If the Rockets somehow dump Walt's, Rogers' and Drew's salary, is there any realistic chance that we can resign Taylor AND go for Webber? It does not seem so unrealistic to me, since, after all, Hakeem has a 16 million dollar contract. Including Bullard's contract (I think it expires, or does HE have an option for another year?), all these salaries together are worth about 27 million dollars which will be gone. All the numbers are from davo's salary information page. I would be thankful if someone who really knows the cap rules (maybe aelliott?) could give some info if, provided that we get rid of the contracts above, we could resign Taylor for a realistic salary AND go for Webber with the max (how much will that be anyway??).
Comments, in no particular order: 1. "If the Rockets somehow dump Walt's, Rogers' and Drew's salary" . . . I'm sure you've heard the old joke, "You're so ugly, your mama has to tie a bone around your neck so the dogs will play with you." What bone are you gonna tie around these guys' necks so NBA dogs will give them a sniff? Mobley? Taylor? Francis? That's the only way Williams/Rogers/Drew are going anywhere. 2. "provided that we get rid of the contracts above, we could resign Taylor for a realistic salary" . . . Taylor is a David Falk client. What makes you think he'll settle for a realistic salary? 3. The max for Webber would be $11-12 million, I think. 4. Yes, if you could dump those three contracts, the Rockets would be far enough under the cap to pay both Taylor and Webber a great deal of money ... but probably not the max for both unless the cap goes up a LOT more next summer than it has the past few. Total salary commitments (not including Taylor) would be about $21.5 million, with the expected cap anywhere from $38-42 million. 5. Both Webber and Taylor play PF (and Webber is NOT going to play center), so they wouldn't sign with the same team anyway. 6. Mutombo and Taylor, though . . . but never mind; you'll never dump the contracts in the first place. ------------------ [This message has been edited by Swopa (edited September 12, 2000).]
Determining the total cap is based on total income for this upcomming year, as well as how far salaries are above 48.04% of total basketball related income. In short, no one can tell you. Anyone who tries is just guessing. Secondly, Webber is slotted at $12 mil according what I can find. As that is more than the max he can sign for 105% $12 mil, or 12.6 mil. BUT, the Max for a player with Webber's tenure would be 30% of a teams' salary cap if that number is higher than the 12.6 mil. So, if the cap is, say, $50 mil, he could sign for $15 mil. for the first year with 10% raises for each year afterwards. In short, anyone who tries to tell you what the max for Webber is is just guessing, as with the cap. The Rockets are over the cap by about $8mil. Therefore, if the cap stayed the same next year only $8mil of Hakeems $16 mil would count as cap relief as the other half would go to bringing us inline with the cap. Finaly, the $4mil for Bullard is capspace reserved for a free-agent. His contract is up and when we renounce him, that $4mil becomes cap space. ------------------