most big tickets were moved through S&T. you have to have assets to do S&T. you can't just dump things you don't want and expect to get an elite player. assuming you are talking about the past since this summer is not over yet. in the past, we didn't have assets to do so. don't forget tmac was a big ticket. we got him through trade but we also had to give up franchise. except yao and tmac, what else did we have to get a big ticket during jvg time? almost nothing. both cap strain and no assets (young players with potential and lottery picks) contribute the failure of getting big names. finally, rox is recovered. now we have enough young players with potential and lottery picks. S&T could very well land us a big name. let's seee what will happen this summer.
How do yall feel about Dirk Nowitzki? I've been away for a minute, but I don't think I've heard anyone mention him. If the Mavs don't make it at least to the finals, they're probably going to consider moving him. He's in the last year of his contract next season.
I doubt cuban lets nowitzki walk. Just a little over 2 months until July 1st. We'll see what happens.
Another reason why a top tier player would consider becoming a Rocket is the lack of a personal state income tax in the state of Texas.
I think big free agents would come to Houston, and rather expect that one will. I think the impression isn't out there popularly because the national sports media lacks some imagination. All they talk about are players needing a contract and teams needing to sign contracts. They don't spend much energy talking about guys who could be traded or teams that could trade. They aren't as desperate. But, I expect the players' agents know better. I don't expect Lebron James to think about Houston. If he doesn't go for a glamor city, I'd expect him to stay in his hometown where he already has a contending team. But, I think just about every other free agent would have Houston on the acceptable destination list. Now, the only problem is that, unlike some teams, Houston would have to match salaries, which would probably make an acquisition more expensive for us than it would be for under-the-cap teams. And, we're not as desperate as the under-the-cap teams, so standing pat is a viable option. If FAs don't come here, I would think it would be from our reluctance to pay, not their reluctance to come.
i don't get what you are trying to say. there were a few big name players that were moved through free agency signing but majority went through S&T. When you do S&T, the cap space doesn't matter any more. you can't trade your cap space to other teams. rox don't have cap space so the only way to get a big name player is S&T.
I think we have plenty of assets that we can make a trade for a Wade or Bosh and still have a really, really good team around whoever comes. I don't really think the Yao thing is a huge deal. We only have Yao under contract for 1 more year, at which point we can decide to resign him if he's proven he's back (but for a much lower salary) or let him walk, taking 16 million dollars off. We have options now that we didn't have in the past. Think about it this way. What can the Knicks offer a FA? They have like 4 players under contract, so the star, or stars, they get will be surrounded by a bunch of minimum players. Plus they have no draft picks so they don't have that to pool talent together. Sure in 3 or 4 years they may get rolling, but it looks dim for the short term and shaky in the long term, and that's IF they hit it big this summer. Us on the otehr hand, if they come here, even if Yao doesn't return to form, we'll still be great and then can use the room the next offseason to becoem elite (if we're not already). If he does come back healthy with a new star we're the best team in the league.
Who ever said that the Raps would have no say in the deal is just wrong. Bosh is going to want to go to a team that he likes, can do a S&T, and still have enough assets left over to be a contender. He could settle for a team he doesn't like to get the max money, or he could opt to got a team under the cap that he likes, taking less money. Because of Bosh's limitations, they will probably get a short list in which they can try to work out a deal with. I'm guessing Houston will be on that list, but perhaps not initially. Bosh may want to go elsewhere, but if Raps can't get a decent deal from another team, they'll convince Bosh to consider more teams. Sure Bosh could ignore the Raps and go to a team under the cap if he wanted to, but he's throwing money away if he does this. He has to play ball with the Raps. We probably have a decent shot at it. I imagine we're on the short list of teams that have assets to trade. On the short list of teams that are want Bosh. Are a team the Raps would trade with (in the West). And perhaps not on the short list of teams Bosh wants to go to, but certainly far from a crappy choice either. My perfect scenario? Cuban starts freaking out at the idea that we get Bosh that he makes a rediculous offer for him, making the mavs worse.
