Another shameless cover up con job coming from the front office May be they should just shut up and get things done instead of being self proclaimed winners of the Western Conference next season, or self proclaimed favorites to land Jim Butler or fireworks or pick of free agents
I can’t wait for the playoffs to come so we can lose to another team not named the Warriors. That way we finally close this chapter in Rockets history and move on. This core isn’t enough to beat the team coming out of the east and the fact that they think just because the Warriors are out means they’re the best is lunacy.
You highlighted a paragraph of CBA limitations and called it excuses. It's already annoying that people constantly want to sign us up to pay luxury tax for Bruno Caboclo. But the hard cap is not something you want to screw around with. We knew that we are operating in a tough cap situation. We went all in on Chris and Clint's contracts after the 2018 WCF (rightfully so, that was our championship), then had our worst summer signings under Morey, which led to a bad start and overall a good year but a step behind 2018. We have known since those contracts were signed that reality was going to be tough, no more constant chasing of every bench free agent (which fans adore, look at the reaction to Utah.) It sucks how we are stuck right now but there is absolutely no point in bashing the front office and complaining every single day. We know how we got here. We watched it happen. You couldn't break up this team after 2018. Paul's injury was a destiny changing moment that put the franchise in a rock and a hard place. It's not a surprise that we can suddenly resolve. We are all in with this team and we can only focus on moves that are based in reality, not NBA 2K.
I JUST CAME BELIEVE THEY CANT GET MCGEE TO AGREE (wHEN WE HAVE A BIG NEED) AND CP3 AND HARDEN WOULD MAKE HIM A BETTER PLAYER
The Rockets have two exceptions they can use. This isn't a case of being capped out or stuck. Sitting on those exceptions is just being cheap. You won't find another contender out there that will just let those go unused. They are $11-12MM away from the hard cap. You can't let those exceptions go unused because you are afraid it may cost you some big deal later in the season. The Rockets are too close to being a title team this year to hold back in the hopes of hitting a HR. At some point small ball is the smart play.
There could be more at work here. @Deuce and I kicked this around. Guys like Voleh, Jordan Bell, etc. are opting for scenarios where they feel they can get good PT. Guys who signed with the Jazz specifically reference the development program. These are players who are signing cheap 1 year deals thinking they can get big money next year. Voleh for example turned down MORE money on a 2 year deal to take a small 1 year deal so he could get to FA next year. The Rockets could definitely have a problem here that agents aren't going to let their guys come here and not get PT or get shunned to the bench after a shooting slump or be in street clothes for the playoffs in a year where they are trying to establish value.
I'm not buying that. The Rockets don't have great depth. Rivers is probably the only reliable bench player they have. House is still unproven and Green is not consistent. The team doesn't have a legitimate SF on the entire roster and no backup 4 or 5. Seems like the Rockets are just doing their usual approach of being flexible because of FOMO.
Faried specifically told Kelly Iko that he would not come back here because he got glued to the bench. If I'm Jordan Bell's agent that would be a red flag to me for sure.
Apparently 13 teams are hardcapped right now (according to another guy from CF post) Look , on paper is the marginal talent of Bruno cabolco worth going into the LT ... no But when you're right at the edge , all that matters is a little spark . Last year we let James Ennis go to get out of the tax . The same guy who was playing well for us off the bench and the same guy that got a raise from philly this offseason . We left money on the table last year because none of the players we could spend it on were worth going into the tax for . AND because we were trying to avoid starting the tax clock As of right now , we apparently aren't in the tax . And none of the guys left are that good to where under normal circumstances you'd go into the tax for them . But , we didn't go into the tax last year . If we Don't go into the tax this year .... I guess that talk about willing to pay the tax but just scared of repeater was bullshit. James harden is 30 . Last year he put up 36 a game . If it's not worth taking a shot and paying the tax for a year now .... it's never gonna be . I don't mind it if the owner doesn't wanna pay the tax .... but if that's the case , to get a roster good enough to win we are gonna have to tank . I think fans understand we are in a hard spot with the cap and money we have and moves we can make .... just don't have ownership lie to our faces about wanting to be big spenders when in reality the only way tilman will pay is if we have a team like GS
Maybe that happened with Bell or another player. But I'm confident it's not happening with everybody and especially when the Rockets can still offer $5MM for the year. Maybe the Rockets have something lined up with a Shump sign and trade. Or maybe they have some other deal that's going down. But going into the season without using either of those exceptions is just bad management.
I'm talking about minimum guys. They aren't offering $5M to these guys. My guess is they are willing to spend the $5M on Green or maybe Morris and that's it. Otherwise they are content with minimums and staying under the tax for now. That's my guess. Oh I agree. I'm not defending them I'm adding another layer of concern. I'll be furious if they stay under the tax and don't spend the exceptions. But on top of it being an indictment on spending there might be another indictment that players willing to do minimum deals to get paid next year don't think this is a place to do it.
The League pays close attention to things like what happened to Faried. He came here to make future money, produced like a boss, and & nuked his value by sitting him when it mattered. I’m so over &.