I don't think there's any mathematical justification for arguing that as a player's shot attempts fall that his FG % should go up. Also in my opinion efficient play isn't irrelevant regardless of how many total shots a player takes since every made basket represents a successful culmination of a TEAM possession. Finally every player in the league has cold nights followed up by hot nights. I don't think Battier's in any way unusual in that sense.
Yes you're right, there is no mathematical justification. However what I'm saying is considering the few attempts he makes Battier should make his shots at a higher clip than he's making them now. Yes you're right again efficient play in general isn't irrelevant. However each individual play by itself is no big deal in the context of the entire game, and the same thing applies to shot attempts. Every good shot that Battier doesn't take is hurting the team since he's converting at a decent rate. At the end of the game you look at Battier and although he shoots in the high 30's, 30% of the of the time he will produce 5 pts or less despite having 30 mins of PT. Where do you think those possessions he didn't take end up? In Ariza of course I'm not saying there's anything unusual about Battier's streakiness, I'm saying his point production is so low a 20 pt game and a 23 pt game boosted his season average by more than a point despite being more than 36 games into the season. Defending Battier by saying he's there to play D is selling him short. Chuck Hayes is someone who we got for D, and he's only making 2 million a year. Battier is making more than the full midlevel, and his production should be commensurate to his salary.
Esspecially when Larabee was coach :grin: The next year when coach woolridge got there, we were a good defensive team. Back to point and topic, DD, his salary and usefullness are out of whack. This isnt a good defensive team and shane no longer has the ability to force guys into the team defense because Yao isnt there. We can say or i can since you're scared, ariza defends kobe better than shane. Now shane is the most discipline on a nightly basis, but for 7m i think we should expect more. I mean, he's the highest paid rocket playing right now If we could get him to perform like scola,lowry,brooks,landry, and even chuck in terms of salary vs production, you wouldnt never hear a word from me or any others. As much as i think chuck should be a situation 12 minute a night kind of guy, the roockets are squeezing alot out of his talent and salary. We cant say anything close to the same about shane.
We can say exactly the same thing about Shane, the problem is we have 3 defensive players in our starting lineup when most teams have one. DD
I'm drinking another cup of java in your honor, your honor. I detected a bit of praise for Mr. Scola in that post!
Posey is producing the same in new orleans and he comes off the bench and plays 23 mins a night. Thats what shane should be at this point in his career or traded to a team that can use his ineptness. Matt Barnes is making 2m and Pietrus is making 5.3m and playing 27 mins and outperforming shane. The minute Yao was done for the year again, the rockets shouldve moved shane off this roster. I said it then,I'll say it now.
Whenever i talk about scola, its not in the same light as shane. I've said a few times that scola was ac green. Good player,good prooduction. DD likes to blow everything out of proportion like i didn't like the guy. Liking a guy and thinking a guy can't be replaced are 2 different things. I've said scola gets the most out of his ability, but some think he can do more or is close to a all star and he's not. He's ac green,kurt rambis,udonis haslem type of guy. You can win a ring with scola starting as long as the other variables are different. Scola as a 3rd option isn't going to get it unless the other 2 are shaq-kobe of the late 90's.
Well, after reading BimaThug's first post, I think the Rockets are screwed. You can't win a title with Yao as the main player. he's not good enough. If McGrady can't be replaced with someone in the class of a Dwyane Wade, then the Rockets will always be a pretender. If Yao returns and plays well, his ceiling is similar to that of a Gasol, maybe a little higher. A Yao led Rocket team can get you 50-52 wins if he stays healthy, which is a big if. Yao Ming is a 2nd tier star. None of the current McGrady trade proposals are any good. Dalembert not that good. Iggy is a nice tall wing player, but a Yao, Iggy combo isn't going to get you a ring. Haywood would be a rental, and Caron Butler is about to turn 30. Hopefully the Rockets don't become the Hawks of the 90s (or,even the Hawks of now), where they always go to the playoffs, but lose in the 1st or second round each year. I'd rather blow the team up and start over.
