I"m gonna ask again cause nobody answered it. How is trading Rafer going to help the Rockets get under the cap? A trade nets Salary for Salary right?
If we trade him for a non-guranteed contract, it will help. we can immediatly waive the incoming player and waive him off the books.
I cant believe people here wanna "BUYOUT" arafer. even if we buy him oout, he will still be on our books and we are left with a injury prone combo guard, another combo guard and a rookie.
First of all, the Rockets will not get under the cap, they will get under the luxury tax and the 2 for 1 penalty. You only have to nearly match salaries when you are trading with another team over the cap, so the Rockets either trade Rafer to a team under the cap or they have to do a 3-way team trade involving a team under the cap.
1) Brooks hasn't played 1 minute in the NBA, so we don't know if he is better or worse than Rafer, unless you are calling it a forfeit. I'd prefer to wait and let his performance inform that judgement. We know Brooks won't rival Rafer's MPG this coming year, but it would be VERY possible for him to improve on Rafer's per 40 minute stats. 2) Comparing TOTAL stats between Rafer and Sam is deceptive because Sam only played 17 minutes per game that year, and Rafer played 38 this year. Besides, Sam shot 42% FG that year which is significantly better than Rafer's 37%. Add to that, Sam was CLUTCH (hence the ring) and Rafer choked in the playoffs.
Rafer nor Mike James can touch Stevie ,says MC Hammer Mike James best year of his career would be an average year for Francis. Did anyone actually watch Steve Francis last year, he has'nt lost "it", He was an unselfish player stuck on a selfish team. Talk to me in 6 months
Anyway you slice it, it'll be hard to make that trade because what other team is going to want to take Rafer's fat contract?
True that, but there are some fools for GMs who are stupid enough to do it. I don't think we thought we could get a GM to take on Juwan Howard's fat contract, but McHale was dumb enough to bite.
Rafer's salary is 4.5 mil. We only have to take 3.4 mil to be within the 125% rule/+100K. Likewise if we trade for Marshall (5.6mil), SAR (5.8 mil), Foster (5.7 mil) or Najera (5 mil), we can send out 1.25 times that amount. Rafer (4.5) + some combination of Snyder (2.4mil), Reed (1.4mil), JL3 (.8), Novak (.7), etc. E.G., Marshall (5.6) for Alston (4.5) + Reed (1.4mil) + JL3 (.8) works via league rules and would save about 1.1 mil. Or use Snyder + Alston and save 1.3 mil. If you consider the lux tax, that would be at least 2.2-2.6 mil for this year. Another issue is Alston's contract runs the longest, so savings are even greater down the line. So in sum, we don't have to trade with under the cap teams to save some money in deals. Those 4 players/deals above seem as plausible/helpfull given both teams needs that I can come up with. Longer shots are with Boston or Mia--but they don't have as viable midrange assets for Alston that we would want. Scalbrine + Tony Allen + picks (two 2nds or future 1st might make it fair) for Rafer + Reed (or JL3+Novak) would save about 1.2 mil too (2.4 with tax). But I like the other deals I mentioned better for the Rockets.
Geez, I know that a lot of ya'll don't like Raefer Alston. But he was the starting point guard for a team that won 52 games. Let's not forget that Yao Ming was hurt for a long period of time. Also, the bench was very thin. Rafer was playing 35 to 40 minutes a game. Anybody who says he isn't a quality player, get off you high horse. Sure he isn't an all-star. But he more than held his own. Even in the Utah series, he had a couple of quality games. It's just that he didn't have the quality game in those where they lost. But, I would rather have Alston in the Rotation than someone like Novak that warms up the bench. I for one know that Rafer can give you quality minutes on defense, ball handling, and penetration while holding turnover to a lull. Novak can give you an ulcer with his defense. Alston cannot and should not be given away for scrap players. Keep him there at the end of the bench if need be. What if Francis and James don't get this team running like Rafer did last year? Rafer sucks shooting the ball. In fact he takes too many stupid shots. But, Van Gundy must of told him he was an all star (he sure as heck built him up in all of his interviews); therefore as the teachers pet #1, he had to comply. Come on....why else would he have gotten a bigger head than he needed to have?
If Eric Snow (a player I certainly hope we all can agree is significantly worse than Rafter) can be traded with 4 years (I believe) left on an even bigger deal (closer to 6M average), then I find it very hard to believe that Rafer can't be moved. Still, I would think that Rafer should be on the roster until the trading deadline, because there is simply no way in hell that Francis, James and Bonzi all pan out. I think there's a greater chance that the Sonics stay in Seattle than everything in the offseason working perfectly to plan. One of these three is going to bust or be injured, and it will leave open some key minutes. I expect Luther's minutes to be cut substantially so he's used more situationally (to his benefit), and Snyder to be benched and eventually waived. Aaron Brooks should get a new wardrobe of suits, because he's not going to see the court under Adelman anytime soon, if Kevin Martin, Andrew Declerq and Gerald Wallace are any indicators of how he treats rooks. If Francis or James goes down, the Rockets are in the exact same position they were last year, with one competent point and a whole bunch of nothing behind. Wait until the deadline, make sure its Bonzi who's bouncing out of town, then deal Rafer to a playoff-desperate team. It's not necessary to be under the Luxury Tax threshold until the end of the year, so there's still time to dump him for an expiring contract and buy that contract out, saving the necessary funds. If there was anything JVG truly had right, it was that you need three legitimate point guards on the team. Now we've got that, and we want to give it away for scraps. For Jeff Foster? Sure, he's a valuable asset. For Scalabrine? not so much.
You are just not getting it. Once the Rockets sign Deke and Landry, they will be at least 6 million over the luxury tax. Now they either trade Sura or buy him out at 1 million, trade Lucas and his 771k salary, Reed's 1.436.5 and Rafer's 4.550 leaving the team's payroll at 64,594,000. That leaves them with about 3 million to play with, hardly enough wiggle room to trade for a quality big man. Les Alexander will not approve it.
Skip having one of the best a/t turnover ratios in the league is a result of things beyond his playmaking/pg abilities...passing the ball to yao or tmac everytime down the court should guarantee you minimum of 8 assists/game. Also, the only thing Rafer has proven is that he cannot consistenly make an open 3pt shot. The irony is that his 3pt fg% is greater than his 2pt fg%. Other teams leave Rafer open for a reason...
What do you think of this trade Miami Recieves: Mike Bibby Shareef Abdur-Rahim Sacramento Recieves: Jason Williams Rafer Alston Dorell Wright Kirk Snyder Steve Novak 2008 MIA First Round Pick Houston Recieves: Udonis Haslem
If Sacramento is going to trade a high salaried PG (Bibby), why would they want another high salaried PG (Williams) who they had before and is always hurt?
You know how I know that guy is an idiot? He thinks attempted free throws are more important for point guard than assists.
Howbout lucas and Snyder for primoz brezec?. were looking to trade Lucas and Brezec can be a very good backup big incase of deke or butler getting injured. it also works salary wise. hornets would get a atheletic swingman and a solid backup PG who could thrive in NC.
