That makes no sense; the Rockets can't use the amnesty clause on players they acquire in a trade. As of now, the only 3 players that can be amnestied by the Rockets are Lowry, Martin and Scola; two of them obviously won't happen, and unless Scola completely breaks down, it's highly unlikely.
You only get 1 amnesty, so save it when you really need it. Let's say we can get a star player for taking back a bad contract. With the amnesty we can use that cap space to possibly bring in another star. It's better to wait until at least 3-4 more years before thinking of using it. Using it on K-Mart this year is not a great idea, unless it can net you something like a Williams-Gordon back court.
Again, you can only amnesty a player who was under contract for your team prior to the new CBA being signed. That's Martin, Scola, Lowry, Patterson, Budinger. Obviously the last 3 will not be amnestied, since they're outperforming their contracts, Martin expires this year, and Scola likely only has 2 more guaranteed years, with a final non-guaranteed year. It's very unlikely that the Rockets ever use the amnesty provision, but if they do, they definitely will have to use it either this summer or the next. With the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, the ideal way for the Rockets to use the amnesty provision would have been to get rid of Thabeet during the summer, then use his roster spot to keep Jeremy Lin, sign Dragic to an extension using the cap space, then package Lowry and Scola to the Lakers for Gasol, and Martin/Adrien to the Timberwolves for Pekovic and Darko. Pekovic/Dalembert/Darko Gasol/Patterson/Hill Parsons/Williams/Morris Lee/Budinger Dragic/Lin/Flynn And while I'm in my DeLorean, I'll make sure that Karl Malone gets called for the game 6 bearhug, the Rockets draft Zach Randolph, Tony Parker and Gerald Wallace instead of Eddie Griffin, and make sure that Firefly gets #6seasonsandaTRILOGY. /end off-topic threadjacking
To amnesty an asset? Nah, not Morey's mode of operation. Remember, this is the man who got us the Knicks pick and K-Mart with T-Mac's broken down carcass. I'm sure he will spin K-Mart into valuable assets.
Apparently Adelman wants the Timberwolves to have a “very aggressive offseason” and doesn’t have the patience to wait for young players to develop... I bet RA values Kevin Martin more than any other team would, hopefully enough to give up their 2012 Utah pick with those instant expirings. That pick is set at #17 right now, so I think that would be great value for someone that doesn't seem to fit into our future plans anymore. Morey could have a shot at doing some real damage, armed with picks 13, 16, AND 17 in this draft...
Call me crazy (I'm crazy. There, I beat you all to the punch.), but I think the Rockets can net more than just the #17 pick and waiver wire fodder for Kevin Martin, although I'd be lying if I said I hadn't thought about that EXACT trade scenario involving Martin. I'm guessing that Morey would rather hold onto Kevin Martin the player or otherwise keep him around until the deadline unless/until something REALLY big came up.
Yeah, a year ago I would've thought it was crazy, but I'm not seeing a scenario where we can get more than that considering where his value is now. I just feel like Martin's time is up here and a middle pick in a deep draft is good enough. If Morey waits until the next trade deadline, we might not even get that much for the few months left on Martin's contract...
See the sig... Wiz have said that they're willing to do anything except trade Wall to get rid of Blatche's contract. Call them out on it. Not only do they get rid of Blatche's contract, but they get an expiring one instead. Find a third team and offer them an "asset" to make the salaries work. Easier said than done, but if it's done, you're right in the thick of the Noel and Shabazz sweepstakes in 2013.
I'll say it again: There is a point of critical mass when adding rookies, especially first rounders, all in the same season. Having a FOURTH first round pick rookie join this team next season is the very definition of "diminishing returns". You think Marcus Morris (who'll also essentially be on a do-over of his rookie season) didn't play this year, wait until you see the minutes (not) given to at least two of those four rookies. You'd essentially be drafting D-League All-Stars at that point. Now, if acquiring a third first round pick was for the express purpose of making a trade up in the draft that is a real trade actually on the table, or if there was a real trade ready to go that required the Rockets to have an extra $8-9M in cap room, THEN I could see the Rockets pulling the trigger to do what is necessary to get it done (depending on how far they're moving up or which player they're getting). But the Rockets could just as easily use MARTIN to move up, using his contract to take back dead weight contracts from the team holding the higher pick. Bottom line: I don't see the Rockets trading Kevin Martin for a package that only includes a pick in the latter half of the first round and two partially guaranteed contracts that'll be quickly dropped, costing the Rockets about $1.5M more in cap room being paid to players not on the roster. That is, unless it is a "necessary hit" they must take in order to accomplish a second trade that has already been agreed to in principle.
