[BimaThug] Houston Rockets Salary Cap Update: 2018 Offseason Pre-Draft Edition

Great Article BT! Thanks. Hope we retain CP & CC and get LJ or PG this coming season.

 

I've been waiting for a Bima cap thread. Thanks.

What I took from this piece is that the rockets will likely do whatever they can to sign Paul George or Lebron, but the odds of getting either done are very low given that it will require a trade and we don't have the assets in Lebron's case nor is OKC likely to facilitate a trade to Houston in Paul George's case.

Likely the best we can hope for is to bring most of our guys back as well as add a few low cost contributors in free agency, but it's gonna take a lot of creative maneuvering just to bring our guys back.

Another big question is how much our new owner will spend into the lux tax to win. He'll have to do it in any scenario, whether we get a max free agent or just bring back our guys.

Lastly, it looks like we'll have to live with anderson's contract another year unless we can deal him; waiving him is apparently a really bad option (dead money for 5 years).

 

i think we're stuck w/ ryno and will be lucky to just bring back luc.

the front office will sell a resigned capela and paul as a successful summer.

 

If Lebron is choosing Houston, we don't have the money and I don't think Eric and Anderson are a positive for them since they have money in guards and Love. I think they'd rather let Lebron walk and take the LT savings while they rebuild.

Now what I do think would get their attention would be a trade of Lebron and Love for a Harden and Anderson. I know that's going some backlash here because Harden is a fav and is younger than Lebron, but you have to admit that playoff Lebron > playoff Harden and it's the championship that we want then we need to get that player that puts us over the top. IMO, Paul and Lebron would beat Paul and Harden in a series. And even shall we even debate that Love > Anderson. It's a pipe dream to think that Cleveland takes Anderson if Love is still on the team AND they aren't getting someone that they can't refuse.

 

I think it's 3 years, as the rule is twice the remaining years + 1. Also, 5 years for $8M+ is $40M, Anderson is only owed $20M+. I think that has to be a mistake on his part

 

Makes a lot of sense, and I dun think there will be that much backlash mostly because this thread is 'safely' hidden.

 

Sign OJ Mayo with the mini mid-level. Worth the gamble.

 

If it's only 3 years that makes a huge difference, but I haven't known Bima to be wrong. Hopefully he'll weigh in for the record.

If its 3 years, frankly I think it's a better option than trading picks and assets to move him.

 

He wasn't any good when he last played in the league 2 whole years ago.

I'm sure somebody will give him a shot on a minimum deal, but we sure as hell aren't gonna waste any of our precious financial commitments on him beyond a non guaranteed deal.

 

Stupid silly money.

Bima with the splash of cold water.

And Ryan Anderson remains the toxic elephant in the room.

 

Thanks. Interesting.

In your piece you said.....

Not sure I understand this altogether.

My impression from reading Coon here (http://www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q13)

is that since we are past the time when the tax is determined that if we make a trade between now and June 30th that there will be no tax, even if our salary increases above the tax threshold, and that we simply are subject to the other trade rules that apply.

Am I wrong? And what does a trade bonus have to do with it?

 

"Backlash"?

Why even mention trading Harden when it would represent the coldest, harshest betrayal of our organization? Trade the MVP? "Thanks for CP3 and now LeBron. Go f*** off in Cleveland."

 

What I am thinking is signing Ariza to a max contract with only the first year guaranteed and then trade him to Cleveland for LeBron. We can add 2 unprotected 1st round picks and take on one of their bad contracts such as J.R. Smith to sweeten the deal.

It makes a ton of sense to all parties. Although Ariza may not want to be traded to Cleveland, 35M is a lot more than he could ever dreamed of and I don't think he's going to reject that.

Cleveland clears >10M salary off the book this season, dumps J.R. Smith's contract and get 2 1st round picks.

LeBron can join us without gutting the whole team.

The only downside is we are looking at a massive payroll, possibly over 200M in the next couple of years.