Excellant thread. Most of the discussion is based on the assumption that Les won't go over the luxury tax threshhold unless it's a special player. I don't exactly know how much Les saved from not playing TMAC/YAO this season. My impression is that over 80% of Tmac's salary are covered by insurance. Assuming the same for yao, then you have close to 30mil of saving. A dollar saved is a dollor earned. I know we bought maybe 1 or 2 more draft picks than last few years, but that's a few millions at best. My question is: Would Les be willing to spend significantly over the luxury tax threshhold(like every contender is doing right now) if a true star(like Bosh) is coming our way? Add that willingness to the 20+ mil extra saving, we could be an instant contender.
T-Mac's contract is no longer being paid by insurance. Plus, insurance didn't kick in until McGrady missed 41 consecutive regular season games, which means that insurance didn't kick in until 11 games into this season. So, in the end, insurance only covered 80% of McGrady's salary for about 9 games. That comes out to around $2 million in total "insurance savings" on T-Mac's deal. That's hardly a windfall. That's not even enough to cover the money spent to acquire the draft rights to Jermaine Taylor. Yao, on the other hand, probably will have 80% of his salary covered by insurance for the second half of the season (since he was injured in the playoffs and needs to miss 41 consecutive regular season games). So, by my calculations, Les should receive a total of about $6.55 million in "insurance savings" on Yao's deal this season. Still, I'm sure he'd rather have the additional revenue that having Yao Ming playing this season surely would have brought. (Caveat: I'm not 100% sure about these numbers, but I'm fairly confident that I am in the ballpark.)
I dont think that is correct. JF said in one of his blogs that insurance was paid last year. I think the 41 games mark just triggered a clause that would allow insurance to pay for any additional games missed after initial return to the court. Could be wrong, but thats what the context clues I saw suggest.
Yeap life. I don't see McGrady being traded. Even for the right deal, teams ain't gonna give up anything important or relevant. Even more teams will just sit it out and hope to sign him for cheap. Some of those teams will be in the McGrady signings if they were teams in talks with over him. You can't bank on him to stick with that team even if they wanted him, or even if he wanted to stick. Thats why teams wont make deals for him.
I don't think they are screwed just 3 seasons behind. It started with Rudy Gay and everything sence then has been an up hill climb. Now this year puts you 2 more seasons behind, because you never made any progress.
Rudy Gay wouldn't have been any more effective than Battier was until this year. Replacing Gay with Battier wouldn't have gotten us out of the playoffs or over the hump. Even if we kept Rudy, we would still be in the same spot. We would be looking to trade Gay, just like the Grizzlies are; he wants a big payday, and I'm not sure there are many teams out there who would give it to him.
I think the real myth is that we could realistically expect to a contending team on the floor with out exceeding the Salary Cap Threshold. Not saying it absolutely cant be done but its just not very likely. Just take a look at the teams who have won championships in the previous years and the teams contending this year and you will see that they are all significantly over the Salary Tax Threshold.
Can someone explain this to me in any simpler terms? I'm getting owned on another forum for claiming that the Rockets will only have 7 mill in cap space next year, and even I don't understand how it works. Is this assuming that the Rockets re-sign Lowry and Scola, and saying the with those projected contracts this is what we'll have left? Also, what if the Knicks/Rockets trade goes through? What would that do to the cap space? How would it change this scenario that has already been drawn up?
http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showpost.php?p=4743200&postcount=152 Minus the part about McGrady being re-signed. But the numbers should still be the same. Just follow the math. It's simple addition. Bottom line: With the current roster, the Rockets would likely only have about $8-9M in cap room, NOT including Scola and Lowry. If they make the Knicks trade, the Rockets have no cap room after adding in the salaries of Jeffries and Hill. But that's a moot point, anyway, since the Rockets likely would have re-signed Scola and Lowry in lieu of using the $8-9M in cap room. Houston can still use the MLE (starting salary of about $5.6M) and the LLE ($2.08M) this summer in free agency if they want.
Bimathug, I just want to comment on how envious I am of your extensive knowledge about the the financial system of the Houston Rockets. I've read many of your comments and I wonder if your knowledge comes from personal research or if you have personally worked/are working with the Rockets organization. I'm asking because I'm a third year Accounting/Finance major and I really would like an opportunity to intern in that department with the Rockets. If you can offer any piece of advice I'd be absolutely ecstatic. Thanks