I generally agree with this. However, I can see why a potential partner in a "getting a higher pick for accepting salary dump" trade might prefer a couple of largely non-guaranteed deals (plus a mid/low 1st rounder) than Kevin Martin. Such a trade partner (Washington, Sacramento, Detroit) is likely in rebuilding/tanking mode and has reasons to prefer immediate salary relief + future consideration to 1-year's worth of Kevin Martin. I can see the Rockets making a trade with Martin going to Minny soon after the end of the season so that they can (1) dangle some package of pick(s) and non-guaranteed deals for a higher draft pick (plus some degree of salary dump), and (2) failing that, use the resulting cap space to faciliate a trade or FA signing.
Yup, that’s exactly how I was seeing it. I'd be happy with that package and hopeful for what Morey could do with it.
Just my take, but...when the Wizards made it known that they were willing to give up any player other than Wall to get rid of Blatche, I think it was just a long shot hoping that some stupid team would be intrigued enough by McGee/Vesely/Singleton to take on Blatche’s poison pill contract. Since that didn’t happen (and never will happen) I don’t think they’d give up a completely unprotected pick for a player they can just amnesty. For instance, I actually think Morey would have given them Dalembert’s expiring (which would have worked straight up for Blatche) for their 2012 unprotected pick, which currently stands the second best chance of landing Anthony Davis. But the Wizards just weren’t THAT desperate to lose out on a franchise talent like that. I’d certainly love for the Rockets to eat some salary and get a totally unprotected pick like your trade scenario, but I just don’t think it’s realistic. Somebody in the trade thread came up with Martin + Scola + our pick for Lewis + Wizards 2012 pick that’s not #1. While we wouldn’t be getting a surefire superstar like Davis, I’d be happy with a deal like this because at least we’d get a young, high ceiling guy that we can start building for the future with.
Of course, if the other team wants only "financial relief" as opposed to valuing Martin at all as a player (and I think most teams still view Martin as an above-average SG at the very least), then yes, Dalembert + the non-guaranteed guys makes sense. I just don't think Morey would dump a $12M expiring contract (oh, and still a pretty good player) just to get the #17 pick far in advance of a draft in which he has no idea if he can pawn off extra picks to move up. Plus, the presence of that $12M expiring contract literally could be the difference in whether a Dwight Howard trade can get done. Remember, you can take back between 125% and 150% of outgoing salary but only 100% of available cap space.
I'm actually thinking we load Orlando up with assets and take back less salary than we give out to help us with space to sign DWill along with retaining some key young players. I suspect Dwight and either Hedo or Duhon and Big Baby in while we send out Dally, Scola, Lowry, Martin, picks, and a couple youngsters. We take on their long term contracts, they bite the bullet and take on more immediate salary. Remember, then can cut Dally and save over $5 million right there.
That's the sort of trade I envision (albeit not necessarily that iteration) if the Rockets are going to get Dwight Howard. Kevin Martin's contract could be a big part of any such deal. Combined with his usefulness as a player, it's simply not worth tossing him aside for the #17 pick in this year's draft. Not unless you HAVE to have that #17 pick in a pre-arranged deal to move up into, say, the top 5 picks.
Yeah, you might want to put down the pipe and change your sig; that report was debunked a long time ago. Keep in mind that Ted Leonsis owns the Washington Professional Basketball Club, and he's as big as any owner on building through the draft. If Andray is really that big of a problem, they'll just amnesty him. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/search/%2523Wizards">#Wizards</a> source insists team hasn't told potential trade suitors that any player aside from Wall is available as long as Blatche is in deal.</p>— Craig Stouffer (@CraigStouffer) <a href="https://twitter.com/CraigStouffer/status/178325914000703489" data-datetime="2012-03-10T03:46:25+00:00">March 10, 2012</a></blockquote> <script src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Source I talked to rejected idea that <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%2523Wizards">#Wizards</a> would include anyone but Wall to trade Blatche. "Come on now" was his response. FWIW</p>— Mike Prada (@MikePradaSBN) <a href="https://twitter.com/MikePradaSBN/status/178528083500998656" data-datetime="2012-03-10T17:09:46+00:00">March 10, 2012</a></blockquote> <script src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
We can trade Lowry, Dalembert, Morris, and both 1st round picks to Orlando for Howard, and then cut Martin to have enough cap room to sign Deron.
A good example of this would be the Rockets trading Battier to Memphis in return for Thabeet and a pick - the pick was the cost of Memphis unloading of Thabeets contract - Battier was an afterthought since he wasnt in the teams long term plans and was set to expire , walking away for no return.