 

Hey Bima is S&T Capela an option to get LeBron? Obviously if we go with the trade route with Cleveland, we don't really have great assets besides Clint since our draft picks are all low (unless we can somehow convince them that our future is bleak after LeBron leaves Houston after just 1 year).

I have full confidence in Morey's ability to continue finding cheap centers that could give us say at least 75% of what Capela does. Keeping a max contract for a center who has a very limited offensive game and will never be considered a superstar just seems like an awful mistake.

 

If bringing back this team(including Ryno unfortunately) is what happens, I can live with that. This was a 65-17 team despite a ton of injuries and was a game away from a title(that they frankly should've won). Look at the other contenders(1st and 2nd tier) in the West. Most of them will be scrambling just to keep what they've got.

The Warriors will undoubtedly resign Durant and maybe extend Klay, but Looney is a free agent. I don't know if they can afford to keep him. If he's gone that would be a huge loss. Not to mention West, McGee, Young, Cook, and Zaza are all free agents. Golden State's depth could be decimated this offseason.

The Blazers have huge money tied up already in their roster and Nurkic and Davis are free agents.

The Thunder are capped out with Melo almost certainly opting in and they're sweating losing PG13 for nothing. Not to mention Jerami Grant is a free agent. That franchise could be screwed.

The Jazz have a seemingly bright future with Mitchell, but they have to resign Exum and Favors and they'll have a hard time attracting free agents to Salt Lake. They couldn't convince their own guy, Gordon Hayward, to stick around last summer.

The Pelicans have huge decisions to make with Boogie and Rondo.

The Spurs are in about as uncertain a situation as they've been at any point in the Popovich era. First of all, is it still the Popovich era? I assume he's coming back next year, but who knows? He's pushing 70 and he just suffered an awful family tragedy. Then, what happens with Kawhi? Does he want out as rumored? Parker is probably gone. Gay and Green have player options. Anderson, Forbes, and Bertans are free agents. And Manu may retire.

The T'Wolves should theoretically have a very bright future, but who really knows with that franchise? They don't really have any cap space. Rose is a free agent and was actually huge for them in the postseason. There are already inexplicable rumors out there about trading Towns(he has a team option this season and is due a massive extension after that). Butler and Teague are only signed for one more season before they can opt out. Taj Gibson is a free agent after next season. And Thibs has a rep for running his players into the ground. This next season could be make or break for this core before finances force the front office to make changes.


So if I'm Morey, Tilman, and D'Antoni, I'm not exactly heartbroken at the prospect of returning this core for another few years. They should be favored alongside the Warriors to reach the Finals next season. By all means, go after LeBron(or PG13) and see if you can make that happen. If you pull that off, you're the prohibitive favorite to win it all. But bringing everyone back from a 65-17 team is a pretty good consolation prize.

 

agree w/ your detailed analysis of the western conference picture. the problem i see for us is not competing for the 1st seed or getting back to the WCF (given that our health is intact). but that again for the second straight season (without a lebron, george type superteam) we will not have the compelling narrative or pecuniary ratings/merchandise carrot to sell to the league office. in other words, they just send foster bros, mauer, malloy, and marc again anyways.

 

What choice do the Rockets have? Of course you try to get LeBron or even PG13, but my hope is at some point the league realizes people are tired of the f'ing Warriors. Especially when it's them vs LeBron every year. At least during the Bulls' 6 titles in 8 seasons, they only had one rematch. And even that one had a little more intrigue in that Utah had home court and it was widely rumored to be Chicago's "last dance"(which it was).

Plus the officiating was so horrendously bad in Game 1 of the Finals(following the questionable non-calls in Game 7 of the WCF) that the NBA has a huge spotlight on the refs which is not a good look for them.

 

I would be very angry at this too. Lebron wouldn't consider Houston without Harden either. He knows CP3 and he aren't enough to get the job done.

 

surely their screenwriters are already working on the GS-BOS series for 2019 though, so it will be an all-new rollout for the viewers