Is now the point where the Rockets exceed the Salary Cap?

crossover · Jul 7, 2013

Les Alexander has been on record stating:

“I have enough money, but I don’t have enough championships,” Rockets owner Leslie Alexander said. “If you’re not in it to win championships, you shouldn’t be in it.”

“I would be thrilled to pay a tax if we have a championship-caliber team,” Alexander said. “Obviously, you have to get the players to pay the taxes. You have to get great players; otherwise, you’re just spinning your wheels. When you get the great players, you don’t want to lose them. You have to pay whatever it takes to keep them. That’s when it becomes really fun to be an owner and to be a fan of the Rockets.

Thrill of victory

“You’re going to be playing very, very late into the season. We’d be playing now, which would be really great. I miss that very, very much. And the thrill of it and the spine tingling in your body, you only get when you get to that point. In order to get there, you’re going to have to have a great team. If you have a great team, you’re going to necessarily have to pay taxes.

“We were actually going to be paying (tax penalties) when Yao and Tracy went down. Since then, we’ve been rebuilding to get to the point we could have those players together. You couldn’t overpay players now because then you’d never get to that point to be a champion.”

‘Smarter’ approach

Alexander cited past expenses ranging from top salaries for coaches to many purchases of draft picks along with this summer’s $4 million overhaul of the team’s locker room, training room and weight room.

The Rockets had the youngest team in the NBA last season and with it, the smallest payroll despite paying 24 players (not including players they traded) because of the many roster moves. Alexander said that was part of “smart” rebuilding to position the team to acquire Harden and still be able to pursue a top free agent.

“This is smarter, rather than just blow money and have a team that would be stymied over the cap and over the tax and never have a team that has championship potential,” Alexander said. “Then, every year you’re going to be in the middle of the pack and never win anything.

“If you’re smart about the draft and trading, and getting the right players at the right prices, you can have those players when you get other great players like with the James trade. Then you can be great.”
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Posted on June 16, 2013 at 10:39 am by Jonathan Feigen, http://blog.chron.com/ultimaterockets/2013/06/rockets-owner-ready-to-ante-up-for-big-playoff-run/

These words from Les and this piece by Feigen fits so well contextually into the Rocket's last few years and the last few days. There are many reasons to have stayed under the cap all this time; it creates financial flexibility and trades/signings are limited under the CBA.

The Rockets now have Dwight, Harden, and the pieces. You have a team that is and will be a competitor for the next 3 years. It seems we've hit that point where Morey has almost milked that cap to the best it can get. Will Morey be given the go-ahead to exceed the cap, if it means we can sign one more big star and keep our the pieces needed to compete at the highest level?

pwnyxpress · Jul 7, 2013

crossover said: ↑

Les Alexander has been on record stating:
Posted on June 16, 2013 at 10:39 am by Jonathan Feigen, http://blog.chron.com/ultimaterockets/2013/06/rockets-owner-ready-to-ante-up-for-big-playoff-run/

These words from Les and this piece by Feigen fits so well contextually into the Rocket's last few years and the last few days. There are many reasons to have stayed under the cap all this time; it creates financial flexibility and trades/signings are limited under the CBA.

The Rockets now have Dwight, Harden, and the pieces. You have a team that is and will be a competitor for the next 3 years. It seems we've hit that point where Morey has almost milked that cap to the best it can get. Is now the point where the salary cap strategy changes and it can be exceeded? Is it time to for Les to shine and prove his word is his conviction?
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Probably. I mean, bad contracts are burdensome whether or not you exceed the cap. We can't just make moves for the sake of making moves, but I imagine if there was a great move that would take us well over the cap, maybe even into luxury, Les would agree to it because we could very well be contenders now.

But we're so far from the tax that I don't see it as an immediate issue. This is something that might come up in 2015 or something. For now, simply exceeding the cap, just by a bit? We're about to do that in a few days when we sign Dwight to his $20.5M and Garcia/Casspi to their mins.

Sydeffect · Jul 7, 2013

They are over the salary cap. If you mean luxury tax, you can't sign your way into the luxury tax this season anyways

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Is now the point where the Rockets exceed the Salary Cap?

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