[ClutchFans] Houston Rockets Salary Cap Update: 2013 Training Camp Edition

Garcia is not going to be traded. Know why? I can't tell you lest all the CBA circumvention police arrest me for promotion of circumvention. But needless to say, Garcia is not going to be traded.

Brook, on the other hand, will most likely be cut in training camp as part of the cut down to 15. And if he stays on the roster, it will be because there is an injury to one of the other there point guards, or one of those other point guards gets traded, or there is another multi-player trade with less guaranteed contracts coming in than what we send out, or we specifically keep him to trade him (with his permission) after he is trade eligible. Aaron Brooks does not have a future here.

 

What? Garcia is likely to stay but he isn't untouchable.
If you get a player that does the same things better for cheap, Garcia should be gone.

 

Canaan could be determined not to be ready. If so, Brooks makes sense.

*edit for split infinitive

 

Thanks again BT!! It is a pretty exciting camp with the cap shape they have managed - mixing old (Camby, Brooks, Brewer) with young (Covington, Canaan, Henriquez) to compete.

 

Bima, quick question, what value does Asik have in trade piece come February? Who could we get? Cap wise?

I really wish the NBA would allow teams to keep 2 developmental players for their affiliate in D-League, and 15 full roster for vets. It would make cuts so much less difficult. Of course with the NFL I wish rosters were 55-57 active, with 48 on game days. But thats a dream of mine.

 

Technically they do allow for 13 and 2 (2 players designated as injured or D-league), but I agree 15 and 2 or 14 and 2 would be better. It helps their D-League product having more rookies and 2nd year players in the D-league. With the progression of the D-League, I wouldn't be surprised if they allowed another roster spot or two come the next CBA.

However keep in mind that adding another roster spot means adding salary or cap holds to a teams salary cap... which means its a sticking point that could hold up the next CBA coming in a few years.

My thoughts on the Asik trade situation-

Frankly after watching the game last night, and seeing how poor the defense became when Howard left the floor, I'm really going to be picky if I'm Morey come trade deadline, and might prefer to ride out the next two years with him playing alongside & backing up Dwight. Look at what happened to OKC when Harden got traded (from what seemed like a necessity at the time). Even though he would have left the following year presumably, they could have had a better shot at beating the Spurs and making another trip to Finals against Miami.

When we are talking about competing for a title, and possibly losing a player in free agency the next year or the year after, you have to consider keeping that player in the short term if they mean that much to winning now.

If they do feel like they MUST trade him or a truly incredible player shakes loose, keep in mind the 150% salary rule under the CBA. The Rockets are over the cap, but under the luxury tax so they can take 150% of Asik's salary back as long as it doesn't put them under the luxury tax.

If you want to take back a moderately higher priced salary (like say FOR EXAMPLE LaMarcus Aldridge at 14 Mil a year), you'd have to throw in an additional player or two. Throwing in Terrence Jones gets the job done.

If you want to trade for a super high priced player (like say.... Zach Randolph at 18 mil), you'd almost surely have to package or put a separate trade together that would move out Jeremy Lin's contract for next to nothing in return.

So keep that 150% rule in mind when thinking about players you'd want to thing about trading Asik for.

As for when is the best timing for an Asik trade... I'd say that his value on the trade market will be best come February. There are a few things right now to consider. Right now, GM's & coaches are probably wanting to evaluate the talent they already have & how their young bigs will look early on in the season. Two things are for sure going to happen-

-Young bigs will look bad (see Steven Adams in OKC's first preseason game)
-Injuries will happen

This will presumably make Asik's value increase substantially around February.

Also keep in mind that Asik is set to make 15 million next year even though his salary will only count 8.4 mil against the cap. Alot of owners are cheapskates and knowing that they will have to fork our 15 million for Asik for just one season this next Summer could deter owners from trading for him even though GM's could care less. Trading him in February probably makes more sense if they are in fact going to trade him.

As for what the Rockets "could" maybe get in trade... I have my doubts at how great it would be. If the best they can get is Ryan Anderson or future assets like draft picks... I personally would either wait or ride it out with Omer.

Look at what OKC got for Harden as an example of best case scenario when trading a player for future assets. If they want an all-star quality PF you basically have to sit and wait for... who knows how long. Could be another few years.... which at that point could be when Asik is already looking to become a free agent once again.

If Morey is planning on trying to trade Asik, I believe it will be in February, but dont be shocked if that trade never happens because the offers aren't good enough to justify letting two good season with Asik backing up Dwight walk out the door for next to nothing.

