I really like Bey as well. Like I would want to acquire him and try to give him a pretty decent extension. Maybe 11 million a year for 3 extra seasons. I think it’s just that he always plays well against us, but I just really like him. I am convinced by our actions this off-season that we are going to give it a chance next year as far as playing the first part of the season and seeing if we think it could be a semi viable contender. a lot can happen between now and February. Murphy/Bey/Pool/Fears /Fears acquired into TPE for Capela/FVV/Sengun/Worst of FRP in 2027/Wirst if FRP in 2029 we give up a couple first rounders, but we retain the premium level picks that come from those years. We give up valuable player in Sengun. there is some conflict between him and Queen, but they can figure that out. we diligently begin the shift of Jabari to more of a 4/5. we would still have the flexibility to pick up the correct stretch center in free agency. Smith/Adams Eason/ Durant/Bey Murphy/Reed Amen/Smart/Fears so this really just focuses on the 10 players that I would want to play nightly. z Not only do the Rockets receive Murphy and his very reasonable contract that they get Fears, who I personally just really really like. Bey, I definitely think can be the seventh or eighth man inside of a great rotation
Smart, Bogi and Thornton feel eerily like moves the Lakers would have made and they are a perennial 3-6th type of team. Other than signing a new Center every year. Now Stone is better at giving out cheaper contracts, but the targets stay mostly the same.
have the Rockets announced the Smart signing yet? I saw that DFS and Bogdanovic were done deals. In our current cap state, we have some wiggle room below the first apron. I wonder if we are holding off on execution of the Smart deal to see if we can get creative: 1) an SnT that opens up the $15M non-tax MLE 2) offer Smart the third year that was previously rumored The Lakers big man depth is very poor and they don't have many resources to improve after the Kessler trade. We offer Smart SnT for Capela. Lakers get their backup big and Ayton replacement (lol). Rockets get Smart. Smart gets his 3rd year. By shedding Capela's salary, we open up plenty of space under the first apron. By SnT'ing Smart, we leave the (non-tax) MLE untouched. Your lineup looks like: Sengun/Adams Smith/Eason KD/Bogdan Amen/Reed FVV/Smart/Thornton With a larger MLE available to you, you can go after free agents like Kuminga / Mathurin, or trade targets like Strus / Stewart / Herb / Bey
It’s sad that a lot of teams got their franchise cornerstone in this deep draft. Then you look at past drafts where the Rockets were continually bad and seeing other teams like the Pistons, Spurs get their guy and even OKC getting more players that can be their franchise guy and the Rockets just sadly never got theirs. It’s gut wrenching because these other tanking teams like the Jazz will be better than the Rockets pretty soon unless someone breaks out.
@BimaThug @aelliott or other capologists,,,,, could this be a thing? I like the idea that joshuaao has about opening the NTMLE... lots of talent still sitting out there. The trade of DFS def struck me as premature unless it was designed to open space / opportunity for another deal (or deals)
I've been impressed every time I've watched him play. Super athletic and decent playmaker. If he's still third string PG this upcoming year it seems his career might be wasted.
By accelerating the DFS deal and holding off on executing the Smart deal, we have gained optionality: If a high end free agent is willing to take a prove-it deal, we can make a competitive offer (either by getting the Smart SnT set up, or getting the players' old team to agree to a SnT into the TPE we created with the DFS trade) If a team is looking to shed a contract for a productive player, we can take that on and give them immediate salary relief (finding a team to take on DFS under an even more aggressive time crunch would be very tough) If neither materializes, we can stay put and operate under the luxury tax Our esteemed capologist @BimaThug seems to believe this last option is most likely
Not a thing. Lakers renounced exception rights to Smart to get rid of his cap hold. As such, the Lakers would need to use cap space or the room exception. Reaves cap hold takes the cap space. Sexton is slotted for the room exception.
Except the Lakers had an all-time elite Offensive Engine in Luka and a backup Engine/secondary playmaker/scorer in Reaves, and a part-time one in LeBron the sunsetting GOAT. The Rockets have....literally none of those things other than the twilight HOF player who is more of a finisher.
somebody give me the quick breakdown of our current situation? I was under the impression that however, we had handled the roster so far had opened up the 15.1 million MLE. and that now we also have a trade exception that is around $14 million?
The Rockets have: TPE of $13,335,000 for DFS Portion of NT-MLE worth $8,676,000 left. (Smart signed for amount equivalent to TP-MLE just in case Rockets add salary in trades) Minimum contracts
They might be trying to do something along those lines. They definitely ordered their signings to leave open this flexibility. However, I'm not holding my breath on them making a significant NT-MLE signing. Ducking the tax still seems like the likeliest outcome here. However, note that the Lakers just agreed to terms with Kevon Looney as their 3rd center. Kessler will start, and Mamu will slide over to C for much of the backup minutes there.
