I think Morey would rather pay a guy like Blakely than pay 50% more for D-Mo, who won't even play. Better to wait until next year, when several of the PFs on this roster will be free agents. Plus, if the rookie wage scale rules are staying the same, the Rockets would likely save a few hundred thousand bucks in cap room next summer if they just let D-Mo play in Europe this year.
http://www.nba.com/rockets/roster/ lists 17 players. 1 : Kyle Lowry, Goran Dragic, Jonny Flynn 2 : Kevin Martin, Courtney Lee 3 : Chase Budinger, Terrence Williams, Marcus Morris, Chandler Parsons 4 : Luis Scola, Patrick Patterson, Jordan Hill, Donates Motiejunas 5 : Chuck Hayes, Hasheem Thabeet Camp Fodder : Marqus Blakely, Marcus Cousin Loss the camp fodder, sign Chuck Wagon and all three picks, and the Rockets roster is maxed out. If the Rockets participate in FA, something will have to give. Parsons would be the first to go. Motiejunas would be next. Even if signed, Parsons and Motiejunas would D League candidates.
D-Mo's Euroleague season will end some time in late December, unless various unlikely scenarios take place (Prokom would pretty much have to win out, other teams lose). Forget what I wrote about the VTB League ending soon though. The VTB League 'regular season' ends in some time in March and D-Mo's team might make the playoffs, so yes, I think it would be benefitial for him to stay in Europe this season. Yes. Definitely. It's one of the better leagues in Europe. Perhaps third best after the Euroleague and the Spanish League.
I know that Blakely would cost the Rockets much less this season, but since Prokoms season is ending right when the NBA season is starting up this year, it just made sense to let him get the benefit of learning the system and getting more playing time than he would if he was to stay overseas. I guess thats just me, but I understand what you are saying from the financial perspective of the Rockets.
No. Most European leagues are generally about the equivalent of NCAA Division II. Sure, there's a few "good" teams that have NBA stars like Mike Batiste and 48 year old Bob McAdoo leading them to glorious pretend plastic cups, but otherwise, you've got an out of shape unmotivate Deron Williams sleepwalking his way to 50 point games, and that's all there is. Sad. It's like the fate of the euro.
If he's going into the playoffs then I agree with you about keeping him over there for that. I was just under the impression his team wasnt going anywhere, but Euro playoff experience > D-League experience anyday.
I haven't been keeping track. Could we use the Amnesty clause thing on Hasheem's contract and sign another player?
It's several levels of competition higher than the D-League. Even crappy European leagues like the German League and the French League are significantly higher levels than the D-League.
Yes. However, the amnesty clause has had some provisions where you cant just cut the player, pay him, and it not count against the cap. Its a bit more complicated now to be more fair accross the board. Read Bima's explanation here. http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?p=6418955#post6418955 All I know is that the front office and coaching staff will be watching Thabeet very closely the first few weeks of training camp and the season because Im sure they will pull the plug on the Thabeet project if he has not improved enough over the summer. More than likely though, he doesnt get the amnesty boot because there will not be enough time to evaluate him before they use his roster spot to sign a free agent. Its more likely that the Rockets will make a trade first before signing a free agent. Like say Johnny Flynn for a conditional second round pick, etc. to free up cap and roster space to sign a free agent. Look for a trade first, then amnesty second.
Williams plays in one of the lowest competitions in Europe, and he still sucked for a longest time. Yes he scored 50 ones against some crappy team than no one ever heard of.. NCAA division 2? Euroleague is the second strongest league in the world, it has different style of basketball. It is much more defense oriented and way more strict on rules. So yes it is definitely way better..
An update from Feigen on the Rockets signing Donatas this season - Dobro1229 says: November 28, 2011 at 11:05 am Jonathan, have you recieved any word on the Rockets plans to sign rookies Chandler Parsons and Donatas Montejunas? I assume Marcus Morris will be signed of course. However, seeing as though he most likely will not make the Euro playoffs Donatas’ season should be ending right around the same time the NBA starts up. Any word on what we can expect the Rockets to do about signing all of their rookies this year? Reply Jonathan Feigen says: November 28, 2011 at 12:25 pm They will sign Morris and Parsons. Motiejunas is virtually certain — 95 percent? — to stay in Poland.
Hello, Steelers and welcome to the OHMMS family. Which personality is this? The sheep whisperer who is the reincarnated spirit of George Papadapolous from TV's Webster?
And one more thing, D-Mo might have be counting last weeks in Euroleague ,but VTB is very strong league as well. After that he will have a training camp for the National team. And I'm positive he will be a part of the national team when they will play the qualifying tournament for the Olympics. Bottom line D-Mo still has plenty of very high level competition left in Europe this season.
