"As soon as the Rockets sign Josh Smith with a portion of the MLE KJ is a goner immediately." Who says Josh Smith is offered right away? What if KJ is taken care of first, and then Josh follows? I wouldn't put it out of the realm of possibility that the Rockets planned on offering Josh the 2.8M 120% raise and that was it. Unless there was anything left over with the MLE.
Our best hope here is say KJ signs starting at 2.5. Harrell then maybe 800,000. That leaves 2.2 million. Josh Smith takes his 2.5 million non bird offer and then 2.2 million can be used on a back up PG.
doesn't matter. Some teams will offer full MLE. So it will be left nothing. The only way to sign Josh with mle is to sign him before matching KJ. You should take for granted a full mle offer. Did you see how much a third stringer like Joseph earned? If I had a list of teams with full mle remaining I could make a more accurate prediction on who will offer him. But for sure at least Philly and Portland will. They are in asset acquisition mode.
Then the Rockets match the MLE offer on KJ and bring back Josh Smith on the 2.8 120% raise. Take a gamble that "fit and role + Detroit money" make it a good situation for Smith. He can play the next season out and be a UFA for bigger money next season and have early-bird rights with the Rockets.
I think the case of Carl Landry after his rookie season is a good comparison with KJ's case. Landry, like KJ, signed a 1 year deal as a rookie. He performed pretty well after getting into the rotation. When he entered restricted free agency after his rookie year, the Rockets threatened to match all offers and even asked him to get his knee scoped (which made his agent really angry). In the end (IIRC), Landry received an offer worth about $3M per year for 3 years and the Rockets matched. I think KJ's offer will come in a bit higher. He didn't perform quite as well as Landry did, but may have a higher upside. This is also a summer in which the expected rise in cap room is making everyone want to spend money and the cap numbers have already risen since Landry's rookie year.
yup. Josh Smith should have very few teams interested any more. And because of their managment I'm not sure they will take a chance at him. Has Sacramento ANYTHING left to offer him? Any exception etc etc? perhaps the room mle?
Sac just signed Casspi to 2/6, but not sure if that was room ml or remaining cap space. Josh should look at Sac just like Detroit, a bad FIT on a team not in the playoffs. I don't think he wants that again.
So pretty much the biggest threat to sign Smith should be Suns and Pacers since I firmly believe the blatant hole in Toronto's lineup and their refusal to address it is a surefire sign of a upcoming trade for Ross. But both teams are determined to not add lockeroom headaches after what they went through last year.
Bobby Marks' latest (?) #s: Portland Trail Blazers: $24.3 million Orlando Magic: $17.4 million Philadelphia 76ers: $15.7 million Indiana Pacers: $13.1 million Utah Jazz: $9.3 million Phoenix Suns: $6.9 million Denver Nuggets: $6.5 million I'd scratch off Philly, Utes and Denver. Probably Indy, too. That still leaves Portland, Magic, and Suns as possible suitors. And any team with MLE, of course.
Remember, though, most of that room goes away once Orlando re-signs Tobias Harris. The cap figure accounts for the Magic only counting his CAP HOLD right now. David Lee (a Florida alum) makes some sense there, but I'd think the Magic would want to focus more on developing Aaron Gordon; and they have Channing Frye making over $8 million per coming off the bench.
Didnt Snith and kenneth faried have some choice words for each other last season. I doubt he wants to play in denver with faried as his teammates
They were so choice that he plans to stomp the guts out of Harrell if he lives up to hype of being like Faried. That's how much he hates him!
anyone have an idea of what we're looking at, timeline-wise, for retaining KJ? How long do folks see this dragging out?
Other teams can make offers on the 10th, so it might drag out until the 13-14th until we know if he got an offer sheet. By then he might re-sign with the Rockets if no offer sheet.
can't they first offer Kj an offersheet tie up their money for 72 hours and then fill the papers for Harris, since they already have agreed? Btw I woulnd't wipe out ANYONE from xiki's list. Most of these teams want young talent at any position. And they want assets to flip later on, which Kj is.
