[NYPost] Rockets could make push for Carmelo (UPDATE: Blog post)

End result

 

If we were able to get Melo to come here, it's not even a question we'd do it. He's a top 3 scorer in this league. James can facilitate as well as score. We'd have 48 minutes of mad offense plus we can get the Marcus Cambys of the league to fill in the holes we'd have.

 

What's your opinion on Lebron, Wade, and Bosh? Or Kobe, Gasol, and Bynum?

 

Talent above all else.

I think Morey will take "any 3rd star" that is available. The philosophical discussion here is a bird in the hand worth 2 in the bush?

That is, right now Melo is the biggest star out there with the biggest chance of acquiring. I agree that Bosh, Aldridge, and Love would be better fits, but talent trumps fit.

 

OK. Reasonable. But let me ask a question. Are Howard and Asik equal to the sum of the parts in Houston? Or do their roles so overlap that Houston cannot really benefit from both of their skill sets at the same time? While Harden and Melo do not play the same position, is the one game one ball principal going to limit how much they achieve? I am just asking a question here and looking forward to your response.

 

I think that issue is overblown. I think Howard would stand to lose the most offensively from having Melo. Defensively, I don't see much of a drop off as TJones and DMo are sophomore's, albiet great sophomore's, but still make plenty of mental defense mistakes. I would assume we would keep one of those players (preferably DMo) to man the backcourt.

Harden certainly has the potential to average a double double (pts and asts) as Melo would slide to the 2nd option. Harden's isos and ballhogging complaints are overblown as he's never had a legit, consistent 2nd option. Howard is currently too limited offensively (no jump shoot), but Melo is an elite scorer who would benefit more than Howard (IMO) from Harden's playmaking abilities.

 

edit:

For DMo to man the frontcourt.

 

I've got no dog in this hunt but I'll chime in for the sake of philosophical discussion. I think by definition of a superstar (one who is capable of winning multiple ways), your comparison of Howard and Asik is limited since they aren't versatile enough to extend their abilities to other areas, and as a result are redundant when on the floor at the same time (though there's obvious benefit to having Asik on the floor when Howard has to sit).

Do melo and harden have similar games? I'm sure they do, but as superstars they ought to be able to adjust their game to maximize each other's abilities.

 

Melo would give us unbelievable floor spacing, guy can score from anywhere and is also a terrific rebounder.

 

Wow! I didn't realize Carmelo was shooting 41.0% from the 3 this year. Career 34.5% shooter from that range, no doubt buoyed by this year. Could he take a page out of the Jason Kidd/Kyle Lowry school of late-blooming shooters?

 

Well people always fixate on the starter talent but IMHO talent acquisition should be done on a TEAM evaluation. Historically speaking I have not noticed any "big 3" where all 3 guys become alpha dogs, you have instances of two guys becoming partners ala Batman and Superman, but whenever a "big 3" is formed the 3rd becomes a glorified role player, examples would be Ray Allen becoming reduced to a spot up 3 pt shooter and Chris Bosh becoming a garbage man/defensive C.

Now is a role player Melo worth paying 15M a year? IMHO he is not, while people point out to Melo's stint at world's, people also forget that that USA team does not have a salary cap, if we applied it to the real world situation Melo coming in would be the Rox losing Asik, Lin, Parsons and even Tjones, Bev and Dmo once their rookie contracts expire. IMHO Asik-insurance+Parsons is worth more than Melo on this team.

 

He's 36% over the previous 6 seasons not including this year. His first 4 seasons before he developed 3pt range drag it down. 41% is an anomaly, but 38-39% over the next 3 years is likely.

 

Lebron + Wade = 1st & 2nd options. Bosh = 3rd wheel.

Kobe = 1st, 2nd AND 3rd option. Gasol & Bynum - outlet valve/cleanup.

Ha Ha. I just made this for fun. I can't see there being enough ball to go around with Melo in the picture. He can be very ball dominant.
'The Wooly Bully' James Harden likes his ISO and touches.
Dwight wasn't brought here just to rebound.

3 prominent egos who want to be 'THE STAR' of the show. Could it work? Who knows? Chemistry is a fickle thing. Could explode, could implode.

 

No, that's not how the salary cap works. The Rockets could easily keep Parsons, Bev, and one of DMo or Jones because the Rockets have their bird rights.

Also, that's a very narrow, well actually just flat out wrong, view of Boston Ray Allen and Chris Bosh's roles. Either way, both those teams won championships so that's more of an argument for adding a third star...

 

Agreed..... people on the board have to remember that paying the tax is not the only thing you will be paying.... Say that we sign parsons for $9mil a year, and we are $5 mil over the cap... that translates into his base salary at $9million dollars and then 5milX$1.25= $6.25 in tax. Thats $15.5 Million for Parsons.... yeaaaaaaaaaaa... i would most def pass. Sorry Parsons, there isnt any loyalty in this game. He would be payed somewhere else anyways, so that is something you have to think about.

 

Being over the cap doesn't mean that you pay tax. There's a luxury tax threshold that you have to exceed before you pay any tax. If we were $5M over the cap we wouldn't pay any tax at all.

 

Wait how is this? I thought as soon as you pass the salary cap (50 something mil?) you pay the luxury tax and you as a owner dont get to split the pot luck...

 

The salary cap is at $58.679 million, the luxury tax starts at $71.748 million, so there's quite some room between those two.
http://www.nba.com/2013/news/07/09/nba-salary-cap-set/

 

There's multiple thresholds. The initial salary cap is a Soft cap. You don't start getting really penalized until you exceed the Luxury tax threshold.

Here are the actual thresholds...

Salary cap (what you see most often, restrictions on trades in terms of incoming salaries vs outgoing salaries)

Luxury Tax (exceed this and you start paying tax penalties with increased tax rates for every $5M you are above the Luxury Tax threshold, and increased multipliers if you go 3/4 of the previous years above the Luxury Tax -- IE, the repeater tax)

Tax Apron (exceed this and you get penalized in other ways, such as restrictions on doing Sign and Trades, loss of the bi-annual exception, and a reduced version of the mid-level exception)

So, for the current year...

Salary cap - 2013/2014, $58.679M
Luxury Tax - 2013/2014, $70.307M
Tax Apron - 2013/2014, $74.307M (Luxury Tax cap + $4M)

The Salary cap in itself is a "soft" cap. There are no penalties for exceeding it as long certain conditions are met. Once you exceed the Luxury Tax threshold, then you start paying significant penalties especially if you fall under the Repeater Tax provisions.

The Tax Apron just stacks more restrictions on top of that.

If you want to know more, you can read Larry Coon's CBAFAQ...

http://www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q23

And yes, it's complicated. If you think reading the FAQ is bad, you should try reading the actual CBA. Nothing like tons of legal jargon to keep it confusing.