[Chronicle - Brian T Smith] Durant courtship in Rockets' future

How can he have a guaranteed ticket to the finals in the east when he has to go through james live Irving to get there. He has a guaranteed ticket to the eastern finals maybe, but not the finals.

 

Seeing as he's not a free agent im not too worried. Lol

 

I'm sure it's been covered in this thread, but a lineup of

Lawson/Beverley
Harden
Durant
Motiejunas
Howard/Capela

would be insane. Is it even possible?

 

I would narrow it down to 3 team: OKC, Houston or Washington.

Brooklyn? lol.
Miami? Wade is on his last legs and Bosh is not too far behind.

 

If Howard is about winning he would sacrifice for a ring or multiple rings

 

Yes it's possible I think since we have a team option on Ty so we can resign him using his bird rights

 

They wouldn't have "full bird rights" on Lawson .... but they would have "early bird rights" like with Brewer this past offseason .... able to offer him up to 120% of his salary this year , exceeding the cap to do so.

Would be real nice if Dwert were to take a discount to bring in more talent while keeping the rest of the team intact for the most part.

 

I haven't looked at the FA list, but my biggest concern is that the Rockets will lose out on some good players waiting for Durant to decide on a team.

 

"It really hasn't been like that. I was in Houston, and it was not bad. It's not like ESPN is following us every trip. Nobody has really asked me about it, to be honest," Durant said.


Comments from Durant on a realgm article today...why does he go out of his way to mention"Houston" without being prompted by the media. It surfaced because he is getting ready to play a game in DC. Besides David Aldridge and Brian Smith recently, it makes me think that Durant happens to bring up the rockets. I still remember Jalen Rose predicting him to Houston two years back! If some of our fans really want to believe that Durant isn't a true possibility...you must be trying to keep the expectation low. I just think that something is slowly brewing here.

 

Unless Lawson, Howard and Dmo take pretty big paycuts then it will not be possible. KD might even have to take a little less than max money to fit all four of them, plus Harden, into the cap.

I'm not a cap expert and will just do simple math but it will be impossible to sign Howard to his desired 27-30M/year contract, Lawson to a fair 15-18M/year contract, DMo to a 12-15M/year contract and KD to a 30M/year contract, while having Harden's bargain 16M/year contract in the books already.

That's already over 102M for the starting lineup, and that's 10M more than the expected cap in 2016. Morey would have to work voodoo magic to make it all work, and to find player to fill out our bench.

But if Howard can take a Duncan-like paycut at around 12-15M/year, Lawson signs for a cheaper 10-12M/year contract to play for a winner and with one of his best friends in KD, DMo signs for a bargain 12M/year contract and KD takes max or a little less than max to play with a loaded team, with two of his closest friends in Lawson and Harden, then we can fit everyone in!

The total bill for the starting lineup, alone, would be a cool 85M so that would give us a good amount of cap to get quality bench guys to fill out the team.

Side Note: I don't think Beverley will be on this team next season. He really lost a step and just doesn't bring what he used to (nasty defense) or what we need him to bring (3pt shooting). Morey is a pro at finding point guards from nowhere (Brooks, Lowry, Dragic, Beverley) so I won't be surprised if we ship Beverley out soon to bring us more cap room.

 

there is pressure on howard if durant agrees to come and harden let morey know that because of capela. the rockets could make it clear that they will accept a lineup of

lawson
harden
durant
dmo/harrel
capela

along with using cap room on another center that is an above average back up. for example al jefferson, brook lopez, robin lopez, or al horford.

 

Al Horford or Brook Lopez will not be backing up Capela next year...Those are max players, so is Al Jefferson. Dwight Howard has a player option anyways, so he just re-up at 20+ mil for one year should he choose to do so.

 

Yea, only netted those scrubs Harden, Howard and Lawson.

 

That's not exactly how it works.

For the purposes of signing Durant, DMo's hit will be his cap hold, not what he ultimately signs for.

JMO, but I think the Rockets are going to float 2 offers to Dwight....a 1+1 deal starting at $20 million with the promise of a huge contract in 2017, or a 5 year $116 million deal (starting at $20 million). That would give us the flexibility we need.

25.9 - Durant
20 - Dwight
16.8 - Harden
13.2 - Lawson
5.7 - DMo (Cap Hold)
1.7 - Dekker
1.3 - Capela
1 - Harrell
2.8 - 4 Cap Holds

That's 88.4, or a hair under the projected $89 million cap. If the cap rose to $91 million, we could keep McDaniels. Whatever we do, we can always exceed the cap to resign DMo.
Lawson /
Harden /
Durant / Dekker
DMo / Harrell
Howard / Capela

The rest of the team would be made up of vet minimum players and the room exception. What I wouldn't give to get Thornton back at the room exception...

 

I'm not sure if he would seriously consider a move away from OKC. If he does, I think DC is more likely than Houston unfortunately.

 

Houston has just as good a chance as anybody.

 

Why not?

This is not the 1980's anymore when loyalty meant something to either the player or his club. In fact, player's movement should not be a shocked to anybody notwithstanding the limitations imposed by the new CBA. Finally, OKC is not really the most attractive destination for a rich, young guy. Houston beats it by a mile.

 

^ Clyde Drexler says ^: "I agree."

Obviously, much could depend on OKC's showing this year. Unfortunately, when healthy, they have just as much chance as any team of challenging for the championship, Golden State still being at the head of the class.

Fortunately, Melissandre says, "The Western Conference is dark and full of terrors."

It will clearly come down to OKC, Washington (John Wall, with Beal pulling a Kawhi Leonard and holding off his payday until after KD chooses), and Houston (Morey can work out the cap math, and KD and Harden are still very good friends).

Maaaaaaaaaaybe the Knicks sneak in there. Maybe. But I'll stick with just the three.

 

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I'm not convinced DH12 is about rings. I honestly don't know if he is willing to sacrifice himself for a title. There is nothing wrong with that, I just don't know if it's in his personality. Some guys aren't wired that way.