Also, Rice comes off the books after next season. I really like Posey, he is a the perfect complimentary role player on this team. He hustles, plays defense, and does not demand the ball. In fact, I would rather have him at the 2 then Cat. DD
I'd say he's worth more then mid-level. Probably around 6 mil a season. Doug Christie's a similar player to him and he's making around 7 mil. a season and Posey is 7 years younger. Ron Artest is also a similar player and he'll probably get close to the max.
I understood that Les was going to be realy in the money, starting next year, with the new Arena and the extra China income from sales and TV. If this is the case I wonder why he is being so careful?
I'm still holding out hope for acquiring Odom in the offseason. But then again, I would still want Posey on the squad as well - to start for us at the 2
One, almost all owners in the league try's to stay under the luxury tax. A lot of owners, even with pseudo rev sharing in this league loose money in the amount of several million dollars a year i.e. Portland. Two, going over the luxury will tie our hands up completely, making it nearly impossible to make major moves. Look at New York, we don't want to be like them. Only teams like Sac and Dal can afford to go over for that one extra player that'll put them over the top. I'm also not sure but I think that Dal is under the luxury cap. Third don't ever question Les's willingness to put a winninng team on the floor. He has open the checkbook time and time again. The owner before him was a real prick but Les is definitely one of the better owners in this league. The man is willing to pay but with the declining attendance and lower revenue, he isn't stupid to waste money. As far as the Chinese thing goes, TV sales goes to the NBA, not the Rockets. And product sales in U.S. definitely will be up because of Yao but in China, a country with a generally lower income, bootleg and knock offs will be more prevelant. Hell, even in the U.S. bootleg and knock offs are very prevelant. Look at all those bootleg Rox shirts after the Championship years. Sure the sales will definitely be higher, but I don't think it'll be the humongous amount that people are expecting. Maybe in 4 years when Yao becomes a bonafide super star and the economy of China continues to improve but I don't see major dividents as immediately as some are predicting.
Do you even watch the game? Do you honestly believe that? Cat has better stats because he's a freakin' ball hog. posey busts his ass on defense, gets steals and passes. I'm not saying POsey deserves that much money, but Cat is way overpaid, too.
Concerning the luxury tax: For those of you that complain about Les' unwillingness to spend several million dollars extra to sign a role player, go out and buy season tickets. Have you seen our attendance numbers?! The man has to make some money.
Jeff, even if Dallas wanted him, they couldn't offer more than the midlevel...right? Although they are willing to go over the luxury cap, the CBA prevents them from signing a player straight up that would take them over the salary cap. With all their horrid salaries, I'm sure that they are already above the salary cap. They had to trade and get rights to players to go over the salary cap in the first place. Right? Someone please explain how this works to me. Please.
I thought the luxury tax was really only for this year because of the way the new TV contract was structured. Am I wrong on this.
Simple: Posey joined the Rox, took a quick look around and said, "Hey, if Mo Taylor gets paid that much..."
I dont think Posey will get anything near 48 mil. If Im not mistaken, Ron Artest signed for 42 mil with the Pacers last summer over 6 yrs. When Artest isnt acting like a clown, he is considered more valuable than Posey. Thus, I would think a contract about 6 yrs 35 mil is fair for Posey.
Isn't there some wiggle room between the salary cap and the Luxury Tax? What JuanValdez and MManal suggested sounds about right. Would he sign for the mid-level this summer and wait for Rice's contract to disappear? Perhaps we'll lose 1 or 2 of our long-term contracts in a trade before the deadline. (Mooch or MoT anyone??) Hopefully this is early negotiating tactics by Les and his agent. Posey is a defensive stud... a much better upgrade than Hawkins (who I like) and he's not the head-case Artest seems to be. He brings a hell of a lot to the team that doesn't show up in the stats. Let's lock him up. Let's just use more sense than we did with Mooch. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed.
I think this is an initial offer and he'll eventually come down to around 6M a year for 5 years. I'd like to re-emphasize the fact that Rice comes off the books in 2 years, but I fully expect us to trade him before that, so it might not matter. We'll re-sign Posey for just over Mobley money, then trade Rice for a good piece, and trade MoT or Moochie for an expiring contract. I expect our roster to change a LOT outside of Francis, Griffin, and Yao next season.
IMHO, the city of Houston agreed to spend a ton of money to build Les a brand new arena so Les owes it to the city to never use the Luxury Tax as an excuse for not improving the team. As a fan I will never accept an excuse like the Luxury Tax from improving a team. That is what makes Cuban such a great owner in my opinion, he puts winning as a much higher priority than paying a Luxury Tax.
Anyone know offhand if there's some room to play with between "the cap" and when the Luxury tax would kick in?
Deckard, the luxury threshold in the past as been about $17-20 (thereabouts) above the cap. It doesn't necessarily kick in (based on owner revenues vs spending), but the word is that it will for the first time this year. But that tax would count Posey's current salary. The following year, the league will return to its regular TV revenue, and so we might go right back to previous years when the tax did not kick in. (The league's new TV contract has a one time humongous shortfall vs the previous year--according to Larry Coon...as I recall it is $300m if not something more outrageous.) This is a fluke year regarding TV revenue, and with China coming online that means new money is getting injected into the NBA, so smart money (like Cuban) is banking on the league experiencing the tax only this one time -- this year.
Thanks HP, thats what I thought. We nothing to more to worry about than if Posey is worth more than the MCE. I don't think so, but what do I know.