Sorry for the long reply, but there aren't too many short good answers in regards to an Asik trade. Lots of things to consider.

 

Agree! As currently constructed, the Rockets need 48 minutes of rim protection.

 

While I know this is not directly salary cap related for Houston, one of Daryl Morey's bigger moves was getting Marc Gasol to sign the max contract. Memphis said they would match any offer and Morey was hoping they'd stick to that, knowing that as a result either Zach or Rudy would be traded from Memphis. All together they were a borderline championship team, while they are not too far from that now they did lose one of the better perimeter scorers in the league, which to date has yet to be replaced.

 

A small point. Aaron Brooks is on a minimum salary deal. As such, if he is waived, any team can claim him. They don't have to be under the salary cap. Brooks will most likely be waived and claimed by another team so he won't count against the cap. IF Brooks makes it out of training camp and on to the final roster he is tradeable under this premise. Yes, he can reject a trade. But given the choice of rejecting a trade to a team that wants him and will likely give him some burn and possibly go to the playoffs versus getting waived and picked up by a non-playoff lottery team as a stop-gap...Brooks is most likely to choose to accept a trade. But .... that being only if he makes it out of training camp.

When you scour the league...you will see multiple teams that need a backup pg that would gladly claim Brooks on a minimum salary off the waiver line. Look no further than 240 miles north. Mavs need a backup in the worst way with Larkin out for an extended time. Also look at Cleveland. Keep going. There's several teams that will claim Brooks in a hot second.

I think we should probably forget about Brooks being able to clear waivers.

 

The Rockets have already used their amnesty clause on Luis Scola. If any player with a guaranteed contract is cut, you should just assume that the guaranteed dollar amount on their contract will be counted against that teams cap. Its very rare that the player is picked up.

Also, when a player is claimed off of waivers, they can claim as little as the minimum, and leave the team that waived that player left flipping the bill.

Also, when multiple teams claim a player off of waiver, the team with the lowest amount of wins gets the player.

-Brooks will only count 884K against the Rockets cap this year. The rest is covered by the league. If the Rockets needed additional salary for say a LaMarcus Aldridge for Asik trade, they would still need more salary in the deal.

Example=

http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=mxy94f5

-Lastly, remember its the 150% rule that applies in a trade. In a Asik for LMA trade scenario, the Rockets aren't needing additional salary to get UNDER THE CAP, they are needing additional salary in the trade because of the 150% rule for teams that are currently OVER THE CAP. Waiving a player like Brooks beforehand does not get them 6 million dollars under the cap to take on the additional salary they would need to operate under the cap.

Brooks, or any minimum salary player making, or not making the team affects the Rockets trade situation very little. At the end of the day its going to come down to whether or not one of the teams involve in the deal covets (not just wants) Asik or Lin, and if they like the sweeteners like Jones/D-Mo & draft picks come second.

 

Good post!

 

Great post Dobro! I too am coming to the conclusion that even a very good starting spread 4 (except for Love) wouldn't add enough on offense to make up for what Asik brings at the defensive end for the second unit.

 

Thank you. Apparently JTR is going to be posting a thread in the next day or so with analysis about how many offensive touches you could expect the PF with this starting group to receive during the course of the game.

I think you'd be surprised that even if the Rockets threw a genuine all-star quality PF in the lineup with the starters, they might be reduced to career lows in offensive production unless they were coming off the bench.

Some great problems to have I must admit.

 

If you throw an All-Star power forward on this team he gets at least the third most shots or possessions used. The people who lose shots in that scenario are Jeremy and Chandler.

 

Thanks a bunch Dobro and Bima. Forgot the 150% rule.

 

My prediction on the final roster:

Brooks and Covington get cut to trim the roster to 15.

They can only have 13 guys for games. So they need to send 2 to the D-league. That will be Canaan and either Smith/Jones/Motiejunas. I'm guessing Motiejunas will start. I'm guessing Jones goes back to the D-league.

13 man roster:

Howard
Parsons
Harden
Lin
Asik
Beverley
Garcia
Casspi
Williams
Brewer
Camby
Motiejunas
Smith

 

Brooks gets waived and picked up by somebody else. Either Sam or Gersson will pick him up if not somebody else. That leaves one over. Most likely a 2 for 1, 3 for 2, 3 for 1, or 1 for none trade. Only way Covington gets cut is if he totally, totally screws up here.