Just a thought. Since Hakeem is only going to play two, three more years max, why don't the rockets offer him a 5,6 year deal? A two or three year salary could be spread out lessening the hit this year on the cap. This hurts the cap after Hakeem leaves. It is better to have a lot of cap space this offseason and be over by a lot later than to be under the cap by a decent amount this year and be over by a decent amount later. ------------------
Interesting circumvention. However, I think that when a player retires, he forfeits the rest of his contract money. The Rockets could keep him on the IL listing him as Too Old to Play or whatever, of course. The other problem may be that the league won't appreciate the circumvention and penalize us. ------------------ RealGM Gafford Art Artisan Cakes
Hakeem wouldn't have to retire, he'd could be waived like Maloney with guarenteed money. This deal would be "unethical", but I doubt the Rockets would break any CBA rules as long as Hakeem doesn't know when he wants to retire. He'll be a better backup in five years than Cato is now. ------------------
