What will we do with the role players (Jeff Green, Landale, Tate, Holiday, Bullock, Boban)?

Cut 'em all. We're not making major trades so keeping them around for a potential trade package is pointless if they don't play or you know, get traded. I appreciate Green and Tate for their time here but we don't have much use for them.

 

The first thing you have to do is decide if you are a cap space team or a team operating over the cap.

If you are a cap space team, you don't exercise any of the options .... you might have ~$14m in total available space, the room exception. You lose the MLE & BAE being a cap space team and have very little $$ salary to add to trades without adding parts of the rotation.

If you are an over the cap team, you exercise all the options, have the MLE & BAE and about $35m in movable salary for a trade.

Stone has already (correctly) stated that the Rockets would be an over the cap team and exercise all of their player options. They will have the NT-MLE of $12,859,000, the BAE $4,681,000.

The option players are Green, Tate & Landale - the roster looks like:

FVV/??
Green/Cam
Brooks/Amen/Tate
Jabari/Tari/Green
Sengun/Adams/Landale
The #9 and $44 picks (paid out of the MLE)

There's one roster spot left.

That leaves Holiday, Boban & Bullock.

The team has Bird rights on Boban - I wouldn't bring him back.

Bullock shouldn't be back.

You could resign Holiday, but I suspect he wants more than the minimum - maybe you give him a 3 year deal with "some part" of the BAE (up to $4.68m) unless you can find a better player for that money.


Then you have three two way contracts. I don't know what I'd do with them .... might be better options.

 

Landale HAS to be back. I would’t assume Adams to be heathy or better than Jock after coming off a major injury.

 

I agree, unless they get a center they really like in the draft.

 

thanks for laying this out in detail. I had hoped that we’d be able to create enough space to make a major signing, but then it was explained to me that we’d be above the cap and only have MLE money. What do you think of signing DeAnthony Melton with the MLE? Also, can we use our trade exception to sign someone?

 

I'm not sure what the market is for Melton - IF it's full MLE money, he probably lands elsewhere.

The problem is the #9 draft pick is going to cost a minimum of $5,569,920 and that will have to come out of the MLE assuming they keep the pick .... That leaves $7,289,080 in MLE money (#44 pick pending too).

No, they can't use a TPE to sign a free agent.

A TPE can only be used in a trade and cannot be aggregated (added to in any way). An incoming player's salary must be equal to or less than the value of the exception.

They have a trade exception worth $4,510,000 from the KPJ to OKC trade (many people hated that trade - it was a very good move getting something for nothing). It expires 10/17/2024. Use it or lose it by that date.