: "It's really out of my control. We're talking a lot back & forth.That's up2the guy behind u(Daryl Morey)"</p>— Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarkBermanFox26/statuses/475380464518066176">June 7, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Chandler Parsons today on his RFA/UFA status "It's really out of my control, we're talking a lot back & forth,that's really up to (Rockets)"</p>— AdamWexlerCSN (@awexler) <a href="https://twitter.com/awexler/statuses/475380479550423041">June 7, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Chandler Parsons on his contract: "I've worked my entire life to be in this situation. Everything will work itself out."</p>— Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarkBermanFox26/statuses/475380520743092224">June 7, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Chandler Parsons on his contract: "I want to be here. I love Houston. It's a great situation for me."</p>— Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarkBermanFox26/statuses/475380580507746304">June 7, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Chandler Parsons on his contract: "Of course I want to be here. We've got a chance to be really good. I think I'm a big part of that."</p>— Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarkBermanFox26/statuses/475380650972028928">June 7, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>More Parsons: Of course I want 2 b here, we'll c how it all works out. Nothing's happened yet, just keep working out & wait til that day."</p>— AdamWexlerCSN (@awexler) <a href="https://twitter.com/awexler/statuses/475380923119050752">June 7, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
I can't wait till a decision is made I hope we can get Melo while retaining Parsons. If we can't retain Parsons then we better get Melo. Ideally it would nice to aquire Rondo and Melo if Parsons were to go elsewhere but that good ol salary cap...
Cyberx we need you! Send out the signal Clutch! We need him to verify that Chandler is indeed single again and back in the game.
Hopefully he is making sure what he says is even possible under the current CBA... Because the last few times his "information" wasn't even possible under the rules.
