Players like Booker are going to get the max. Is just what teams do these days. And maybe he deserved it based on those two successful years that Phoenix had. My opinion is that he is not somebody we should give up the world for just because he is a good scorer. I don't think he is a winning player. He can be part of a winning team, but he himself is not someone that elevates you to be a championship contender. This year we are already considered a contender, yet we don't even have a go to player. I don't believe that Booker is a go to player, therefore, I don't want to waste resources on him. I think of him like a Rip Hamilton. He could play his role really well, but are you really wanting to give up the capital needed to pry him away from the Suns? Hell no.
I agree. Jalen is going to get better. Booker has basically plateau. Considering that Booker doesn't vault us into a guaranteed championship, I'm not willing to trade the salary of two players. I'm seeing some ideas floated around where we just give up the draft capital and FVV, but why the hell would the Suns do that? Booker is their only asset and there are teams out there that could potentially get much better with his addition. A team like Detroit makes sense, or even like the Chicago Bulls.
They can't eat ~$48m in a single year, stretch provision money is limited to 15% of the cap total in a single year. Spread over the max 5 years the total yearly dead money comes to $22,158,976, that equates to 14.3% of the cap in 25/26 and declining thru 2029/30. Stretching Beal would actually get them below the 1A immediately by about $8.2m - but with only 9 roster spots filled. They'd still be a mess with no cap space and few assets to improve. I still don't believe teams are going to line up with huge offers for Durant either .... the outgoing salary is just prohibitive to building a quality roster in the apron era.
If you think having a serious option on trading for Booker wasn't a primary reason (along with the value to another team in a deal) for acquiring those picks...then, I don't know what. Our front office has trumpeted it.
Can the Spurs beat the Suns tonight? KD is out. Spurs need to lose one of their last two games to secure the 8th draft slot.
Pistons and Bulls can't make a better offer in draft capital, and whoever the matching salary the Rockets give up is likely better than what the Bulls or Pistons would send. Championships aren't guaranteed. If the Rockets want Booker, FVV, salary filler, and draft picks will be better than any other teams offer depending on what picks the Rockets offer. I don't see the Rockets offering the best 4 FRPs the Rockets own for Booker. I'd also guess the Rockets would want back as many or almost as many FRPs back in any deal.
I would guess the play in losers from the east would get worse picks although not sure. Worst case PHX can tie Chicago at 37 wins and they are currently 12th.
How are you going to pay Jabari and Amen. You can’t afford all those guys and Booker. Especially if you want to keep Tari. We are the second seed with a young team. Let them grow. Forget Booker, we don’t need him. And we have plenty of assets to fill out the bench with rookie salaries as these guys get paid. The current situation is almost perfect. Don’t screw it up.
Other issue is that Reed sorta plays like Booker already. Similar games. Smaller but a better shooter and playmaker (projected). On paper....Reed/Amen/Jalen/Jabari/Sengun is cohesive and has tremendous upside. Everyone just needs to work on stuff. Jalen - size, off the ball movement, shooting (his catch and shoot has improved this year so there's reason to believe he can), foul drawing Reed - strength, reps, defensive awareness, selfishness (take the shot bro) Amen - shooting, handle, PG duties Jabari - handle, selfishness (take the shot bro), size Sengun - shooting, free throw shooting, rim finishing If Amen ascends to superstardom and everyone else does what they need to do...we're set. We don't need anyone else. This team has the potential to be a more talented version of that Pistons team from the 2000s. Just keep the Suns picks to trade for complementary role players if guys like Eason, Dillon or whoever get poached by other teams. Also we need a real backup center that can play a B2B. If we got a Top 4 pick I would entertain trading it to Portland for Clingan (unless Cooper)
The first year wouldn’t be a stretch, they’d just be eating the bought out contract money. That’s not considered dead money. That’s just like a normal buyout. Then, effectively they stretch him next summer. It’s called a delayed waive and stretch. So it’s roughly: 25-26 $48M buyout year 26-27 $17M 27-28 $17M 28-29 $17M Btw, I didn’t come up with this myself - this is the plan that cap people / PHX media have discussed.
I hear ya. We ARE beautifully positioned. On Tari though... I have serious concerns regarding his longterm health with that leg. As crazy as it might sound, I'm not averse to sending him out in the right deal for a star....lock in our profits.
After finally watching some youtube videos of the players in this draft, I overall think a 10th pick this year and 3rd pick last year isn't really all that different. There are some good players at a variety of positions and I definitely disagree that we are not getting a player who can contribute in his first year. I mean yes there are some projects that if we are to draft, probably would redshirt him, but there are guys who can contribute in the way Tari or Chandler Parsons or Amen did in their rookie years. I guess if I had a choice I'd go with Jakucionis. He ticks the most boxes for what the Rockets lack, which is passing, shooting, and breaking down defense. I don't know about the last part, but at least he present a different look from the pure speed that Jalen/Amen brings.
What the Rockets lack also includes whatever skillset is lost when they lose someone they are unwilling/unable to pay. the plan may be to draft Player X's replacement
But what does this really get them? It gets them under the 2A next season, but they still don’t have cap space to sign anyone. It just allows them to aggregate players in a trade. It does nothing to improve the team in Durant’s final year. Then they would have around $40M in cap space the following year. Not sure it will be seen as a desirable landing spot for FAs at that point. It does make Durant easier to move, if that’s the direction they want to go. Maybe they get a few decent players and picks from Durant, but not likely enough to improve the team during Booker’s current contract. And they would have $17M in unusable money each year for the remainder of Booker’s contract. So it’s going to be a half-assed rebuild around Booker. It just makes no sense to keep trying to salvage this thing. They gave it a go and shot themselves in the foot. Admit it and move on.
Yeah I agree it's not a good plan. But it is most likely their actual plan. Ishbia simply is not interested in admitting he is the problem. He's not going to take the L on everything he's done since buying the team. And that's an owner's prerogative. He does not have interest in getting their own 2027 pick to bottom out and pick high in the draft. We know this for many reasons, including that they just traded away their own 2031 pick 2 months ago for some trade fodder scraps. Windhorst said it pretty accurately on ESPN yesterday. PHX wants a) not to pay $100M+ in tax for a team that's not competing for a title next year, and b) flexibility to make moves on the margins to have a shot at semi-competitiveness for the next few years. Basically like the Clippers did when they let PG walk for nothing and fielded a much cheaper team this year that was worse on paper. We are accustomed by now to a HOU FO that aims for theory optimal decision making all the time. PHX is far far away from that.
Let's put this to rest. Booker ain't coming to the Rockets until he's 35 years old and on his last leg. We will all laugh at these post in 5 years seeing him dwindle down.
