A possible trade? (not for the last player to light us up)

Thanks, Gater. That helps.

Of course, right now, I want to focus on the playoffs. I hope they win the next couple games, and at least give LA a run for their money.

But, my primary question was, "can I split the exception into 2 different trades?"

For instance, can I send a player to Seattle for Lewis, so they save some cap room in the deal, and then use the rest of the exception in a deal with LAC for Brand, so they save cap room?

We might be able to pick up a couple great 2nd level players that way from teams trying to save money, who have extra players at a position, who aren't major stars, but would solidy our team.

For instance, if we traded Francis to Chicago for Chandler/#1/ERobinson, where we take a bad contract off their hands to sweeten the deal and gain the pick. Then, deal Chandler to Seattle for Lewis. We could then, either pick up an Okafor or Howard with the pick, or deal the pick and the rest of the exception along with whatever cap filler to LAC for Brand, who might want that space to try to sign Kobe.

This way, with Francis and the exception, and a bad contract or two, we could pick up a couple expensive 2nd tier players, who could solidy our team. We might have to include another player or two, such as Cato, Boki or Pike for cap filler on either deal.

Then we sign a FA, such as Brent Barry, at PG. Trade up with someone in the second round to nab Chris Duhon, and we'd have a team to go to war with, with better fitting parts.

But, this whole concept would hinge on whether we could split the exception into 2 different trades.

 

Yes, you can split the TE as many ways as you want.

However I would love to see the trade you are proposing that can realisticly net us both Brand and Lewis!

For the record, Seattle is not going to want any part of Cato (they have 3 centers already that have similar production to Cato) or Taylor (while they need his low post game, he is too expensive).

 

I think you might be able to turn there are scenerios out there for the Rox. They probably need to get their doctors to working and see if McDyess knee is strong enoughand ready. If it is, they can offer him the MLE and start him at the 4. After this, they can turn 1/2 the te and Mobley into R.Lewis. When doing the McDyess deal, 3yrs with a t-opt on the 4th is good to see if his knees are sound. Cato or Taylor can be left unprotected or pay Charlotte to take one and right your mistake and sign someone like J Collier as a backup center.

Now you have Francis,Jackson,Lewis,McDyess,and Ming and Taylor or Cato,Pike,Collier,Wilks,maybe griffin and maybe even Badiane on the bench. I think if McDyess checks out, he would come to Houston. He still lives here and the Rockets almodt got him before. Its nothting wrong with sayiing you were wrong before.

 

I would like to get Rashard and, say, Antonio Daniels, and whatever else would make a trade equal....meaning we would give up Steve and somebody else; but not in a straight-up trade.

Daniels would provide toughness at the 1/2, and Rashard the outside shooting.

There are probably better deals out there. But I know JVG wants to add shooting/size at the small forward. His comments throughout the year have indicated that he HAS SEEN THE LIGHT (as opposed to before the year when he deemed the shooting guard and small forward positions interchangeable).

 

This trade makes sense for both teams. I'd love to see it.

 

Seattle probably won't agree to it nor are they likely to take Francis for Allen. They probably will try to get SAR for Allen.
Rashard would be good for us but we do need to get a guy like Brent Barry so he can help Francis out with our playmaking problems.

 

Sherlock -
We got your primary question handled, but there is one more very critical piece of TE info. You can have cap space or you can have cap exceptions but you can not have both! If the Rockets were to fall under the cap, they would lose the TE on a $ or $ basis for the amount they go under the cap.

Where this becomes important is for teams near the cap (GSW or NO for example) and those under the cap (LAC or DET). For teams near the cap, if our TE drives them under the cap, they will get a TE for the difference between the cap and where they where before the trade and cap room for the balance. Observe that for teams near the cap, getting our TE costs them a MLE as they are no longer above the cap.

It's different for teams under the cap. The don't have an MLE to begin with but by giving salary to Houston, they increase their cap space. Observe, the under the cap team does not have a TE...only more cap space..a subtle but important distinction if you are trying to be a player in the FA market.

OK...way more than you wanted to know....

 

I really dont see why seattle would trade a young star for a backup center and a trade exception. On the other hand, a Francis for Ray Allen trade could work...

 

Shard is old news. CD botched it up when SEA kept offering Shard for Griffin straight up.

 

Disagree here. I think Seattle would take Cato if we took Booth and another C. Potapenko and James both have expiring contracts, I would be more than willing to take them on.

Cato is easily easily easily better than any big man on the Seattle roster.

They would probably consider MoT if we took a contract off them. Something like MoT and the TE for Rashard and Calvin Booth.

We love Rashard here, but Seattle fans are fed up with him really. They don't think he's worth his contract and think that Radomanovic can easily replace him.

I think he's not worth his contract on the Sonics, but would be on the Rockets. His impact would be much more significant with Yao in the paint.

 

I would love to have this team next year:

Yao/Cato
McDyess/Cato/Spoon
Rashard Lewis/JJ/Boki
JJ/Francis
Francis/(starter quality PG)


I think McDyess will come back, not as good as before, but strong. He played a good last 15 games with good minutes, good numbers. He will take the summer to get his knee stronger, get into better shape, and get ready to make a push. I think he will surprise a lot of people, and since no one will risk signing him long-term, he may come home to Houston (he lives in Houston right?).

McDyess with the MLE. Rashard with anything but Steve, Yao and JJ. Rashard makes around 8M, and we have a 6.9M TE. But they won' swap him purely for capspace. So what we would need to do is trade Mobley to Toronto for Lamond Murray and Jerome Moiso (expiring contract) and their pick (top 10, around #8). Then turn around and trade the TE, the #8 and Jerome Moiso to Seattle for Rashard Lewis. Basically, we remove Rashard from their cap, and give them a top 10 pick.

This puts us here:

Yao/Cato
McDyess/MoT/Cato
Rashard/JJ/Boki/Lamond Murray
JJ/Pike/Lamond Murray
Francis/Wilks

I suggest trading Cato for Booth and Antonio Daniels as well. That would give us:

Yao/Booth
McDyess/MoT
Rashard/JJ/Boki/Murray
JJ/Pike/Daniels
Francis/Daniels/Wilks

Would love to see that.

 

This looks really good to me as well, but I think it's essential that we find a better backup to Steve.

Three points in the offseason
Get Rashard or a player like him, shoot and rebound
Mobile four who can shoot and rebound and guard mobile fours in the west
Find a backup point guard who is not a one trick pony, can hit an open jumper and still run the O.

 

McDyess and Grant Hill will both be back next year, but only to collect whatever money they can find on the table because the table -- any table -- has better legs than they do.