[Charania] Jason Terry Progressing towards a deal with the Rockets

Kurt Helin ‏@basketballtalk 15m15 minutes ago
James Terry says he’s near re-signing with Rockets

Looks like he's changed his name.

 

so what's the hold up on signing him

 

Terry will be Lawson's father

 

I'm wondering this too.

Why hasn't Terry or Hayes been signed yet? Both have been released that they are very close to agreeing on a deal, but neither have gone through and it's been 2 days. Morey still up to something else? Or more likely, Morey's still sorting out all of the Lawson deal and our cap / lux tax / KJ / Harrell / MLE situation before making any confirmed signings.

 

Thornton hasn't signed as yet either.

 

Waiting to sign Harrell to a deal first.

If they are going to sign Terry and Hayes to vet min deals, Harrell will be getting the rookie minumum, or very close to it.

The hold up has to be the years on the contract.

Morey probably wants Harrell to sign a 3 or 4 year rookie min deal with a team option after the 2nd year. Since Harrell will be making close to the rookie minimum, he might be thinking of signing just a 1 year rookie minumum deal.

The situation will become similar to the Carl Landry and, most recently, the KJ McDaniels situation. Where a guy who felt like he slipped from the first round to the second round signs a 1 year minimum deal and becomes a RFA the following offseason.

With Morey aiming to go after KD next offseason, the last thing he wants to worry about is Harrell getting contact offers and totally ruining our chances to properly woo Kevin Durant. Once a RFA signs a contract, his cap hit rises to the salary on his new contract even if the team hasn't matched yet. I can just see Mark Cuban, or any other suitor out of the KD sweepstakes, offering Harrell a contract that ruins our chances to offer KD a true max contract.

Bye bye KD for a 2nd year player. Lolol

Once Harrell signs his deal, I can bet you Hayes and Terry signing will happen hours after, if still available.

 

Hope this Harrell situation doesn't drag on too long then. When is the latest we can expect this to get resolved?

 

I've got 2 theories on the holdup here (and he will probably sign the second I post this):

1) The Rockets have told him he will likely be an end of the bench guy, i.e. he will only play when its a blowout. The reality is that with the additions of Thornton and Lawson, plus Beverley and McDaniels resigning, we probably don't have any rotation minutes to offer. Maybe another playoff team has told him they do have minutes. I could see the Spurs as a legit option for him with the loss of Marco.

2) He want's a two year deal, and the Rockets are only offering 1. This is important for 2 reasons. First, the Rockets obviously want full control over their cap space next year. Second, according to Bima, while his salary at the vet minimum would be $1.5 million, he would only count about $1 million against the cap if he signed a 1 year deal. You don't get this cap benefit if he signs a two year deal. Since the Rockets are very close to apron, Terry/Hayes signing one year deals could be the difference between getting Montrezl Harrell on a 3 year deal or him signing the QO and becoming a RFA next year.

 

Why Harrell not sign yet? It´s only negotiation or something else?

 

Agreed on both counts.

As for Theory 2, the Rockets may already be at a point where it will be hard to avoid exceeding the apron level, meaning that the Rockets may just avoid using any more of the MLE (and therefore avoid a hard cap), even if it means being prevented from giving Harrell a 3-year deal.

That issue may be more about simply minimizing luxury tax consequences by doing a one-year deal (where Terry would only count $947k against team salary) versus a two-year deal (where Terry would count nearly $1.5 million). That's a difference of about $1.38 million in extra salary and taxes for next season (or more if the Rockets add enough extra salary before the end of the season).

 

Please God let Terry agree to a deal

 

Thornton hasn't signed?

 

C'mon Houston, sign up these deals.

 

Man Morey should be on a vacay right now after that hell of a Lawson deal.

 

http://www.spotrac.com/nba/transactions/houston-rockets/

I apologize. I thought he had a verbal agreement. According to spotrac, he has signed with us. I hope this is accurate information.

 

Hadn't really thought about the luxury tax implications, but you're right.

I really go back and forth on the apron. On one hand, you really hate to put yourself in another KJ McDaniels situation next offseason. It worked out this time, but it only takes one team.

One the other, we'd be very limited in the type of deals we could execute, and I'm confident that Morey isn't done wheeling and dealing for the entire year.

 

To close out my thoughts, I'd prefer to lockup both Harrell and Williams to 4 and 3 year deals respectively while signing Hayes and passing on Terry.

Yes, this will create a massive logjam at PF/C, subject us to the apron, and create an unbalanced roster. But it also gives us the most assets on the cheapest deals, and things always seem to work out when you've got talent.

The route I think we're going to go is to offer Harrell a 1 or 2 year deal, whichever he prefers. This is somewhat similar to the Black vs Dorsey decision last year. Morey chose flexibility over talent then, and he will probably do the same this time.

 

Personally, I don't think it matters if Harrell becomes an RFA next year. The Rockets almost always send their rookies down to the D-League for most of the season, and even if he gets called up- how much playing time is he going to get with Jones,DMo, Ariza, Brewer, and McDaniels at the 3 and 4 spots? IMO it's extremely unlikely that Harrell gets more than limited minutes in year. I doubt he'll warrant significant attention as a free agent.

 

Yeah, I definitely want to avoid the nightmare scenario where we have to choose between Durant and a sophomore D-Leaguer we plucked from the second round. Tough choice!

 

i'll be *very* surprised if les pays any lux tax to sign end of the bench players