I would match a MLE offer-sheet for Lee. Not sure about more. I guess the one positive about him wanting more than MLE money is that it increases your (sign&)trade leverage, as most teams won't have the cap space to offer Lee more than the MLE themselves.
This. I think its fair for Lee to get a "bit more than MLE", and honestly I hope the Rox don't lowball him like what they did to Landry. I understand part of moneyball is to get players as low a salary as possible, but if you KNOW you're underpaid you're not gonna give 100%.
We could sign and trade him to the Lakers to buddy up with Dwight, as part of the mega four team Bynum to Houston trade.
17/4 is just around 4M a year, that's only 1M more than Patterson's rookie deal. That's insane, considering Lee is already an above average player are you saying guys worse than him should be making less than their rookie contracts? I'm not a CBA expert, but from what I understand the money's only going to be tighter because the new luxury tax rates are so prohibitive, you won't be able to make money and still be over the tax at the same time. The new CAP shouldn't be substantially lower than the previous CAP, apart from the max being lower I doubt its enough to downgrade Lee's fair value from 6M a year to 4M a year.
14, 3.3, 1.7 as a starter, with a good number of 20+ showings. He's worth the money we're talking about, especially with Martin on his way out. IIRC, people thought Lowry's contract was overboard when we matched Cleveland.
Remember "a bit more than the MLE" is the opening bid from Courtney Lee's side. He probably doesn't expect to get all that he asked for. Remember, only teams with cap room can offer him more than the MLE, and giving the non-taxpayer MLE (starting at $5 million) means your total salary is subject to a "hard cap" of $74.3 million or so. So my guess is he ends up getting either the MLE or a bit less. Teams with cap room will most likely not want to eat into it to the tune of more than $5 million for Courntey Lee, teams without cap room probably can't find too many better MLE candidates than Lee (other than, perhaps someone who is projected to earn more than the MLE remaining unsigned after every team used up its cap room).
His contract demands sound surprisingly reasonable. Lee has a slightly above average impact, so he deserves a slightly above average contract. I wish all of our players were on contracts that represented their overall impact on winning games *cough* Martin *cough*. Unfortunately for him, you gotta take advantage of his restricted status and wait to match an offer.
5 years $23 - 25 million, last year non guaranteed seems reasonable for both parties. Lee is a solid role player that can start if necessary. There's a lot of guys like that in the NBA. FWIW, Id do 5 years $27 million for Dragic.
I agree. Lets stop being mediocre. Play the guys with the most upside potential. Lee is average. Sign and trade him, or low ball him.
Man thats a stretch, he really didn't show enough last year for that kind of commitment. I'm hoping the rockets can bump him down to 5 a year. Doubtful, i hope are limit is 4 years and 25 mill.
With a young team the Rockets need to keep a few veterans and not guys who won't/can't play. I reckon Lamb has to start from the get go. I'd try and S&T Lee and sign Delfino on a short 2 or 3 yr contract. He'll cost less Lee's QO. He's a guy who can step in and start if Lamb struggles badly but won't gripe playing from the bench.
simple. lee at 4~5 mil a year = asset 6+ mil = negative value guaranteed that morey will only keep him if he's an asset.
We all understand Lee is not an all star but the guy is a very productive player. He is not only a very good defender, but he can score "above average" and doesn't do stupid things out there on the court. If he wants around 6/mill u pay him 6 mill end of story.
Let him walk if it is more than 4 million. Start Martin, hopefully he can get back above 20 ppg. Try to trade Martin at the trade deadline for a profit if Lamb can step in as the starter. Hopefully Lamb can pull a Parsons. He certainly has all to tools to be a very good SG in this league for a long time.
