[ClutchFans] BimaThug: Houston Rockets Salary Cap Update

Agreed.

One (maybe not-so-small) disadvantage of trading away Trevor Ariza is that the Rockets no longer have much in the way of "salaried assets".

What I mean by that is that Ariza was the Rockets' highest salaried player who (a) the Rockets would be willing to trade AND (b) other teams might consider a long-term asset for trade purposes. At this point, the highest paid remaining "salaried asset" may just be Jordan Hill at $2.67M. That's going to make it more difficult to match salaries for a highly paid star player. Remember, trade exceptions cannot be combined with player salaries for matching purposes.

Still, I think Morey has the ability to pull something off. Now, if only those other teams would just be willing to trade their star players!

 

BE INTERESTING IF WE COULD FIND OUT WHAT PLAYER WE COULD TARGET AT THAT MONEY...I MENA IS THERE ANYONE WITH THAT SALARY OR LOWER THAT WE WOULD EVEN GO AFTER...NOT IGGY...NOT MELO..NOT PAUL...NOT GRANGER...

I CANT THINK OF 1 PLAYER THAT FITS OUR NEEDS THAT IS A UPGRADE...MAYBE ITS LIKE A 3 TEAM TRADE...OR SOMETHING WE TRADE ...TE AND PICKS (YOUNG TALENT) AND 1 TEAM TAKES TE SENDS SALRIED PLAYER ASSET TO SAY NUGGETS AND WE GET A LARGER SALARY PLAYER...I DUNNO

 

Well, we can always throw Battier + Jeffries to build the foundation of any big salary matching deal, right? -- assuming the assets the other teams covets are Hill and Budinger etc, adding them onto the foundation shouldn't impact too much about our ability to make an attractive offer?

Unless either Battier or Jeffries is untouchable to the rockets, I'm confident that Morey will still have enough salaries to make a mega deal work in case he needs it.

 

Bima,

Don't forget Kevin Martin, he is a pretty decent sized contract for what he delivers on the court.

I think the Rockets have enough of everything covered.

DD

 

It is unlikely that we use the $6M TE to target a player we covet directly.
The much more likely scenario would be we use Battier+Jeffries+some other assets (That combination should have enough salary to match most of the max players) to swap with a premier player, while using the TE to absorb a "poisonous" Mid-Level contract.

 

anyone wants to lose a sig bet that the tpe will not be used this year? Bima?DD?

 

Nah, no need, I put it at 20/80...depending on whether an all star shakes loose.....which is not likely.

DD

 

Nope. I think the odds are against it.

BUT . . . it won't be for lack of trying by the Rockets.

Morey's going to try to use that TPE in trade discussions for a star player. They're not going to use it (at least in any meaningful way) unless they're getting a star. The star player's current team would actually have to WANT to trade with the Rockets. There's nothing that Morey can do about that.

Now, could that TPE be used on (or leading up to) the 2011 NBA Draft? Maybe.

 

I can think of only a couple of ways this roster can be tweaked other than getting a superstar. Morey is quickly running out of things to do and it's his own fault for being so good at his job. :grin:

 

The TPE is going to have a hard time snagging an all-star type player since it's only for ~6M and change. How many stars that would legitimately help our team are walking around with MLE deals?

It's probably best used in deals where the other team is looking to dump a player and not take back salary. I suppose we'll know the market for it once the deadline hits and we have a better idea whose in or out.

 

Agreed. I don't think it will be used this year (it'd be hard to find a $5m player worth acquiring that would cost us $10m), but it's good for a calendar year -- with Battier and Jeffries falling off of the books, I wouldn't be surprised to see it used next year either during the draft or free agency.

A few teams could end up wanting to wipe payroll, and duct tape a $6m player to a high draft pick.

 

Especially if they see the new CBA as coming in much lower in overall cap room.

DD

 

With Ariza's salary off the books for next year, can we mathematically be players for signing Carmelo to a max free agent deal under the cap (assuming we renounce Yao)?

 

I know this may not sound right, but its not such a bad thing to have a big good sized poor contract like murphy,dunleavy jr, and such. Now, you cant have a team full of them, but a team like indy can get an 11m tpe for jr,a 9m one for ford, and could have gotten a 10m for murphy. They have alot of firepower to make moves to retool their roster. Teams this summer used the power of snt to create these huge tpe's. The rockets have to get other teams involved and use more players to shoot their gun. Battier is the 3rd highest at 7.3m . That can yield a 9m player, so they have to add players which they have alot of.

 

i cant even figure out how to get mine to appear...i used the html code...but it just shows the code

 

Just looking at ballpark figures...

Currently at ~$72 million reportedly
less Yao ~18 million
less Jeffries ~7 million
less Battier ~ 7.5 million
less Chuck ~ 2 million

= ~37.5 million

So it looks like we would have max money, but of course it all boils down to how Yao holds up this year.

 

The details aren't important. What matters is that the Rockets are close enough for Morey to get the team under the cap without much trouble. I expect one of two things at the trade deadline. Morey acquires a star or he reduces payroll. Hell, maybe both. Nothing he does surprises me anymore.

 

You can't figure cap room that way. You're not accounting for all of the under-contract players' salaries increasing from year to year, nor do you account for cap holds of our free agents (Brooks's is $6.05M) or draft picks.

 

Nor do we know the cap for next year, or if there will even be one.

DD

 

Exactly.

But . . . assuming that the cap stayed the same (again, a HUGE assumption), and assuming that the Rockets wanted to retain Aaron Brooks at a starting salary above his $6.05M cap hold, then by my calculations the Rockets would have a little less than $9.8M in cap room if they renounced all free agents except for Brooks. That would include renouncing Yao.

Frankly, even if Yao is only 75% of his former self, is there anyone out there better than that who the Rockets could conceivably get for under $10M?

I don't think so.

Hence, the odds are still in favor of the Rockets continuing the Yao Ming Era as long as Yao is any semblance of his former self.