Deadline: February 19th. I believe an answer to this Q would either validate trade threads including Weatherspoon, or make them pointless....
* For two months after receiving the player in trade, if the player is being traded in combination with other players. * A team is free to trade the player by himself (not packaged with other players) immediately. * When the trading deadline has passed, teams are free to make trades again once their season has ended, but cannot trade players whose contracts are ending or could end due to an option. IOW, by himself (with TE and/or a pick) = immediately. . If he's not trade, he'll be left unprotected in the expansion draft. Unless management views him as more valuable than Boki!
Happy New Year everyone! I really hated bringing this thread back to the top but I stated something in another thread that I need to clarify. And I felt this was the best place to do it as opposed to starting another thread. First, I don't personally think the Rockets management is going to get trade happy until the end of the season. The two exceptions being if any team lays a block buster at their feet or someone proves they can't adjust to the way Van Gundy wants the game played. Moochie being a case in point. Observe that Wilks passed well out of Philly's traps and he moved the ball around. Secondly, everything I said in the above post is still correct. Not that I think he's going anywhere, but traded by himself Spoon is eligible for trade immediately. In another thread, I felt Weatherspoon's value (if traded at all) was to be combined with another Rocket. Obviously, we know he can't be traded in this manner until the end of the season. What I should have said was that it is possible to make a trade wherein Spoon and another Rocket are traded but not simultaneously. Here's an example. Team A has Player A and Player B. Player A is a solid player while Player B is so-so with a bad contract. The Rockets really like Player A and Team A really likes a current Rocket who is much better than Player B. By using the TE, the Rockets can trade Weatherspoon for Player A (better player with a higher contract) and then another Rocket for Player B (via the TE or the assigned player exception). The key factor here is that Weatherspoon's contract was not combined with another Rocket. He was traded independently. IOW, both trades have to be legal within the CBA and Spoons' contract value must be kept independent from another Rocket. Given that I don't think he's going anywhere, I'm not sure why I went through all of this.
GATER,I'm glad you did explain it in detail which made things clearer for me. I agree Spoon probably won't be going anywhere, the Rockets were desperate to move Moochie.
GATER, The trade exception can not be used in conjunction with a player, it has to be used independently. If you know a way around this then please say because that has been the sticking point on the trade exception since day one.
Thanks for the clarification. Based on JVG's praise for Spoon, and the quality play from Wilks, it does look like this trade was designed without a followup trade.
crash - I am not sure what you mean by the TE has to be used "independently" and not in conjuntion with a player. This statement as expressed is not true. What has been established is the the TE can not be combined with any other exception (the assigned player exception or APE being the most often used example) for a single. Perhaps you have confused these two situations? Let me take my prior example and use actual players and maybe the confusion will disappear. The Milwaukee Bucks have decided they need a Center to get them over the hump and have dedided Kelvin Cato is the answer. And they are willing to part with Tony Kukoc to get him. The Rockets aren't really excited about Kucoc but like the fact he is in his final contract year. But Cato and Kucoc don't work capwise. What to do? The Rockets trade Weatherspoon at $6 + $3.5 of the TE for Kucoc at $9.5m. The Rockets then in a seperate trade send Cato to the Bucks for Joe Smith (PF) and Joe Pryzbilla (C). This works using the APE. Obviously, the Bucks would never trade Kucoc for Spoon and the Rockets wouldn't trade Cato for Smith and Pryz. But if the net result was a swap of Kucoc for Cato, this works under the CBA.
GATER's example has us using the TE in conjunction with a player. That is the entire basis of HAVING the TE as I understand it. It gives us the freedome to make "unbalance salary" trades and thus opens up avenues that we normally would not be able to have. Additionally this does not expire until OCTOBER of this year so we can use it ALL SUMMER long with FA signings and other transactions.
