Yes. Now how are you going to get him to agree to a 2-year minimum deal? Harrell has absolutely no incentive to sign a 2-year minimum deal. Because he's young and has potential. He can sign a 1-year deal and then become a free agent next season and for sure garner another minimum salary next season with the possibility of getting a 2-3 year deal above the minimum.
maybe this was just an order of operations thing: if we sign hayes first, we move that much closer to the apron. then we wouldn't be able to sign harrell to the contract he's asking for without (a) creating the hard apron and (b) exceeding it. so harrell's contract has to be figured out first. if the two sides agree on a long term deal using the MLE and creating the hard cap, then we can no longer sign hayes (or anyone really). if he takes the 1 year minimum (which i'm betting morey prefers), we can then sign hayes. as a professional courtesy, the rockets let hayes know that there is a chance that we wont be able to sign him, and therefor don't want him to wait around all summer and be left without a team. letting him know that he is free to look elsewhere is the right thing to do while trying to workout harrell's contract. i don't think this is a sign of a trade coming, just ripple affects of harrell's contract. either he takes the 1 year minimum, we sign hayes, and maintain cap flexibility for trades... or we sign harrell using the MLE to a long term contract but it costs us hayes and trade flexibility. its really a no brainer, we want the 1 year deal. not to mention a multi-year deal has to be shed when trying to sign durant. if there was a possibility that morey would trade harrell over a contract dispute, he would've just signed hayes and forced harrell's agent into an ultimatum: either accept the 1 year minimum or be traded.
Not true. That only applies to players on one-year deals who would lose their Early Bird or full Bird rights if traded. Harrell would lose neither if traded. He would not be a One-Year Bird player. He could be dealt while on a one-year deal.
Interesting. I asked Pincus about this last summer when KJ signed and he told me KJ would have to approve any trade.
I agree with this. That's why I almost prefer to sign him to more than 2 years and hard cap the rockets rather than losing him after a year (but I suspect the rockets won't limit their flexibility that way, even though I think that Harrell's really a first rounder in ability). We'll see. Maybe this stuff with Hayes indicates that they may be considering hardcapping themselves. In any event I don't see Harrell agreeing to sign for a 2 year minimum either. It's either 1 year min or 3+ years at above min.
I hope Harrell is worth it. Chuck would have brought a professionalism and work ethic that I think our guys would respect. Those X factors are more valuable than most people give credit to.
Maybe more so in the light, that if the player doesn't approve the trade, that the buying team wouldn't want him, because whats the purpose of a 1 year rental on a rookie?
Question for Bima, From what I see the Rockets are $1.907 million under the cap. That includes the subsidized contracts of Marcus Thornton and Jason Terry at $947,276 each, and the partially guaranteed contract of Christian Wood at $525,093. As of right now the league will subsidize 1-year minimum contracts that limit the Rockets obligation to $947,276 while the league picks up the rest. Once the season starts a typical minimum contract is pro-rated by the number of days left in the season (85% of the days left in the season then minimum contracts are 85% of listed value). Hypothetical Scenario The Rockets love Montrezl Harrell (32nd pick in the draft) and are committed to signing him. Jordan Mickey was drafted right behind Montrezl at 33 and received a 4-year contract starting at $1.2 million in the 1st season. Rakeem Christmas who was picked 36 in the draft received a multi-year contract starting at $1 million in the 1st season. The Rockets are not able to sign Montrezl to a 1-year rookie minimum and end up signing him to a 4-year deal starting at $1.2 million in his 1st season. The Rockets are then hard capped at the Apron ($88.740 million) with a $706,840 buffer between their total cap charge and the Apron. Questions: 1. Once the Rockets activate the Hard Cap does the league continue to subsidize 1-year minimum contracts? a. If no, do the Rockets become liable for the full minimum value of the Jason Terry and Marcus Thornton contracts? Or do the Rockets cap hit remain as is since the contract has already been signed? b. If yes, once the season starts will the league pro-rate the Rockets portion of any future subsidized minimum contract or is $947,276 a fixed number that does not change throughout the season? Reason for Asking If the league continues to subsidize 1-year minimum contracts and if they allow teams to pro-rate their portion of the minimum contract after the start of the season then the Rockets would be in position to sign any veteran player to a 1-year minimum contract starting around December 9th ($706,840 is about 75% of $947,276 and on December 9th there will be about 75% of the season left). That could be a very important fact if the Rockets are forced to use the MLE to sign Montrezl and are subsequently hard-capped. That could be the difference between the Rockets having the flexibility to sign veterans like Carlos Boozer and Emeka Okafor or forced into signing an undrafted rookie free agent in an emergency situation with out having to make a trade to create additional space under the Apron. I apologize if you have already gone over this but I haven’t seen it posted.
