Sam presto doesn’t want to look like a Moron once again. If he gives up Melo and he comes to the Rockets and looks good and he makes the Rockets better that could be the final nail in his coffin. He’s gotta get some value from this in return.
He's not seeking value. He's seeking a lower salary that's it. The only reason he's trying to trade Melo is to get a smaller salary than Melo's for luxury tax purposes. He's not going to get "value."
I'm not sure why OKC would rush to do anything. They might like to have him out by training camp to avoid the distraction, but why give the Rockets a head start on integrating him into the system?
Right, if they are even willing to facilitate. The problem with this trade is that the Thunder will have to pay to make this trade. Probably a 1st and a 2nd or some swap rights. It's a HUGE contract and the team that acquires Melo is just buying him out or waiving him instantly. There's a lot of moving parts here. Melo isn't going to accept more than like $4 million in a buyout probably so any team that is trading for him is paying $20 million. (maybe Thunder have some money to send as well, not sure.) That's a lot of money to pay for any team for a guy you aren't going to even have on the roster. So... OKC has to find a team that will cooperate OKC and that team have to agree to compensation OKC has to agree to take back the contract the other team wants to dump Melo and that team have to agree to a buyout number That's a complicated thing to pull off and is why WOJ reported at the time it was likely to end in a simple waive and stretch for Melo. Trades that maybe SAC would do: Iman Shumpert to OKC for Carmelo and a future first? Two seconds? Kosta Koufos to OKC for Carmelo and a future first?
OKC doesn't have a lot of draft assets and really teams should be holding OKC hostage on those to take on Melo's salary. Lacking draft assets teams would want to send bad contracts. Sac actually doesn't have those because they are all expiring. If that Shump or Kofas deals had 2 or 3 more years on them I could see them being more interested. I think OKC is going to have to stretch Melo.
It's not the holdup though. The holdup is finding a team that will take back Melo and getting OKC to pay the price. Their "value" in the trade is fixed. They are getting salary relief. Reality is that there may not be a way for OKC to pull off any trade because they may not be willing to pay anyone's price to eat $20 million.
The lack of draft assets (and the usability of what they have in any case) for OKC is a big issue here.
True, but they really have an August 31st deadline. After that, they no longer have the option to stretch Melo. Maybe they risk being able to screw with the Rockets ability to integrate Melo faster, by finding a trade partner later during the year. But, one would assume they feel it's added risk to go past that Stretching deadline. Also, note, I don't think it will take Paul -- the Melo Whisperer -- that long to integrate Melo, anyhow...unless Melo is so hard-headed, he needs the hammer of failure throughout the year to get his act together towards the end.
Good points. I would add: Waive and stretch makes Melo salary 9+M over 3 years. Saving OKC roughly 70M this year only (I think, as reported). If they trade for players, the tax bill will be higher this year and I THINK they hope to get players on short deals to reduce their effect on the tax next year.
Yeah and that would be a huge risk for OKC. What if Sacramento buys another bad contract between now and Feb? They could get STUCK with Melo's contract. That's a huge gamble. They are exhausting the trade route right now. They aren't going to try to mess with the Rockets. Once they can't find any deal they'll have to make the final decision on cutting bait.
Right, Koufos is a perfect example. They trade for him and his salary this year is a hair below the $9million stretch number this year and he's expiring. But again, they have to pay to make that deal. Koufos probably has 2nd round value by himself. Sacramento is doing OKC a huge favor in that deal. What is OKC giving up. They don't have a lot of capital to trade. Sac can drive a hard bargain, OKC has no leverage. They can't go anywhere else really and it isn't like Sac is losing out on some prize if no deal materializes. A late pick from OKC isn't worth much.
