Carl Landry please ink a deal, we love you and need you in a non gay way

Sorta. What he has is a qualifying offer. I think it has to be exactly 987K. I am guessing he has an October 1 deadline (the earliest data allowed) to take it, or it is withdrawn (but he would still be a restricted FA). So we likely have a couple of weeks for things to get sorted out, patience folks.

However it is to the Rockets advantage if we negotiate a contract instead of him taking the QO, because that way he is an unrestricted FA after this year and I think Landry would have the right to refusal of a trade this year.

That is why right now I would offer the 2 year 2 mil deal with a player option. Landry gives up being an URFA next year for an extra mil guaranteed (that he can opt out of). Maybe even be willing to kick in another couple hundred thousand each year, or even double that contract without the player option (2 years 4 mil). Any contract more than that he needs to get the knee fully evaluated by our staff--and then maybe he can get one in the Scola range if everything checks out great.

The Rockets hold just about all the cards here. The worst scenario is we get Landry for one year at just under a million. (He takes the 1 year QO, then he could leave after a seasons duty with us. But then Landry also has to start all over before any new teams get his EBR or LBR, and he is only in the MLE and under cap teams pool in a year with big name FAs.) A second not great option is he bolts to Europe while we still retain his rights (and his rights become a trade asset)--in either case this isn't terrible. I'd like to avoid these scenarios however, but it is not worth taking on a risky large term contract for if we are not 100% certain of his health.

Finally, I have no doubt in my mind if Landry had gotten early REAL decent contracts by other NBA teams he would have signed it (and the Rockets would have matched if reasonable). As each week passes I am sure he is sweating more, and his options dwindle. I also don't buy he got anything major offered in Europe too. The more the FA season is getting late the more he has to work on the Rockets terms. A potential Oct 1 deadline for the QO gets them even more pressing.

http://members.cox.net/lmcoon/salarycap.htm#36

In order to make their free agent a restricted free agent, a team must submit a qualifying offer to the player by June 30......The qualifying offer for all other players must be for 125% of the player's previous salary, or the player's minimum salary (see question number 11) plus $175,000, whichever is greater. The qualifying offer must be for one season. A player can elect to accept his qualifying offer (the qualifying offer must be accepted by March 1) and play the following season under its terms. This is sometimes done in order to become an unrestricted free agent the following summer (see question number 38).

A qualifying offer cannot be accepted after March 1. Teams may place a shorter time limit on their qualifying offer, specifying any date between October 1 and March 1 by which it must be accepted. If the deadline passes and the qualifying offer is neither withdrawn nor accepted, then the player continues to be a restricted free agent. The team and player are also still free to negotiate a new contract after the qualifying offer ends -- the deadline only affects the player's ability to accept the qualifying offer.

 

I got the impression from Berman's report published here on the BBS,that the Rockets had made him an offer and his agent had made a counter offer.
Could that mean that management has gone beyond the qualifying offer?

 

Oh sure. I expect they are in negotiations. The only threat Landry/Baker has is saying "this offer isn't good enough, we would rather give you one years worth of service for 987K and take our chances." That isn't that great of threat, because if Landry had a bad year, he would be in worse position next year seeking contracts, and if he has a good year, well, at least we got a bargain of a player for a year and are still the only team that doesn't have to break into their MLE or cap space to sign him.

But I'd much rather pay over the QO for a reasonable offer (explored above) and get Landry back into the fold and get him playing for the team, not for the next contract (some times if these goals are different that can be a distraction).

 

Thanks a lot.Great post Desert Scar.

 

Now that's a good explanatory post Desert Scar!

 

Exactly. It amazes me how impatient people on this BBS can be. Restricted free agency, by its nature, leads to protracted negotiations and last-minute compromises. The Rockets are in the driver's seat here.

That being said, I would like to see Landry's situation be resolved at least a few days prior to training camp opening, since Dorsey's and Deke's contract situations may hinge on such resolution. Assuming that Dorsey and the Rockets already have an understanding that he'll get at least two years guaranteed, then I'd love to see the Rockets get that third year team option on him.

As for Deke, I sincerely hope that he signs for the minimum. Signing him to anything more than that will likely mean that Morey will be killing himself at the trade deadline to squeeze back under the luxury tax threshhold. And if the Rockets sign Deke, they are NOT trading him next season no matter what. I'd hate to see the Rockets have to dump a guy like Luther Head for nothing (especially if he's having a decent season as shooting depth off the bench) SOLELY because the team over-spent on Deke.

 

Other than 3 point shooting, Luther Head brings nothing to the table. Do we really want to see him running at the rim and flailing those layups up, or him driving to the basket and losing it out of bounds?

 

sigh, did no one watch the regular season last year?

 

Agree.

Head was valuable in the regular season. But big problem is (other than the playoff no shows) is that he can't help out at the PG for us.