Houston is in no way looked down upon by NBA players - it's not a top tier location, but it's not far from the top. There is no reason we can't bring a big name free agent to Houston again.
are you kidding me? IF HE PROVES HE'S BACK, you better prepare a max contract for him. otherwise, i am 100% sure you are going to loose him in the free agent market. not just that, there will be many and many teams which are willing to fight to death to get him with a max contract. i hope you had a typo in your post.
i'm not so sure that other teams are going to be craving yao that badly. i wouldn't mind giving yao a max contract if thats what it takes, but even if he has a good year, i think other teams might be weary of the injuries. plus, he will be 31 (right?) next summer, and that might drive other teams away. he seems to like it in houston, so it might not take a max contract to get him back.
injury? what injury? his major injury is on his left foot. do you know what the doctor did to his left foot? the doctor not only just put his broken bone together but also reshape his left foot to minimize the potential of reinjury. IF HE PROVES HE"S BACK (i specifically use cap when it was quoted), it means no injury anymore and he plays like he did in 2008-2009. if a year playing w/o injury still scares off the pursuitors due to his injury history, i don't think any team has any brave to sign any big. the nba history indicates bigs (those over 7') are easy to get injuried. it's the fact but a good center still gets paid alot unfortunately. do we just have an example? a solid center, Camby, a injury prone, got 10 mil/per year contract although he's never played a whole season w/o taking a long break. maybe i overstate but at least in most of seasons he played. think about he is just a solid defense center.
Better options. Ok City is closer to a title than the rox with yao. Not only that, the other teams dont have their highest paid player missing 2 full seasons in the last 5.
What kind of non-sense comment is this?? I bet you a MILLION, you're going to see all 29 teams line up wanting a piece of Yao.
Alot of the problem with the Rockets and other similar teams isnt really Houston its the NBA's marketing in general and the overwhelming attention to the NFL in the media. Lets face it, more than half of what is covered on ESPN is NFL news and drama. If I have to hear Ben Rothlesberger and a girl he made out with one more hour of my life I swear. I live here in Dallas and there is a reason why 3/4 of what I hear about in the local sports news is about the Cowboys, four months away from training camp, while the Mavericks are in the playoffs right now and you hear nothing. When there is new broadcasted its usually about Lebron, Kobe, etc... because ESPN and other media outlets know the NFL draws a much broader crowd unfortunately.
The question is do we really want a max free agent that just wants media attention or do we want someone that actually wants to win. Me personally, if the player is coming just to be a media darling then I do not want him. The Rockets do have a reputation as the "blue collar" hard working team, and that is fine with me.
Football is America's dominant sport right now. But if global estimates are correct. Urbanizition will rapidly rise, and more cities means less space to put football fields in and more concrete to put basketball hoops on. Which means more kids growing up playing only basketball which means more interest. Trust me, we'll be on top. And make the NFL pay for putting the draft on tv the same night as the playoffs
You can sorta trade cap space. Imagine if New York managed to get ahold of some valuable draft picks and sent them to Toronto in a sign-and-trade for Bosh. Toronto reduces it's payroll significantly and gets assets with no cap-hit until the rookies are signed (and that's still small). If Toronto's payroll drops under the cap, they have cap space. If not, they get a big trade exception to use later. Maybe Toronto would accept talent that does not equal Bosh's value to get that flexibility to do other stuff. New York would do well in that case because they get Bosh without giving up too much talent. It doesn't have to be a zero-sum game. But, Houston can't do that because they have to send out as much salary (roughly) as they take in. Jeffries can fill about $7M of that and Andersen $2.5M, assuming Toronto is willing to take them (and why would they?), but then you need to throw in some assets just to make salaries match. Scola, Battier, Ariza, and/or someone like that. We can't make Toronto happy with reduced payroll (unless a 3rd team is involved) or exceptions; we can only make them happy with ~$15 million worth of players. However, I don't think Toronto benefits much from cap space or trade exceptions. Cap space is good if you are attractive to FAs, which they are not. And, trade exceptions are good if you are willing to take other people's overpriced albatrosses, and again I think they are not. So, they are best off with talented players on reasonable contracts, which we have. But, if Toronto does have an interest in non-player trade benefits that other teams can offer, we can only counter with more or better players.
