I do my math based off the trade machine so correct me if im wrong. We're roughly 5.2 mill over the cap right now Getting rid of Asik Lin Jones Motiejunas Garcia Hamilton Casspi Powell Covington Would clear roughly 24.5 million, 24.5 - 5.2 = 19.3 - million we could offer melo IF we managed to clear 9 player with no salary in return, and no draft picks signed. Only way to offer him 20 mill would be to cut both Canaan and Daniels as well, which IMO would be dumb as they can possibly be much more valuable to this team then .7 more million to Melo.
While I'd sacrifice DMo if it meant getting Lin out of here, I'm pretty sure Morey wouldn't just dump Jones. Ideally Melo would just take a little less and you keep Jones. If you had to you could package Jones and # 25 for say Charlottes pick next year. The Hornets appear to be in a kind of win now mode. Melo has stated he's willing to take a paycut.
We have like $5.8M in cap room now. That's including Garcia opting out and Hamilton, Casspi, Powell becoming free agents! Now remember, we did cut Greg Smith, his salary is now also off the books. Same with Brewer and Pittman. There is also a new salary cap projection 63.2M is the new number... I believe if my calculations are correct, as of right now we should have about $5.8M in cap space.
Yeah, i believe Melo can be offered roughly 22.5 max by any team, except the Knicks who can offer a little more. 3.5 million is already a pretty decent pay cut to take IMO, you ask him to take a 5 million dollar pay cut and he might get a little upset, who knows though.
It's wrong because it's based off of last year's numbers. Both in terms of contracts themselves and according to the salary cap. Use this instead. http://data.shamsports.com/content/pages/data/salaries/rockets.jsp The new salary cap is set at $63.2, or nearly $5mil more than the trade machine numbers. The low down is basically this. 1. If Melo wants his absolute max or near it, the Rockets pretty much need to clear everyone except for Parsons, Beverley, Harden, and Howard. Everyone else must go. 2. If Melo is willing to take a paycut so that his starting salary is in the $18~19mil range, then things get A LOT better in terms of player retention. Jones, Daniels, Canaan, 1st round pick(assuming we overslot a player and pay him only 80% of rookie scale), can all be retained. 3. Most likely though, if Melo is set on the Rockets, they'll work out a S&T where the Rocket give the Knicks some picks plus maybe TJones and don't have to worry about any of this.
"Projected" cap figures only have come out. Nothing official yet. -The Projected salary cap is 63.2 million. -The Rockets currently have 61.578 million on the books for next year. IF- The Rockets waive Omri Casspi, Josh Powell, Robert Covington, and Garcia waives his option the Rockets will then have 57.567 million on the books + any empty roster charges & the cap holds for the incoming draft picks. -With the cap increase you are looking at roughly 4 to 5.6 million dollars in salary cap space depending on what those charges & cap holds are (not entirely sure about those) That's not really a significant amount, and quite honestly, why you'd use this small amount of cap space in free agency is beyond me when you have both exceptions. However if you are able to move even just Lin than you open up the ability to sign someone then for 13 million or so, and if you are able to move BOTH Asik & Lin you are looking at having the ability to sign someone for the true max around 22 million. Maybe you have to take back a couple minimum salaries in a Asik & Lin trade & you end up with closer to 17 to 19 million in cap space. The point is, if the Rockets can move even just one of the contracts of Lin & Asik for cap space, they ARE going to get a very good player with that cap space.
It's good to point this out, however: do we really want another great player and have even less of a bench??
Is that even possible? Zero divided by any number is still zero. (Whereas any number defined by zero is undefined.)
