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

Good to see Tyreke as a MLE target. Do you think Mike Scott should be added as a possible MLE player?
I like Jeremi Grant, but he may get a bigger contract. A healthy Seth Curry could be a nice addition for part of the MLE too in my opinion. I like Amir Johnson for the vet minimum.
I would appreciate your input.

 

Houston trades: Ryan Anderson, 2019 1st, 2018 2nd Round (Miami) to Sacramento
Eric Gordon to Indiana
PJ Tucker, 2021 1st to Cleveland
Cleveland trades: LeBron James to Houston
Indiana trades: Al Jefferson to Cleveland
Lance Stephenson to Cleveland
Sacramento trades: Zach Randolph to Cleveland
Frank Mason III to Houston
Skal Labissiere to Houston

In MY ideal world,

Houston sends Anderson and Gordon back to their respective home states. Removing Anderson will come at a cost but I think Sacramento would be willing to take on Anderson for the picks that they'll get in return. The big sacrificial lamb here, I think, is PJ. It sucks to move on from him so soon but I don't think anyone is going to cry if it means getting LeBron back.

Mason III and Labissiere are sent to Houston for cap matching purposes.

Cleveland receives PJ Tucker, Stephenson, Big Al, and ZBo in this scenario and picks up a 2021 1st from Houston. Randolph ($11.7) is an expiring contract and of the $14.4 million between Big Al ($10) + Lance ($4.4) only $4 million of Big Al's contract is guaranteed. If the Cavs shed Al Jefferson and Lance they save about $10 million. Not huge but it goes a long way in shedding salaries. Tucker and ZBo's contracts are also useful in any future trades since they are both still serviceable role players either on a cheap deal or an expiring one. I would imagine they could turn at least one of them into at least another draft pick or two.

Indiana gets what I think would be a great complement to Oladipo in Gordon. They definitely needed more firepower based on this postseason and what's a better narrative than bringing back one former IU player than bringing back ANOTHER IU player in back to back years?

Sacramento, again in MY ideal world, would take on Anderson to shore up some perimeter shooting althewhile getting some usable picks in the process. This team isn't ready to contend for the next couple of years so why not pick up a few assets that can be used as trade chips down the road?

This would definitely require the Rockets to re-sign Ariza (with Tucker's departure) and bring "the band" back (Paul, Capela, Green, and Luc). Maybe this would be a precursor in bringing in Tyreke to fill Gordon's spot as the 6th man.

Capela
LeBron
Ariza
Harden
Paul

Evans
Luc
Nene
Green
Mason III
Labissiere
Qi
Onuaku
Hunter
Brown

And nope, no mar1juana usage here

 

BimaThug > Chris Broussard

 

hey buddy,

i like mike scott as a stretch big. i worry about his ability to defend on the perimeter when we switch everything. could be a steal at the right price! seth curry is pretty underrated but i think we need to use the MLE on a 3rd forward behind ariza and tucker. sort of the same thing as a guy like avery bradley.. great fit, but we're all set at guard. grant is a good choice, he's a younger more athletic luc and could play the 3-4-5 for us but can't hit the 3 so idk if morey will be willing to offer as much as other teams will.

my watchlist is for the MLE: evans, barton, thad young, gay, danny green, wilson chandler, pope, illyasova,

 

So Ive been thinking
@BimaThug i would like to hear what you think of my theory
I think the paul george intrest is a smoke screen just to get OKC attention. When in reality we want to send them anderson for Melo.
Last year the plan was to have cp3 and melo on the team and the following season LeBron would come. I think the plan remains the same. Granted melo had a down year with OKC but he would still be better than Anderson. So it would be worth it especially if it lands us LeBron.
My question to you @BimaThug is if we are able to trade for melo for anderson, a 2nd pick and or draft rights of players we have. What would it take to trade for LeBron? I imagine it would have to start with Gordon.

 

Thanks, much appreciated as always. Evans is my first choice now with the MLE. Getting help for CP3 is very important. Evans can help out Harden too. I do feel that EG is a better defender than him, but we can't get everything in a good role player. I like Thad too, more than Mike Scott, but he isn't a UFA.

 

Great read!

The link says we only need $26,548,568 if they consummate a trade prior to July 1, or at least $28,406,375 if they make a trade after July 1. How did you come to those numbers? Is it a % of LeBron's salary plus an amount the Rockets can throw in?

 

Oh, so you're saying if he we trade for him prior to July 1 then we only have to match his 2017/2018 salary, and not his opt in 2018/2019 salary?

 

So Cleveland trades LeBron and gets pj Tucker, Zach Randolph, al Jefferson, lance stephenson, and a 1st rounder in return? Wow lol

And they have Kevin love on the team?

I don't see Cleveland trading LeBron tbh.

 

Tax is going to be really tough if we can land LBJ.

Wonder if we consider S&T Capela for a pick or cheap young big.

 

Any chance that we could attach an asset (something like the rights to Sergio Llull and a draft choice) to "Sacramento son" Ryan Anderson to the Kings, and as mitigation take back Kosta Koufos (if it lowers Sacramento trade demands), who is planning to opt-in on his last year $8.7M deal. Sacramento pursued him during his free agency two years, have playing time available at PF, need 3 point shooting, and are WAY under the cap. We could flip Koufos more easily later as an expiring contract, and use him for salary matching.

 

Does Cleveland have to take a certain amount of salary back to trade LeBron, or can they swap him just for picks and take nothing back?

The reason I ask is I wonder whether Cleveland would want Gordon, he doesnt help them compete on a LeBron-less team, and if they decide to tank he is good enough to hurt their ambitions of wanting to lose as much as possible. Due to their trade for Korver they only get to keep their pick next year if it's in the top 10. Even though it would add a 4th team(!) to the trade, I do think it would be easy to trade Gordon for a 1st rounder from someone else, and ship that off to Cleveland instead of EG, they may value that asset higher.

 

He might still be better than Anderson, but they'd both still be guys you'd rather not play.

Who do you think would be more valuable to winning? Tucker or Melo?

Of course, you can say that Melo has a slightly shorter contract and its better to have him than Anderson... sure. But no way Melo is going to come off the bench for 15-20 mpg. And frankly, you'd rather another more appropriate role player in that role player role.

The only reason to acquire Melo is if its a requirement to getting Lebron.

 

yeah thad, gay, wilson chandler, danny green all have to opt out. probably none will since they're all making MLE or more. if they opt out they'd make less, but lock themselves into a longer term deal. all of them are on winning teams too so there's not much motivation to opt out.

i agree that getting a 3rd PG next to harden and cp3 is important. that person can be lebron or PG, but after them my next target is evans. i don't think he'd replace EG as the 6th man but i can imagine a rotation of ariza/tucker/evans at both F spots, and a rotation of paul/harden/eg at both G spots. if/when paul is out evans would become the 3rd guard (backup pg) and luc would become the 3rd forward. what we didn't have this year was a backup PG in games paul missed.

again i think its possible to land him for the non-taxpayer MLE, but probably not for the lesser tax-payer MLE. and staying under the LT depends on capela accepting the QO which is a real possibility if the suns, mavs, and hawks all draft bigs and the lakers use their money elsewhere. its at least something to root for on draft night!

 

Can the non-tax payer MLE be used every year? I thought the Rockets only have the lesser tax payer MLE( 5.3 M) at their disposal.

 

not 100% sure but i thought it was available if you're under the LT, but if you used it then you incur the hard cap.

 

Yes, you are correct. The Rockets will be hard capped if they use it.

 

Wouldn't you like to know if Cleveland likes Capela?

 

You want to dump Capela so badly lol, this obsession is not healthy