If you arent going to dip into the tax with our lineup + healthy Yao + Iggy, then when are you going to do it. Id gamble and say that is a championship contending team when you look at the depth. I dont think the team as is, as fun as they are, are going to develop into a contender on thier own. A difference maker is essential and Iggy is pretty close to a perfect fit on this team. These are the waining years of the Yao Ming era, so if you arent going to go for it, when are you going to?
I don't think the situation is dire at all. I think many other NBA teams would love to be in our position. We have a great young nucleus of improving players who are on track to make the playoffs. And next year we have maybe the best center in the league returning to the line up. This Rocket team is fun to watch and I look forward to seeing what they can do over the next couple of years.
Don't misunderstand me, its not a conclusion at all. It's just what I think. Brooks is already signed through next season and Lowry is not but I do think that the Rockets value Brooks more than Lowry. Having said that I think the Rockets love them both but would part with either for the right deal.
If the rockets can't pick up a guy like kevin martin or iguodala in a T-Mac trade, I hope they move Battier or Ariza and Andersen. I think there are too many impact guys available in this FA class to pass it up without getting a guy like that. I don't think LeBron is that far-fetched.
The problem is, if I understand correctly, that in order to have a chance at those prize FAs, we would first be giving up our restrictions on Lowry's and Scola's free agency. They would become UFAs instead of RFAs. Then, let's say we don't get one of the few prized FAs. We'd be left without a prize FA as well as Scola and Lowry. That would suck. Morey likely won't take that risk. I may be wrong but this is my understanding. It should also be pointed out that the number of true stud FAs is not that long of a list despite all the hype about this impending summer. And the teams where LeBron, Wade, Bosh and whoever else currently play will be able to offer more money to those players. Even if all those true top FAs choose to leave, there will probably be more suitors than players meaning some teams will inevitably walk away empty-handed. If any team is banking on getting one of those studs and comes up short, the entire organization will look foolish afterwards.
Now that the Rockets will have $24,000,000 from McGrday's Contact and the possibility of resigning Yao for about $12,000,000 /yr which is a savings of $5,000,000 on his present pay. Just about how much will the Rockets have available to spend on Free agents next season. Thanks!
I just mean that, in terms of adding another top 10-15 player in the next couple years, this is really our only shot. Regardless of the team we have in place now, you can always afford to add a player of that caliber. And when you can add them to a team like this, with Yao coming back next year, the possibilities are crazy to think about... Sky's the limit with a team like that. All I was saying is the situation is dire when it comes to enacting that kind of dream scenario. The clock is counting down to the trade deadline...
I don't think it's actually happening, it'd just be nice to extend Yao to a 3 year/36 million deal. That way he would make money in the long run and we'd get the cap space. But as far as I know it's more just a possibility than anything else.
Let's say we do all these things you just described then none of the very few top FAs sign with the Rockets. That would suck. As much as the hype is over this impending free agency, there are really only a handful of true top notch FAs that will still be in their primes. I'd bank on Joe Johnson staying in Atlanta. Try this out: List all the impending FAs that you would essentially be willing to give up Lowry + Scola + Battier for? LeBron and Wade, obviously. Beyond that, I'm not so sure. Note: I don't believe we can trade Battier and take only $2 million back. If we're lucky, maybe we'd save a million or so. If we want even a chance at one of the very few true top FAs, we'd have to give up a chunk of quality players without any guarantee of getting a stud to sign here. There will almost certainly be far more than 3 teams going after LeBron, Wade and Bosh so several teams will come away empty handed if their goal is to sign one of them. What happens to the teams that give up control over RFAs like Lowry and Scola and don't hit the jackpot? Embarrassment, failure, making your team worse?
Well, I said this would give us an opportunity is all, of course nothing is guaranteed. And the question would then be, do you put all your eggs in one basket (scoring on a stud FA), or do you keep plowing forward with the team you have and hope to score enough through a TMAC trade to build a contender that way? Or is our current team + a healthy Yao enough to win a title? Also, in my previous scenario, if we were to lose out on the top FA class, we might still have a shot at retaining Scola anyways...thus losing Battier, but gaining a R. Fernandez with a shot at a top FA...