Its a good point if I think I understand where you are going. (point being why get one player at the max when you have options to add 2 borderline all-star types for depth??) As I pointed out the Rockets could do a trade like (This is an Example mind you) -(Draft night trade)Lin & a 1st rounder to a team with Cap space. Then turn around and sign someone like Kyle Lowry with the available cap space (maybe you offer him 10 to 12 million a year or whatever takes you to the cap). -Then you still have the trade assets of Asik, Jones, & future picks to trade for another guy like say a Ryan Anderson or Millsap, etc. At that point you are probably about maybe 65 to 67 million in total salary which STILL keeps you like 8 to 10 million dollars under the luxury tax to where you have the ability to add someone to the mid-level THIS Summer as well, and the bi-mid level the following year.... and STILL be under the luxury tax. That 10 million or so can act as a buffer in the notion that you will need to sign Parsons a contract the following year around that salary around (10 mil a year hopefully). Maybe you pass on the mid-level exception or try to not give the full mid-level to give yourself a little more buffer the next year... but you get the point. You opt for this route, and you are a significantly more deep team. I think there is huge merit in advocating for Morey to use the contracts of Lin & Asik in trades to parlay that into two 10 to 12 million a year players instead of one 20+ mil a year player, plan on keeping Parsons, and use the mid level exception. If you turn Lin & Asik's contracts into a player making 20+ mil a year & you are wanting to bring back Parsons you are looking at close to 70 million wrapped up in 4 players potentially at a cap that in 2015/16 is projected to be 66 million. Flexibility and depth is a huge issue going this route. However, if a Kevin Love or Melo is available.... we know its going to be tough to not bite the bullet and go that route instead of opting for good depth.
It's a pity that the ability to toss in cash when making a trade is so limited. I understand why it is, since the "rich" teams would have such an advantage (and they have advantages enough already), but it would sure help offset the financial burden attached to both Asik and Lin for any team that acquires them, which presumably could be limiting our potential trading partners.
I don't think this is right. I did the math a while back and here's the post I wrote about it below. You have to drop everybody besides Howard and Harden to offer Melo a full max deal. If my numbers are wrong somewhere, I'd like to see where.
Hmmm... I got the numbers right off of ShamSports. The only correction I saw that I had to make was the Greg Smith qualifying offer which I deducted & added (then subtracted) the Josh Powell salary. Of course, math errors happen so its possible. EDIT: Correction: I did the math again and I'm coming up with 59.6 million on the books (after deducting Casspi, Powell, Covington, Garcia) against the projected cap of 63.2 million. That gives you 3.6 million in cap space before roster charges and cap holds for incoming rookies which will bring you much closer to the salary cap. I think the mistake I made was taking the total salary and then deducting from there. That total is incorrect. You have to do the math 1 by 1 unfortunately.
Thanks for this post. I like the idea of "good depth". I would take Lowry/Millsap over Melo or Love. If we could somehow manage to get Rondo instead of Lowry that'd be even better.
Your welcome, even though please note there was a little discrepancy with the math. Its possible for Rondo & another good player. He's in that salary range, but it becomes a little more tricky in his case given the fact that I think he's going to command alot of your trade assets like picks so you have to be a little more careful with how you acquire the other player if that's done first. Maybe you make a deal to move Asik into someones cap space first, use that money in free agency to sign someone like maybe Deng with the cap space you free up, and then are able to then work out a trade for Lin + assets for Rondo. However you have to look at it this way, The Rockets have the biggest hole in this case at the PF position (even though Deng & Parsons could play small ball together at times), and there are IMO better opportunities in trade for PF's than free agency this year. Also, given the market right now for PG's, its probably a better bet to plan on getting a discounted rate for PG in unrestricted free agency since there are such a limited amount of suitors willing to pay for a 8 to 12 million dollar a year PG in free agency when most already have one. I would think the best best is to sign the more discounted salary first in free agency, and then trade for the larger salaried player (since you can take back up to 12.5 million in salary with Lin's contract alone afterwards). However, maybe you get a deal for Rondo first, and still feel confident you could pull off another trade for someone like say Ryan Anderson later on. Who knows. Hope that makes sense. Long story short, the increase in projected cap can go a long ways if the Rockets want it to & I think there is merit in making trades for good depth vs. opting for one max player in trade/free agency.
I really like this approach. I'd much prefer a pair of bubble all-stars than a third guy who thinks he should be the franchise. A guard like Rondo or Lowry and a forward like Milsap or Deng. But, I'm really stuck on how we manage to trade Lin without Parsons as the sweetener.