The league will continue to subsidize one-year minimum deals above the two-year veteran's minimum salary, regardless of whether a team is hard-capped. And vet minimum contracts will still prorate downward once the regular season begins, regardless of whether a team is hard-capped. FYI, while Christian Wood's contract will only PAY him $525,093 in salary (should he still be on the roster past January 10), because he is not a second round pick, his salary will COUNT as $947,276 towards luxury tax, apron and hard cap calculations. Same goes for any other training camp player (other than Harrell). However, these players can be signed (and the hard-cap "exceeded") so long as they are waived before their the GUARANTEED salary pushes the team over the apron level.
OK, seriously - - how do they come up w/these scenaria, this minutia, to this level when the issue being dealt w/is on the high $ level? As long as we're at it, let's just say that the side for no maxed contracts wins in the next CBA yet the same caps, taxes etc remain then what would DM the GM pay Harden when it's renewal time, or Howard now or Cavs' Lebron? And what would a roster look like? Thanks, BT.
I asked this in the kj mcdaniels thread but thought here might actually be better, could it have anything to do with morey and the FO being scared about signing Harrell while staying under the hardcap
Thanks Bima. That last part about Christian Wood's cap hit after January 10th is especially good to know.
The CAP HIT for Christian Wood doesn't change after January 10. It'll be $947,276 the moment he signs his deal. It's just that he won't *ultimately* count that much against the cap/tax if he's waived before January 10. He'll only count for the greater of (A) his partial guarantee or (B) the prorated salary earned up until the time he's waived.
Thanks for the clarification. I completely misunderstood the 1st time I read it but it makes sense now.
Christian Wood is not making this team guys. He is nowhere close to being ready to contribute. Christian Wood is a multi-year project IF he is to become an NBA player. He'll have to learn to play some semblance of defense. And he'll have to develop physically. Christian Wood is signed to a summer contact so we can have first dibs with him at RGV. We value him as a project and didn't want to have to risk losing him in the D league draft or to another team doing what we did, which is give him a summer contact so RGV would have the right to sign him and avoid the draft. And we gave him a little cash to hopefully keep him from flying the coop internationally. You should quit thinking about Wood in terms of the roster coming out of training camp. The very best case scenario for him would be IF he knocks it out of the park at RGV and we then sign him mid-season. But....that is not likely for Wood because he is so low on his development curve. Wood needs to add about 20-25 lbs of lean muscle mass. And that's a huge job for a string bean teenager that probably has never lifted weights. Its especially difficult for long basketballers who are burning 10,000 calories a day playing basketball to add that kind of muscle mass. And then he's got to learn to use his body for leverage against other bigs. Right now he doesn't have a clue and he would be nothing but a human pin ball running the court in an NBA game. It's going to take a year and possible 2 years before Wood is worthy of an NBA contract. Making a couple dunks and jumpers in summer league doesn't mean a guy is an NBA player.
Bima..if you see this can you please answer this question. When the cap rises also the MLE rises? The vet minimum? Thanx in advance.
Not Bima but.... No. They are fixed based on the previous CBA, and will likely be addressed in the next CBA. They really should be indexed to the cap.