That's not right. The cap hold remains in effect until we make a qualifying offer, or until we renounce rights to the free agents. And we have a couple of months to make the qualifying offer. So Morey has time to negotiate offers to the top-tier free agents, who quite frankly will be locked up within weeks. If he's successful, then he can renounce Scola and/or Lowry to free up cap room for the offer. If he's not, then he can negotiate with Scola and Lowry. There's very little risk and quite a bit of flexibility here.
I didn't know that. I thought I read in a previous post that we'd have to renounce Scola and Lowry first. If what you are saying is correct, it certainly does add some flexibility to the situation. Still, there are only 3, 4 at the most, FAs I'd be willing to give up Lowry + Scola + Battier for and I just don't see 2 of them coming to Houston (LeBron or Wade). I'd take Joe Johnson but I have a feeling he's staying in Atlanta with their recent success. I guess Bosh would be worth it, too. He's the only one I think we have a reasonable chance at and I think we'll be competing with several teams if we do go after him. The rest of the sexy names in this hyped up free agency are either overrated or getting way up there in age and are not worth paying what they'll get or giving up pieces like Lowry and Scola, etc... I would not give up Lowry and Scola for Amare or Ray Allen or Dirk or any of the other aging stars, even if they were interested in Houston.
Is Luis a UFA or a RFA? I believe management has his Bird Rights. Wouldn't that help them in re-signing him if they wanted to? I think management has a team option on Landry. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
Re-reading some of Bima's post from the previous page (highlighted below), particularly the points in bold, it sounds like it isn't as simple as being able to hold on to Lowry and Scola while we pursue top-tier FAs. If I'm reading Bima's thoughts correctly, the possibility exists that we may have to make a decision on one or both of them prior to knowing if we've been able to land any given top-tier FA. I suppose it depends on the timing of things but it doesn't appear that we can absolutely expect to be able put out an offer to Lowry and Scola in order to hold their rights, go out and see if we can get a LeBron or a Wade, wait to find our LeBron's or Wade's or whoever else's decision, then decide on whether to match Lowry and Scola if they were to get other offers. In a similar sense, if Lowry or Scola or both were to accept their qualifying offers, some significant amount of cap space would get eaten up, preventing us from affording a top FA. I suppose there is the possibility we could find out that we can get a top FA before losing Lowry and Scola but that doesn't sound like it would be a guaranteed sequence of events. Am I wrong?
Right off the top of my head(without checking the CBA FAQ), it's my understanding that we would have to renounce our rights to our RFAs before signing anyone else. Im not real sure of the timing right now(and Im on dialup so it would take too long to look it up), but I think we have to make a move on our own RFAs prior to the date we can go for other team's FAs.
Okay, I just re-read my last post and I think it actually supports what corby said on the last page. I'll just leave it as is in case I made any kind of valid point (I don't think I did though :grin: ) Regardless, what about the following situation and sequence of events? 1. We put out qualifying offers to Lowry and Scola. 2. We start talking to top-tier FAs (Wade, LeBron, Bosh, etc...). 3. Another team makes offers to Lowry and Scola. 4. Wade, LeBron and Bosh still haven't signed and we still have a shot at one of them. What then? Let's say we renounce our rights to Lowry and Scola since those top FAs still haven't made a decision. Then, all those top FAs end up elsewhere. In this scenario, couldn't we end up without a top FA as well as Lowry and Scola and left scratching our heads in failure?
Interesting... So, that means it's not as simple as holding on to Lowry and Scola while going after Bosh or whoever else. I thought somebody corrected my misunderstanding on the last page but your post makes me think my initial assumption was at least partially correct. This is why I usually stay out of cap-related and advanced stats-related threads. :grin:
