[CBS Sports] Howard no lock for Lakers; interested in Rockets

Right, but if he was better than josh smith defensively, he would've seen the court. That's the point.

 

I seriously doubt Morey will go after JSmoove once Dwight signs w/ Rockets. Morey knows the importance of flexibility under the new CBA. Morey will lose all flexibility if he signs both.

Steps to go about this once Dwight signs here:

1. Trade Asik for a PF who statistically outperforms his contract. Look for a PF whose contract is between $5-8M (Amir Johnson would be perfect). Ths will leave room for quality role players.

2. Do nothing. Wait and see how DMo, TRob, and TJones 'fit in' with D12 next season. If any one of them takes a huge step forward, he will be our PF until Aldrdge or Love becomes available. If none lives up the expectation, Morey will make an upgrade before the deadline. Wait for the right moment to sell Asik high (a team with injury and desperate needs of a center).

 

You remember correctly. The Room Exception is $2.652 million next season, which can be used on one or more players, in the aggregate. Contracts signed using the Room Exception can be for a maximum of two years. Same goes for any veteran's minimum contracts if the Rockets are over the cap.

Again, these limitations are ONLY if the Rockets are completely capped out by a free agent signing like Dwight Howard. Obviously, the team can continue to use any cap room it has left over after a signing. In fact, I fully expect the Rockets to make an effort to leave open just enough cap room to sign one/both of the 34th pick/Aldemir to a longer-term deal, much like they did in 2011 when they left just enough cap room negotiating the Dalembert free agent acquisition to lock up Chandler Parsons long term.

However, if they have to choose between locking up those second rounders longer-term or Dwight Howard (to the extent it would hinder his ability to get the absolute max and he won't compromise on it), I'll go out on a limb and say the Rockets will choose Howard.

 

Thanks Bima.

The Rockets can also use the Bi-Annual Exception $2.016 in the scenario I outlined previously as we will be over the cap but under the apron after acquiring both Howard and Josh Smith. But it cannot be used in conjunction with the room exception or MLE.

And there is always the minimum player exception in which we can sign as many minimum contracts as we like when over the cap.

Who do we spend the room exception $2.6m given we have this line-up...

Lin 8.3
Harden 13.6
Parsons 0.9
J.Smith 14.0
Howard 20.5

Beverley 0.7
2nd Rounder (???)
White 1.7
Jones 1.5
D-Mo 1.4
Ohlbrecht 0.7
G.Smith 0.8

I think $2.6 is too little for Garcia to come back. I don't think Delfino, Anderson or Brooks are what we are looking for to back-up our guards. I think we need to look for a 3 and D like Garcia but can fill in at the PG and SG positions. Someone willing to sign for two years at $2.6m. A veteran?

 

A real backup center

 

JSmoosh is a glorified version of JR Smith. Once you sign him to a big contract you will regret it. For example, Scola would fit with DH12 much better for 4.5mil per year. I bet Suns would jump on TRob +GregS for Scola trade.

DH/Scola/Parsons/Harden/Lin
bench Asik/TJ/DMo/Beverly/Anderson

with a reasonable coach, I see WCF easily still with a lot of flexibility.

 

That's it, just a quality rim protector at the back-up 5 that can hopefully play some 4 alongside Howard as well. Josh Smith and Howard front-court might be good defensively, but the hacking and zone coverages would be off the charts.

 

indeed... that day is my birthday!!

 

Yeah, I agree. That's why I don't think we'll trade Asik when Dwight signs. We will play the Twin Towers together in spots and then interchange them much like the Spurs do with Duncan and Splitter.

We'll develop one or two of our PFs to play some minutes at the 4. Trade the others for role players at the 1, 2, and 3. Outside shooters who can play good defense.

 

No point trading Asik unless we get a good piece back. No point trading him for the sake of it.

 

I wonder if it would be difficult to trade Royce white plus 1.7 mil to a team.

Basically say we will pay his salary for you. Then I believe they can decline his option the next year if he doesn't show improvement.

Can always throw in a 2nd rder I guess. But I'd imagine someone would bite on that.

 

The Rockets CANNOT use both cap room and the Biannual Exception.

(Well, actually, they theoretically could keep the Biannual Exception on their books, but there would be no benefit since it would eat into "pure" cap room. Since BAE contracts can be for no longer than two years--as opposed to the 4-5 year contracts that can be offers via cap room--it would always be better to waive the BAE in favor of cap room.)

I've actually thought about this as well. Now that the new CBA has the stretch provision (which, in the case of White, would allow whichever team waives him to stretch both his salary and cap hit over the next three years at ~$573k per year), the Rockets might not even need to throw in the full ~$1.7 million to trade him. They could just take the present value of those three years of payments, plus an additional amount as a sweetener.

Draft night would be a good opportunity to do this, since the Rockets have ~$2.1 million left of their Maximum Annual Cash Limit that they can spent before it renews to $3.2 million on July 1.

However, it doesn't seem likely the Rockets will pursue this angle unless they have a definitively better use for Royce's roster spot. At the very least, Royce remains salary filler for trades (plus I imagine they at least have a small sliver of hope that White can still be a decent player), so they don't want to spend money dumping him unless there is another option as the 15th man who is worth the Rockets spending that money to create room for. Plus, they can always dump him later if necessary (although that may involve dipping into next season's Maximum Annual Cash Limit).

 

Awesome thanks for the details. My thoughts were it would be (depending on what cap goes to I've heard 62+) close if to not the exact amount we would need to cut to sign Howard outright. This would be the least amount of assets lost possible to clear room.

Then if we do it on draft day, as you pointed out, wed then have that cash option renew at 3 mil for the next year.

I'd hate to see trob sold low on just to clear space

 

Scola cannot be a rocket until his contract ends.

 

Thanks Bima for that info. I never thought of the stretch provision. It gives the rockets even more flexibility to free up cap room. I'm growing more confident we can free the cap room to sign Dwight outright no matter where the cap is set for this year.

How weird, using our cash allowance to pay teams to take white off our hands. But you never know, he could somehow get some minutes depending how the roster comes together. Stranger things have happened.

 

Rip Hamilton? Maybe T-Mac?

 

Technically this can be over July 1st right? If Dwight announces he's going to sign with Houston?

I can't wait for this to be over!

 

Technically, yes. Probable, no. He wants to meet with us, Atlanta, and Dallas, as well as give the Lakers every opportunity to prove that they could make him happy. July.1 is metely the first day of free agency. July 10 is the first day players can sign contracts. I'm guessing he takes his time in making a decision.

 

I fully expect a timeline for Howard similar to the one for Lebron in 2010.

He'll take interviews with several teams during the July Moratorium, and then he'll likely make his decision in the first few days thereafter. Figure in the July 10-15 range.

That said, I could also certainly see this thing dragging out beyond that, at which point the entire league (again) will be waiting on Dwight before many, many other moves can be made by several teams.