We have our own version of Dampier. It's called Moochie Norris and Maurice Taylor I am not trying to knock Les Alexander. It seems you are more concerned with running an efficient franchise than winning a championship. The role of an owner entails spending money (willingness to spend) more than making personnel decisions (GM duties). Are you telling me that you would regret for instance if Les was willing to sign Stoudemire to a modest 4yr/16 mill contract? Moochie got more than that by our smart owner Les Alexander
That is the whole game isn't it. Some owners can do both ( DET ). and some owners can do neither (NYK). Les seems to be efficient but doesn't win championships because I read on this board that he had one of the most profitable small market teams ( around $35 MIL profit ) and could go higher this year because of the China connection. If he has to win a championship to make more profit then he will spend whatever it takes to get him there.
Yes we have made our fair share of bad signings and were able to get rid of them as well. I want to win a championship as well but i would rather us slowly build to that level with the right peices at the right price so we can keep that championship caliber team for a few years rather than have it all in one year than not be able to afford some of the players and have them go somewhere else just for the sake of a championship. I like Stoudemire and i wouldn't mind a good signing if everything is right. Im just saying that I don't think les is a dumb owner becuase he hasn't gone crazy spending on anything and anyone. But true we have had our bad share of signings that you pointed out and thank god we have gotten rid of most of them, Cato, Taylor and i am sure Moochie soon enough.
I eagerly await the day when the Rockets announce that they have reached an agreement for a cable deal in China. At that point Les would be able to run the Rockets like Steinbrenner and the Yankees. Les has shown in the past that he is willing to spend some money (trade for Pippen, Steve's extension, and the trade for T-mac), but he is relatively speaking, one of the poorest owners in the league. Yao is supposed to be some goldmine for the Rockets, and he has increased the value of the team. But being able to bring in huge avenues of cashflow year in and year out would truly make Yao as priceless as some people say he is. Hopefully they work through all the red tape and get something done sooner rather than later.
I agree with you there. He will make the decisions that generate the most cash. Running a business efficiently is great, but I don't want an owner who is solely concerned with the bottomline at the expense of winning (I am not saying Less is doing that). Saying that Paul Allen and Cuban are bad owners is ridiculous. They both went to the finals in the last few years.Cuban turned the Mavericks from the laughingstock of the NBA to a top 5 team that last 6 years. The Rockets haven't done squat since Hakeem left. Owners do not chose players and they don't coach them. Despite having one of the worst defensive coaches in Don Nelson, the Mavericks and Kings saved the NBA (or at least made it a lot more entertaining) before Phoenix came along. Having Cuban, CD and JVG would almost guarantee a championship.
You do realize that we can't offer that amount to Stoudemire because of our cap situation, don't you? We have already spent our MLE on Swift so we can't spend 4yr/16 mil on Stoudemire. I don't think Les will hesitate to spend if that piece we're getting is going to make our team better.
Im not saying they are bad owners i just believe that you don't have to overspend to get somewhere thats all. The last time Paul Allen made it to the finals was 91-92 so it's been a while that their team has been in a decline and funk and haven't come up at all. Cuban however did completly turn around a team but never could get over the hump with his spending. They consistantly have good teams but can't do anything with them..as far as a championship goes and i think they are going to be very close to a decline as well. Every team goes through it. They decline at one point only to either stay there or slowly move back up as the Mavericks have done till now and the Rockets are starting to do again finally.
Stoudemire WOULD make our team better. Les can sign whoever he wants. He doesn't want to pay any luxury tax. I would like to have given Stoudemire the contract that Jerry West gave him and cut one of our unproductive players.
I've been wondering how much salary we're carrying and will likely carry in the next couple of years. Micah, can you explain how you calculate your totals, especially for 06/07? Thanks everyone for all the useful information, especially Micah.
The NBA has a Salary Cap. The figure (49.5M) was just released today. The Rockets are well over that figure in salary. If a team is over the salary cap the only have certain exceptions (MLE, LLE) to sign other teams free agents. To re-sign your own free agents (Deke, Barry, Padgett, Bowen etc) there are other exceptions (Larry Bird Exception - can re-sign for any amount, Early Bird Exception- 175% of previous salary, Non-Bird Exception- 120% of previous salary). Teams like Dallas, New York & Portland have gotten so far over the cap by taking on salary in trades and using their MLE every summer. http://members.cox.net/lmcoon/salarycap.htm
I've followed the NBA for a while, but I always assumed that people said we can only use MLE, LLE etc because it wasn't cost efficient (luxury tax). I wasn't aware that New York has twice our payroll because of trades. I thought Allan Houston was signed when they were already over the cap. Thanks for the info
New York probably had his Larry Bird Rights so they could pay anything to retain him even if they are over the cap. Milwakee had to "get under the cap" to re-sign Redd because they didn't have his Bird Rights. They only had his Early Bird Rights. He was making like 2.2M so 2.2M X 175% = 3.85M was the max they could offer as a starting salary. Since they got way under the cap they could offer him the max. If Redd had just completed a 3 year contract then they could max him with no problem. Memphis signed DS with most of their MLE.
micah1j, I was wondering how you calculated the salary totals in your spreadsheet (i.e. - did you include options? What about the hypothesized uses of the MLE, LLE? Did you exempt minimum contracts from the total?)
Sorry, I was getting to your question. The Totals are just that totals. For 06/07 I have excluded the team options of Moochie, Ward (not really sure if his is a team option) and James (player option but he said he will opt out.) The Luxury Tax totals do not include Bowen or Vet Min (Baxter) as they are minimum contracts that in some way will not count toward the Lux Tax. Yes I counted the hypothesized use of the MLE, LLE, V-Span & the 2006 #1 pick Maybe I can add some more color or explanation for this.
Thanks for the explanation. Sorry if I was impatient. I had been wondering whether it would be possible to trade any of our expiring contracts for a longer contract without going over the LT. If we're willing not to use our MLE next year, it looks like it might in fact be possible to convert one or even two expiring contracts with out significantly exceeding the LT threshold. It will be interesting to see who might be available as the trade deadline approaches and whether it's financially worthwhile to pick up their salary.