His handles need some serious work.

If Alston gets hurt this season we are in serious trouble. We have great depth through every position except the 2 most important, 1 and 5!!.

 

While I agree with you that the Rockets don't have reliable depth at the 1 behind Rafer, I have to disagree on your issues with depth at the 5. The Rockets are on the brink of signing 2 centers (Dikembe Mutombo and Joey Dorsey), both signings being almost formalities at this point. The funny thing is, I don't think either of those players will be in the day-to-day rotation.

The primary "backup" for Yao will be Luis Scola, who will slide over to the 5 when Yao heads to the bench. Also, Chuck Hayes will see regular minutes (although not many at a time) at the center position in smaller lineups.

Mutombo provides another player with legit size and shot-blocking skills, as well as a decent replacement starting center if/when Yao gets injured. Still, he will likely resume the role he had in the first half of last season, where he played sparingly and only in certain matchups (i.e., against Shaq and other large, lumbering centers). Joey Dorsey will sit and learn from Deke during training camp and the first part of the season; and then he'll likely be sent down to the D-League to get some playing time for a while.

This season, the Rockets will likely have Yao Ming, Luis Scola, Chuck Hayes, Dikembe Mutombo and Joey Dorsey. I'd say that's quite a bit of depth at the 5. Yes, they're not all legit full-time centers. But few teams have more than two of those.

 

Scola, Hayes and probably Dorsey are as about as legit at 5 as Head is at 1.

Plus Dorsey and Deke aren't officially on board still. So the REAL depth chart at Center is Yao Ming and Ummm....Yao Ming.

 

Scola played a lot at the 5 spot towards the end of the season. He'd played quite a few minutes there during the Jazz series, including during the wins. No, he wouldn't be the "ideal backup center," but the fact remains that he can give the Rocks decent production there, based on matchups.

 

I think we still need a legit backup that can guard big 5s on random teams. But for the most part, Scola, Landry and Hayes will be fine. Alot of these Cs have no offensive game and Landry/Scola could be as much of a pest on offense as the big C could be on offense/rebounding at the other end.

 

Interested? Are you on the Buddy Baker Juice? Rumors, all of it made up rumors, probably from Buddy. If there were teams interested, they would have made an offer.

Bottom line is Buddy overpriced his client and he stepped in it. Should have just done what the team wanted and be done with it. Training camp is close and he has no leverage whatsoever. A guy coming off a good half season with no other offers, with questionable knees, who needs the team more than the team needs him, has no leverage.

 

He could playing it where has planned to take the Rocket's offer but is waiting until the very last minute to force the Rockets to forgo their requirement of a scope.

 

I doubt it. IMO, Buddy thinks that if he waits to camp, he will force the rockets into committing enough of their MLE to other players allowing a team to make an offer that the rockets can't match. Unfortunately, Buddy ain't the brightest of the bunch, as Morey could ultimately tell Deke that they will commit to him when they know all financial implications and allow him to sit out training camp.

I think it ends ugly with Landry excepting the qualifying offer to attain full free agent status at the end of the year. For his sake, I just hope he doesn't hurt his knee again during the year and lose out on what could have been.

I would also think that Morey has a low-ball offer on the table that would forego the scope requirement.

 

The risk of injury is exactly the reason why Landry will NOT likely accept the qualifying offer. It would be one thing if he were Emeka Okafur or Luol Deng, each of whom had a sizable qualifying offer and could therefore make a legitimate threat of accepting the qualifying offer and leaving as an unrestricted free agent next summer. Even if those guys got hurt, at least they'd have several million dollars guaranteed from the qualifying offer salary.

Landry's qualifying offer is around $900k. If he gets seriously injured, he is screwed. He would probably rather take a modest salary of several million dollars guaranteed rather than play around with his financial future like that.

 

While you are right that Chuck Hayes is not a center, I think you underestimate his post defense. True, he does not offer any shot-blocking to speak of, but he is capable of defending opposing centers in the post. Yes, taller players can shoot over Hayes, but they're usually doing so from spots that they are uncomfortable shooting from due to Hayes good defensive positioning.

Luis Scola, at 6-9, is more than capable of playing minutes at center, as Adelman showed by having Scola come in for Yao for much of the first half of the year. Prior to Yao's foot injury, Scola logged significantly more minutes at center than anyone else, including Deke.

Joey Dorsey is an NBA center. He is not a power forward. He is a center. True, he is pretty short for a center, but his tremendously long arms give him the wingspan and standing reach comparable to many NBA centers. Those measurements (not height) are determinative of what makes a good NBA center's body. He's almost the EXACT same size as Ben Wallace, and I think he turned out to be a decent NBA center at 6-8. Plus, Dorsey is phenomenally strong (just like Big Ben) and will not be pushed around by "bigger" players. That is, once/if he adjusts to the NBA game.