Looking at the land scape The era of 3 MAX Players and pieces if over Mainly because those pieces want their cut more The down fall of the Big Three - Steph/Bron/KD is more about cap space management than declining ability (and they are declining) Lebron + Ad = Steph + DrayMon + Klay KD + Booker + Beal Those 4th and 5th players matter Those 6th-9th men matter Golden State tried to prepare for this but they have not gotten their stand outs Wiggins was good for a minute I look at Denver - They good but Murray will need a new contract after next year and Gordon have a player option So they will have to choose. . . championships or pay - Murray making 36 next year. Can he demand 55+? Gordon making 23 on his player option. Does he decline it and ask for MPJ money? (38 or 40 million)? Hell Even Caldwell Pope can decline his player option for next year (15 million) and probably demand 20~25 in the market THIS is what the salary cap and salary cap management is about. This is what its suppose to do to maintain competitiveness Unfortunately some teams just suck ATL should get a boatload for Trae .. . but they won't Cleveland should for Donovan . . but they won't Rocket River
OKC is a monster because they have all their talent CHEAP . . On TEAM OPTIONS and for a few years Hayward about to fall off their books . . .that's 31 million alone Next year if they wanted too . . . they could sign a MAX CONTRACT Person (Honestly their payroll will be 102 Million . . they might could get 2 Max Contracts) but why would they want to? Rocket River
Now to our Rockets I am not mad at our acquisitions but going forward I say we invest in the OKC Model Fred don't drop off until 2026-27 -- Dillon the year after Adams drops off 25-26 These are three highest Paid Players Green/Sengun and need to be paid next year Jabir the year after Amen locked up until 26-27 Whitmore as well Next year we will be at 146 mill - dunno the Salary Cap next year (43+22+12+10 = 87 million that are not a part of the long term plans) Rocket River
I think Denver and Boston (the best teams in each conference) are proof that big contracts on contending teams aren't going anywhere. OKC has completed a near perfect rebuild but I doubt anyone else can or will replicate just based on ownership constraints and decisions from previous years that impact current assets. I think teams in the future will have to be smart about phasing their contracts based on player's ages. So, getting high paid players towards the end of their prime so they can stay with the team for lower pay in later years. You may also have to continue to draft to keep a pipeline of cheap role players. The biggest thing that's going away is stacking up a bunch of minimum contracts with a few second round picks to get a legit role player every year. That old way of building a rotation is over.
OKC got lucky like the Rockets got Lucky The SHAI TRADE is the major Luck thing - They got major talent and picks - Also add in Chet taking a year off so they could suck again/Grow Shai Everything else IMO was skill - Pick Hunting/dealing is good for them So Now - They only got the 1 big contract A bunch of rookie contracts Their biggest thing for them is .. . . Where they will be when they have to Pay Chet We talk about the rockets having to decide on our BIG THREE rooks They all cannot be paid AS OF NOW Green will WANT the Max Sengun will probably deserve the Max Bari will probably be offered the max by some other team or at least a higher amount than we offer Rocket River
Jalen won't get the max unless he plays like March for a whole year. If he plays like that for a whole year with healthy Sengun and Tari Rox would probably be a top 3 record in the west sot thats not an issue. Jabari won't get the max unless he starts shooting 20 pog I haven't seen anybody scoring 15 ppg or less get offered the max. If Sengun playing like an all star, Green and Jabari playing like max players we would win a ring. TLDR if we have 3 max players you can pencil in Rox for a parade so I wouldn't worry about it.
In todays NBA, 2 max guys can cripple your depth (see Lakers). That said, I think the day is coming soon where clubs don't hand out max contracts like in the past. The Rockets better be really careful who they offer max deals to.
You think we reach a point where there are only 31~32 Max contracts in the league? (one per team) Rocket River
I am inclined to think we will always have Batman and Robin. I would guess that what money a guy can get on a max deal will change to allow 2.
