[ClutchFans] BimaThug: Houston Rockets Salary Cap Update

We agree again, this is getting habit forming.

DD

 

How come on HoopsHype Martin's 2010,2011, and 2012 salaries are $500,000 more than they are on ShamSports?

http://hoopshype.com/salaries/houston.htm
http://www.shamsports.com/content/pages/data/salaries/rockets.jsp

 

Ok, I'm flip-flopping, by signing Ish to the 15th roster spot, maybe the Rockets are not deadset about getting under the luxury tax. This, combined with the intel that Chuckwagon is tearing it up this summer and will remain in the rotation, means there would probably not be a Chuck/Taylor salary dump to get under the tax.

Perhaps the financial intent of the Ariza trade was to save $10 million in salary and tax this year, but not necessarily be a steppingstone to avoiding the tax completely. It appears the only way to get under the tax now is to dump Jeffries (would be difficult and would cost assets) or Hill (which would be the loss of an important trade asset for a future trade for an allstar). Both unlikely scenarios. Also, trading Jeffries for a player or players making salary or salaries of 75% of his salary would probably not shave enough salary to get under the tax, either.

 

While the math is a bit off, you are correct in your assertion that the Rockets could not avoid the tax simply by trading Jeffries alone to an over-the-cap team. The minimum salary the Rockets would have to take back would still cause Les to be SLIGHTLY over the tax threshold.

On Ish Smith, I bet that contract is non-guaranteed, or at least that only a nominal amount ($10k-$50k) is guaranteed. It probably won't have a material impact on the Rockets' tax situation unless Smith actually makes the team and stays on long enough to have his entire year's salary guaranteed.

 

Apparently he’s signed to a 2 year deal

 

That is most likely a deal in which the first year is either non-guaranteed or only partially guaranteed for some small amount ($10k-$50k), with the second year being a team option.

"2 year deal" does not necessarily mean two fully guaranteed years, my friend.

 

They could trade jeffries for a 5m player and knock off another 1.7m. They could trade shane for a 5.4m player and get another 1.8m off the books. They could upgrade and get under the cap at the same time.

 

Only if they trade Jeffries to a team that is under the cap. Otherwise, the least amount of salary that the Rockets could take back is $5,427,040. That would only reduce payroll by $1,456,760. Not quite enough to get the Rockets below the luxury tax threshold.

 

Unless you jettison Taylor....

Just saying.....



DD

 

I'm thinking Jeffries will be saved for a possible blockbuster deadline deal. And it's impossible to upgrade from Shane Battier.

 

In that scenario (assuming a deadline trade), by dumping Jermaine Taylor, the Rockets would save little more than the (~$2M or so) luxury tax revenues in which they'd get to share by avoiding the tax. Probably something in the range of $2.4M or so.

For a guy who the head coach allegedly loves and thinks can become a very good player, do you think Les would be unwilling to make even that "small" a financial commitment to keep him?

Even from an asset management standpoint, if the organization as a whole feels nearly as strongly about Taylor as Adelman does, holding onto him (even if it means being nominal tax payers) could yield more fruit down the line.

 

I think Adelman would be a good soldier, especially if the guy is not part of his rotation, he knows how it all works.

And the money saved might be able to buy a better player in the upcomming draft.

So, yes, I think they would drop Taylor and don't believe everything I hear from the organization about the guy.....I think they like him, but if he is not in their plans, they would not hesitate to get rid of him.

DD

 

$2 million doesn't seem like much if they think he will be really good. I kind of feel he would get more of a shot with other teams, but who knows when Morey will make another trade and free up room. Chase may be gone, Brooks may be gone, who knows.

 

You're probably right.

My point is this: If Taylor has some value around the league, and come draft day there's a team willing to swap its late first rounder (with a market value of $3M) for Taylor, and if the Rockets really like someone at that spot in the draft, then the Rockets actually make out better than had they dumped him for only ~$2.4M in luxury tax savings, etc.

Let alone the point that Taylor would still have two more years AFTER next season on a dirt cheap (basically league minimum) contract. To have even a moderately decent young player locked up like that has value that may counter-balance a small tax hit.

Still, if I were Les, I'd probably make the most cost-effective move with Taylor. If enough money can be saved by moving him that could be re-allocated elsewhere to help the team, I'd be all for it.

 

There are still a few teams that could eat Jeffries entire contract, right? Assuming we don't get someone big, we could pay a team like the wolves to take on his salary and then give them a pick for the favor. Similar to what we did with Francis.

 

How about Jeffries for Rubio?

 

I think we would have to sweeten the deal a little but then again we are talking about Kahn and Morey.

 

Yep. I think the more likely trade deadline scenario would be for the Rockets to trade Jeffries, a pick and cash to a team like the Wolves in exchange for a smaller expiring contract of the other team's own scrub. The Rockets still get below the tax, while the other team gets a pick, cash and at least manages to dump a smaller contract in the process.

Something like this (which I have already posted here/elsewhere):

Jared Jeffries ($6.88M expiring contract)
The Rockets' 2011 second round pick (the higher of theirs or the Clippers')
Cash ($2 million, perhaps?)

for

Sebastian Telfair ($2.7M expiring contract)

This would actually be two separate trades. In the first trade, the Rockets would trade Jared Jeffries to Minnesota (which is under the salary cap) for nothing, generating a new $6,883,800 trade exception that would (presumably) be good until around the February 2012 trade deadline. In the second trade, the Rockets would use a portion of the Trevor Ariza trade exception to eat Telfair's salary.

As of right now, that deal strikes me as the one that makes the most sense IF the Rockets cannot make a major trade to upgrade the roster. Of course, a million things could change between now and February 2011.

 

Being nit picky i see. 25% is 1.7m right?6.8-1.7=5.1 correct? I guess, but i always though the team over the cap just had to be 25% of the outgoing salary. Anyway, my point was they could trade battier and jeffries for basically mle players and get under the cap and add talent.

 

Teams can acquire up to 125% plus 100k.
The team trading away $5.1 mil and taking back $6,883,000 would be violating league rules.

The team acquiring for Jeffries would be taking back 135%($6,883,000/$5,100,000) in salary.


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