I was just realizing that I don't remember Morey using a 10-day in 2 forevers. Looking it up, it looks like we used the 10-day contract with some regularity until 2011: http://espn.go.com/nba/team/transactions/_/name/hou/year/2011/houston-rockets And the theme continues with signing Troy Daniels to a 2-year deal. Any theories on if or why the 10-day contract has gone out of favor?
1) Team needs an open roster spot 2) Team needs a need for a scrub to come in for minutes 3) Team needs to not want to control that scrub's future Morey isn't looking for bodies to fill out a team. If he was, he would use the 10 day contract. When he signs these guys to two year deals it is because he wants to control the upside.
I can't recall exactly but I don't think he's taken a random D-leaguer in a while. Most if not all come from our affiliate which runs a similar system and whose FO reports to Morey. So there's a lot more certainty that the player will fit in and as justtxyank pointed out Morey can then gamble on upside.
Um, have you forgotten Mike Harris? I think we probably signed him four or five times on 10 day contracts.
I think it has to do with how we run our D-League team. Others may sign a player to see how he fits with the team/system and treat it as an extended try-out. The MGV is managed by our front office (besides marketing and such) so we get an even better evaluation with game time experience. That way, if Morey believes someone has true NBA potential, he can sign him to a minimal 2-3 year non-guaranteed contract that can end up benefiting the team (Bev, Parsons, Smith)
Morey knows Troy Daniels well enough by now that he's willing to make a bigger investment in him than a 10-day contract. Daniels is a perfect fit for what Morey wants his Rockets to be.
I think its pretty simple. Morey is going for low, low, low risk, and high upside/reward. So if that player shows up and just looks incredible, he wants not only this year but next year at the super cheap. Why should he let the rest of the NBA take notice and steal up a prospect from him that he found that he loses after 10 days for nothing? Plus, there is the fact that Morey seems to be more invested in higher upside with these players which means 10 days is a highly unlikely time frame for a 15th man in your rotation to make any significant impact. I would be willing to bet that Morey would use a 10 day in a certain "Earl Boykins Type" of case where your PG's all get injured at the same time, and you need a vet right this second to fill in.
Yeah, until 2011 when we stopped signing him. We haven't used it in 2012, 2013, and it's looking unlikely for 2014. My intuition is similar to what's been expressed here -- RGV is a better try-out then a 10-day. I think he also might be packing the pipe a bit with these non-guaranteed contracts he can put in trades if he wants, or cut if they get in the way.
I'm gonna name a few guys off the top of my head that I think were 10 day contracts at one point or another. Feel free to correct me: Garrett Temple Earl Boykins Demarre Carroll (he was probably trade fodder for the Tmac deal so I'm probably wrong) Jeff Adrien (I don't remember if he was part of a trade or was an undrafted FA/10 day) Jermaine Taylor (same as Adrien) Thus concludes my list of guys who were potentially 10 day contracts. But yeah, like others have said, 10 days require having roster spots. Morey has been able to fill out the roster with veterans on team-friendly deals (Dalembert, Delfino, Casspi, Brooks, Garcia, etc...) ever since Yao and TMac came off the books.
This way Morey has them under contract next season if he is so inclined... the second season is a team option.
One difference between a 10 day deal and a "rest of season" deal is how much $ you are guaranteeing a player. And it's a few hundred thousand dollars tops. The other thing is that with a "rest of season" contract, you can tack on a 2nd year (guaranteed or non-guaranteed) so you have the ability to bring the guy back if he performs, or at least look at him in summer league and preseason. So, if you have a few hundred k to spare and you actually think of a guy as even a possible keeper, the "rest of season" deal with a 2nd year team option is probably with the extra money. Some teams don't have that flexibility (Bulls, for example, are carefully handing out 10 days because they are really close to the tax threshold) or may even want to preserve cap room after the trade deadline for a draft day or after season trade. Other times, a team just are not sure about which of among a number of potential signees they'd like to keep beyond the season. We haven't had those situations for a couple seasons.
