In some ways, it's really not. Because the Rockets are above the luxury tax line, they can only bring back 25% more than they send out. Assuming Montrezl signed a rookie minimum deal (which Bobby Marks believes is the case), then the Rockets still have about $2 million to work with under the cap. Just doing the math, if the Rockets bring in $10 million or less in a trade, it's business as usual.....you can ignore the apron. $8 million (outgoing) x 125% = $10 million, which puts them right at the apron. Any more than $10 million and you have to start sending out a little more salary to stay within $2 million of your incoming salary. Personally, I don't think this is that big of a deal. First, there's not many players over $10 million that we can or would trade for (Al Horford being the lone exception). Second, we now have a "middle class" on our roster between Ariza, Brewer, and Beverley that will make building trades easier. We don't have to throw in a ton of young guys to get enough salary to facilitate a trade. So here is where things stand right now: the Rockets have 14 players under contract (15 max allowed during the season) and are about $2 million under the apron. They can make any of the following moves: 1) Sign a FA to a 1 or 2 year minimum deal 2) Sign a FA using the remaining $1.9 million in MLE 3) Trade for any player making under $1.7 million using the Shved TPE 4) Trade for any combination of players making under $10 million using normal trading rules 5) Trade for any combination of players making over $10 million but they have to stay within $2 million of incoming salary 6) Trade for any combination of players but send out more salary than they bring in Now because of the apron, you can really only do 1 of the first 5 options above (you can always send out more salary in a trade than you bring back, since that would keep you below the apron). The point is that you have all of those options to choose from. You've got 6 bullets, but can only use 1 to 2 of them.....you still get to pick from multiple targets. I'm sure a lot of people are thinking about the Clippers from last year. They were subject to the apron because they signed Spencer Hawes using the full MLE. They had a tough time throughout the year because they were right up against that ceiling. The Rockets are in a completely different situation than the Clippers. Houston is both younger and deeper than the Clips where last year, which means we can take multiple injuries and keep on going. This team is better setup for the future with Montrezl signed to a 3 year deal, and we still have some flexibility this year to improve. We're in a good spot.
None of what you said gives them more flexibility. The 3 year Harrell signing and resulting hard cap gives them less flexibility. There really isn't any debate about it. The only debate is whether sacrificing the short term flexibility makes sense to guarantee his low salary on the books for 16 & 17. I don't think it does, because I don't think he would have much of a real market in RFA next year, unless DMo and/or TJones miss significant time and he plays extremely well. I doubt either will/would happen.
I actually agree with more or less everything you said in this post. Except that I believe that issue you think JuanValdez and others should not be concerned with has a direct impact on the first four points of your post. Anyway, like you said, a lot of these discussions aren't worth much until things begin to become clear over the course of the season. Thanks for the reply.
No one’s saying the move gives us more flexibility. But rather it doesn’t really hinder our flexibility from a practical standpoint. There are some trades the Rockets probably can’t make now, like trying to get Melo for example or another Ty Lawson type of player. However, it won’t make a difference if we want to pick up a Prigioni type. But the latter are the moves we’re much, much more likely capable of making than the former anyway.
My bad. I didn't mean that as a criticism. Sorry it came out as one. I don't think you have a lot of fat in your posts. They just are usually chock full of a lot of quality info.
I think most would have to consider you one of the best posters. It would be silly for me to criticize you! haha
I like that we signed Harrell for the same reason that I liked the McDaniels signing - it gives us flexibility to ship out bigger name players(Dmo and/or TJones for Montrezl and Ariza and Brewer for KJ) and still retain depth and cap space. As most everyone can see - the flexibility we lose with being able to take in more salary in a trade is nearly offset by the fact that we can now give up one of our big rotation players in a trade and not have to worry about getting another big in return(which limits our market).
So my interpretation of this is that Morey likes him enough to have him as the back-up PF next season and his work this season would be gravy. He will pay one of T-Jones or D-Mo in RFA and Harrell will act as the primary back-up to the guy who gets paid. We are absolutely loaded in every position, let's hope coaching, unity and a good camp get us over the hump. I am so excited for the season to start
I figure triggering the hard cap is more about winning within the short window of Dwight's current contract. Good point. If Harrell pays off, he could be useful next year if we make a run at retaining Lawson.
Valid point. I'll add to that Morey's track record on picking 4s up in the draft is pretty good - especially when you consider where he drafted them. Nic Batum, Patrick Patterson, Marcus Morris, Mirotic, TJones, Capela, traded for Dmo's draft rights - all PFs drafted by Morey and all at least slightly above replacement level quality. Brad Newley(who wasn't ultimately signed) and Royce White where the bad PF picks.
See it from the GM 0point of view and see it from the fan's point of view (everyone should take a discount to fit more goodplayers under the salary ca p etc) doesn't take away the fact that it takes advantage of desperation and these people (i.e Covington) are severely underpaid for what they produce without given any more safety (it's ung). So it's a form of exploitation nonetheless. I don't feel sorry for them,I just don't like it.
I would hesitate to call it exploitation. It's just simple supply and demand - the supply of players similar to Covington far exceeds the demand. That's why the nature of the exploitation you point out has changed over the years - Demand is high for versatile bigs with some kind of range today but low for lumbering big men who have a post game so those types of players appear to be getting exploited when they sign contracts because they can contribute at what they do but the skill set isn't particularly valuable to the team's idea of what a successful basketball team looks like.
Screw the hard cap. Lets roll with what we got. We have arguably the deepest team in Rockets history talent wise this season.
