http://rockets.clutchfans.net/8054/houston-rockets-salary-cap-update-4/ UPDATED: The article now includes (1) clarification that the Rockets would also need to move/stash their 2015 first rounder(s) in order to open up the projected cap room next summer and (2) confirmation that Corey Brewer has, in fact, waived his 2015-16 player option.
Great job, Bima, as always. I may have to go take some Advil, though. Damn, that's complicated! Sounds like we're set up to make a deal at the deadline if Morey goes that way. Interesting to see some of the things you speculated about earlier coming to pass (getting mid-level salaried players for the Lin thingy to make a deal at the deadline easier, for example). Morey can be scary.
Question - Can we Sign and Trade Smith? It gets him the new salary he wants and we get something in return? Maybe dump some salary? New Exception? Rocket River
we should stand pat and work with what we have. the only trade i would consider is one for a dragic-level player. aka a trade for dragic.
i think that's the only play, to trade for anything less than a 3rd star like a Dragic type player would possibly lock us out of being flexible with our cap space and I don't see DM doing that short of a 3rd......obviously he didn't with CP, so i see him swinging for Dragic and then locking that roster in for the Dwight/Harden era.
So what you mean is this for the Rox next season : - no matter we will win the chamopnship or getting a first round exit, in order for us to get under the cap to make some moves or resign our major player - Bev, the Rockets basically will say goodbye to : - Terry - Shved - Brewer - Josh Smith (there is a slim chance to resign him in less cost while operating over the cap, but as you said, if he plays well here, he will find a bigger contract elsewhere, if he plays like crap, why the heck we will want him back while having Dmo and TJ in their last eyar?) - Canaan - and also Kpap? and even we do all these move, we virtually will have 7.6 mils to spend BEFORE we will match/resign Bev? Assuming we will resign him over the cap in this situation?
my understanding is this is correct, which is why Bima is saying (and we heard this from DM's interview) the Rockets are going all in this year and trading for a significant third piece. The alternative scenario you laid out only gets us a mid level player using cap space and we have to let a number of players go. The ideal scenario is using those pieces to make a trade at the deadline and go over the cap to retain players.
Yes, but... No it doesn't. Smith would not make more money if the Rox signed him and kept him vs a SnT. A SnT does not allow you to sign a player for more than you would have been able to, otherwise. The Rox still have to sign him first, as part of a SnT.
But they could sign him for more than they'd be willing to pay to keep him on the roster. It is a valid scenario.
Thanks for all the kinds words, everyone. I just hope you get some knowledge/enjoyment out of reading this stuff. An educated fan base is a better fan base (or at least one that I find far less annoying). Thanks. In all fairness, though, I didn't necessarily predict that Morey WOULD use the Lin TPE on multiple mid-sized contracts. Just that it created additional options for him. I postulated that the Rockets might even consider holding onto the Lin TPE until February or even into next July for S&T purposes or possibly not using it at all. But it's that FLEXIBILITY that is always key for the Rockets. For all practical purposes, no. The Rockets couldn't (re-)sign Smith to more than $2.5 million without using the MLE or cap room, neither of which would qualify him for sign-and-trade deals. Basically, yes. All those guys (except for Canaan, whose salary is 80% guaranteed for next year and therefore would count MORE against the cap if waived than if he were just kept) would need to be renounced in order to create that $7.6 million in cap room. That figure accounts for retaining Beverley at his anticipated $2.725 million cap hold amount, with the thought being that the Rockets could first sign an outside free agent and then exceed the cap to re-sign Beverley. Again, this all involves making the fairly huge assumptions that (1) no cap "smoothing" proposal will be adopted for next season, (2) the cap projections won't go up as a result of the lack of smoothing, and (3) the Rockets won't make any more trades (yeah, right!). But even with one or two trades (assuming they don't involve Harden, Howard or Ariza), we wouldn't be talking about much additional cap room here.
Dang, I thought we had more room next offseason. Also, what is the league's "starter criteria?" Is it just a certain number of games? Or is it measured by performance?
