Llull has said over and over he had no intention if coming to the Rockets. They can't pay him even close to what he makes in Spain.
"Jugar en la NBA es una puerta que sigue ahí" - Llull, April 2013 Rockets can pay him about 13 million a year depending on the salary cap. They won't pay him that much, because he is not worth it. Rockets will most likely have MLE available in 2014 and that would be 5.3 mil starting salary.
-The buyout actually DECLINED under his new contract. -The Rockets absolutely CAN outbid Real Madrid if it comes down to money. The Dynamo may offer a great salary to an international soccer player relative to the rest of the league, but they aren't going to outbid Real Madrid. Same principle applies for NBA vs. Euroleague. -The ROCKETS and NBA rules are the ones holding this up, not Llull. If Morey tried to sign him today, he could only offer the max for a 2nd round player. This is limited to within 3-5 years from when the player was drafted. Sometime soon, the Rockets will be able to offer any contract they want to Llull. Also, the Rockets want to bring in a 2nd star before signing Llull. If they sign Llull today, they won't have enough cap room for the big name players. -In December and January, Morey had two very interesting tweets relating to Llull. One was a retweet, stating that "Llull is the perfect PG to play next to Harden". The other was immediately after Llull signed his contract extension with Real Madrid. Someone tweeted that it looked like the Rockets wouldn't be able get Llull now, and he responded "Don't be so sure. Things change quickly in this business." I'm convinced that Llull will be on this team in a year or two.
The maximum allowed to sign a 2nd round pick is 25% of salary cap or about $13 million in the first year. Only first round picks have a rookie scale.
Rockets... early 2nd round pick... almost guaranteed to be starting caliber player everyone else just missed on.
I think there really could be. This is actually a pretty deep draft for guys that can be solid NBA players. It's the lack of superstar, franchise-changing talent that has given this the "weak draft" label. The draft is the first step a lot of teams take towards becoming better, so if there's no franchise-changing talent, a lot of teams will be let down. I guarantee you franchises like San Antonio and OKC (teams really good at evaluating talent) are loving this draft because they know they'll be able to get someone who can help out, but again, they also don't need a LeBron James or Blake Griffin to save them. There will be good some players there at #34, and I think the Rockets would be well-served to hang onto the pick. The strategy seems to be to go after a 2nd big-time free agent in the summer, so it's been reported they'll need to shed about 4 million for someone like Dwight Howard. For this reason, it wouldn't make sense to acquire a 1st round pick when you can get a good player and pay him 400k as a rookie. Plenty of good, young PFs to use a trade bait without having to acquire a 1st round pick this year.
I think swingman James Ennis from Long Beach St. might be good pickup @ 34. The is mature, athletic, and can shoot/defend on the perimeter.
Which alarm 'unathletic' white boy can we draft with #34? At the rate Morey is going, we might just get the next LeBron. Budinger -> Parsons -> ????
Lull is a very good talent. Leunen wasn't a high 2nd rounder. It's obvious that once Morey realized that the market inefficiency of the 2nd round is the white guy rather than athletic black dudes(Dorsey, Taylor, Landry), he's gotten a lot better. No longer are we missing out on obscure white guys like Asik and Gasol. Now we're drafting them.
For now. When Rockets add second star and no longer have cap space, the Rockets should try to bring Llull over using the MLE. Whether they are successful or not remains to be seen. The Rockets are going to have a tough time getting him to come over with Lin and Beverley on the roster.
Lin only has two years left on his contract..maybe not even that as his expiring contract looks to be very lucrative
Salaries in Spain are listed in the net income, AFTER taxes, agent fees and all deductions are taken out. Plus the salary is in euros, which are worth more than US dollars. On top of that, the salary in Spain does not have any NBA buyout coming out of it. The Rockets can't pay him the same money he makes in Spain.
Lots of laughs. Please show a source for Llull's salary. Rockets can pay Llull 13 million dollars. Even assuming half of salary goes to taxes, living quarters, and agent, That is 5 million Euros. Last I hear maximum salary in Europe was about 3.5-4 million Euros. Can't and won't are two different things. I don't know if he comes over or not. I suspect it will have more to do with him not being able to beat out Lin or Beverley than it will have to do with money.
