I seriously doubt if Pops gets cut. I love the great chemistry being developed between Chase and Pops. Also, it's very exciting to watch him and Landry play above the rim.
Really? Because he reminds me of exactly what Stromile Swift was. An under-sized F/C who was freakishly athletic but a terrible defender and rebounder but could dunk the hell out of the ball. However, I'll take that for the price we'd get Pops.
It seems I'm the only person that wasn't impressed with Romel Beck and Garrett Temple? Lol. I was impressed with Conroy however...
His salary would still hit our books. And, right now the team is over $5 million into the luxury tax. If we wanted to keep Pops & Conroy and stay under the luxury tax threshold, we'd need to trade away Barry and Cook without taking salary back. Since we're just a couple of days away from cutting Barry and giving up on the prospect of trading him, I don't have a good feeling about being able to unload Cook either. So, keeping third-stringers like Pops and Conroy is actually going to cost quite a bit. Morey is lucky to have the permission to keep one of them. While it looks like Pops is a more valuable player, I might be tempted to cut him and keep Conroy. While he has unique strengths, Pops has a bunch of people who share his position. If they don't envision giving him regular playing time, he's probably insurance we can do without. Meanwhile, an injury to Brooks or Lowry puts the other PG in 48-minute duty without Conroy. The alternative is putting a small forward at point guard for a couple of minutes, and they likely don't have the handles for that. Conroy is probably insurance worth having, even if he doesn't play regularly. Of course, if Brooks and Lowry can stay healthy for 2 months, McGrady can fill in at point guard when needed.
i like the chemistry that Pop's and Chase have. i wonder if they can develop the same type of stats that ScoLandry have on the floor together. That would be pretty impressive for a second unit. In my opinion our second string can give the first unit a run for their money.
As an LSU fan, Im kinda sad to see GT cut. He didn't really have a spot with us right now, but that kid'll make it in the NBA in a Trenton Hassell type role, he's just an incredible defender.
Depending on what other maneuvers Daryl Morey will/would be able to make between now and the February trade deadline, cutting Brian Cook could cost Les Alexander a TON of money. Perhaps as much as $10M (just a rough estimate). If Cook were waived, he would still be owed his entire $3.5M salary. While the Rockets could attempt to enter into a buyout agreement with Cook (whereby the team pays him less than his entire salary in exchange for his outright release and freedom to sign elsewhere), there is little reason for Cook to accept any sort of reduction in salary, especially since it is highly unlikely he could even find a roster spot elsewhere in the NBA at this point. On top of his $3.5M salary, the Rockets (currently over the luxury tax by about $5M or so) would owe the league another $3.5M in luxury taxes associated with Cook's salary. This is the most crucial factor in favor of the Rockets KEEPING Cook. If Morey can find a taker for Cook's contract in January or February (when Cook would only be owed another $1.7M or so in remaining paychecks), even if the Rockets have to pay the maximum $3M cash allowable in trades, Les would still be netting at least a $500k gain. The third component of the "cost of waiving Brian Cook" is that waiving him would completely foreclose any chance the Rockets have of getting below the tax threshold and becoming entitled to their cut of shared luxury tax revenues (expected to be anywhere from $1.8M to $3M or so). While getting below the tax line this season will be much harder than in years past (when the Rockets were only $1-2M over the threshold), if Morey were somehow able to dump Cook in January/February, it would only take another $1.5M or so in salary reduction to get below the tax line. But waiving Cook would mean that the Rockets can kiss goodbye ANY hopes of dropping below the tax line and getting those shared revenues. So, there you have it. Les Alexander has anywhere from 7 to 10 MILLION reasons to hang onto Brian Cook . . . for now.
If we keep both Pop & Conroy, it would be most likely for the league minimum, which, the salary won't count towards the luxury tax.
I agree with all - but - there is the matter of a TMc contract which is the key IMHO of whether or not Rox get under the cap. Look to teams like Cavs, B'cats, Knixies, and GS as possible trading partners in February.
Possibly true, but the Rockets have no way of knowing how or whether any T-Mac trade is going to go down. They can't take that chance by waiving Cook now. Especially if it is simply to keep Will Conroy or Joey Dorsey. Neither player is worth that much (from an opportunity cost standpoint).
Conroy should be on the way out. The Rockets haven't had a third point guard in forever, and they've been doing just fine. As long as they can make it to late November without any significant injuries at the position, they'll survive. I think at that point, Tracy will be able to handle the ball enough that there will be little need to run Brooks and Lowry in tandem.
True, but they had Head, and then Barry. Both of these players could handle PG duties, albeit shakily.
I don't think much of that. I'd rather have Budinger handling the ball on the perimeter than Luther Head...and probably a 37 year old Brent Barry.
Any possibility of trading Cook for someones trade exception and draft picks. Somebody must have a 3.5M exception that might want to also swap picks, the Rox might have a lottery pick this year with Yao and Tmac out.
Teams can usually get away with off guards or forwards handling point duty for stretches of game. And defensively, Ariza showed last year that he's quick enough to stay with PGs, and his length can cause problems for them too.
they may cut pops. remember that year they cut hayes because of economical purposes than realized they jacked it up! thats whats gonna happen to pops. cut then comes back in jan.
