I'll keep it short and sweet. It looks as though Swift, assuming he doesn't want to play for trash like New Orleans or Atlanta, will have to sign for the MLE. However, from what it sounds, it would be like a 5 year contract at around 5 mill or so, but I'm wondering (and this might have a very easy answer): why doesn't he just sign with us for one year at the MLE, wait for those expiring contracts to end next year, and then sign for a bigger contract with us, or should he just hate Houston, he will then be a free agent again? Obviously NBA players like signing longer contracts, but if you have to sign a longer contract worth less than what you're worth, it's actually doing more harm than good. I still think it's really hard to get a player to sign a one year contract for anything, since they could get hurt and be screwed, but still, in this case, would it not make some sense? Capologists + Salary Surgeons, I need your help.
This has been discussed already. Look for post #39 in the link below. New Jack also points out that if for some reason we are under the cap next year it would be a different story, but I don't believe that's likely. http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=98676&page=2&pp=30
I think it's not true. It counts against the cap but it doesn't matter if you're over the cap space ---> you have to pay luxury tax.
I think you might be right. We could wait till the end of the summer to extend him and sign a FA before hand if we are under the cap. If this is possible, I think we would be able to sign someone. Our next year projected salary as everything stands is around 31 mill before a Yao extension. If everything remains the same we that means we would have around 19 mill to play with next summer. Of course, I am probably way off here.
as long as yao is not signed yet, his salary counts 150% towards the salary cap -- at least as far as I remember. also, MLE is for a minimun of three years. you can't sign anyone for less time with it.
New Jack and I are in 180 degree differences in opinion. The best place to read this is here starting at post #12.... http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?p=1918386#post1918386 IMHO, NJ sets up a very improbable set of circumstances for cap space which leaves the Rockets with $3m to sign 9 roster spots. But you read and make your own decision bearing in mind that in addition to the MLE we also lose the vet minimums once we go under the cap. The best answer is Desert Scar's who points out that a 2 year MLE $ (5m) gives the Rockets Swift's Early Bird Rights. With the EBR's, the Rockets can in Yr 3 offer Swift a new contract starting at any value up to 175% of $5m ($8.75m). This is incorrect. Under the old CBA, a SnT must be for 3 or more years. MLE's can range from 1 year to a max of 6.
Haslem was 11/9 and signed for 5 years, $33 million. I guess he took a hometown discount, but that is probably good news for us in terms of the power forward market.
If I were swift and wanted to play with the Rockets but made sure that I would get the most money that I could this is what I would ask. I would want a max MLE contract with a player option to void in the year when I had full bird rights, then If depending how i played I could opt out and get a max deal from Houston or someone else or if don't play to my potential I would still half the luxuary to stay in the origanl deal.
GATER, so we would offer Swift a 2 year deal at FULL MLE which would be 2 years 10M. And then after the second year we would then offer him a full 5 year deal starting at around 8M which could be 5year 40M or so. Those two deals combined it would work out to a 7 year 50M deal which really is in line with his real market value. Great scenario!
duece, a 5 years deal starting at around 8M would be around 5 year 55M, not 40M, if we consider the annual raises.
Yeah, I figured capspace wasn't likely, but I wasn't completely sure, so I gave credit to New Jack. Thanks for clarifying, GATER. Maybe we can offer Swift a 5-year MLE with player option for year 3. That gives Swift some security now with the opportunity for the payraise that he wants later. The only problem is we could still potentially lose Swift if someone outbids us in year 3. Or does the new CBA address this problem?
I would love to do just that, but it is, of course, illegal to have a wink-wink deal of that sort. I think Sterns would have cause to wreak great havoc on our team for some action like that. Plus, SS would have to trust CD and JVG an awful lot to agree, since tens of millions of dollars are at stake.
Actually I think it would be like 4.9Mil in year 1 (assuming this is the new MLE), 5.3Mil in year 2, and then an EBR contract at starting at 9.3 mil (5.3 x 1.75) in year 3. That EBR contract theoretically could be 6 years, $69 mil. An all but assured 5 years, $40 mil verbal promise would be pretty fair (making the minimum total 7 years, about 50 mil). And if he blows up, yes, 6 years $69 could happen. You can only do an option for 1 year (unless this changes with the new CBA). But 3 year deal with a last player option year would be fine. He could opt out after year 2 (making about 10.3 the first 2 years) with the early bird rights scenarios as described above (or go to a new team if he wants), or take the 3 years (15.7mil) with full bird rights thereafter (6 year max deal, the most in the NBA, as the upper limit). As long as we assure a fair minimum deal, this gives Swift a lot of flexibility. Well, he would be unrestricted--so he could sign with another team no matter what we want. But we could offer up to 6 years, $69 mil, it would not be easy to outbid us on money alone.
But look at what Kwame just signed for--three years with a team option. I would not say if we did a 3 year deal with Swift having a player option looks much different. These type slightly under market contracts to get the player to a desired destination are common place. I think the Joe Smith thing was different, 1) they specified in writing what the next contract would be, and 2 it was an outragously low balled contract (vet min?) with the purpose of manipulating cap numbers year by year. Of course nothing can be written--it isn't a contract, just a verbal expression of plausible minimum and maximum outcomes down the line and the known fact the Rockets treat their player well.
Exactly! I think the Kwame signing was a nice market indicator for Swift. Of course Kwame is going to get probably somewhere like 7M a year (because of the Butler/Atkins S&T) versus 5M that the MLE would start at.
