[ClutchFans] Houston Rockets Salary Cap Update

BimaThug - Just curious (not trying to say it is even has a shred of happening) as to what would be the salary cap implications of a 3-way swap between Houston, Cleveland, and Minnesota.

Something along the lines of
Houston gets Kevin Love
Cleveland gets Asik
Minnesota receiving Varejao, Houston's 1st round picks in 2014 & 2016, Houston's 2nd round picks in 2015 & 2017, Cleveland's 2014 2nd round pick

I know Minnesota signed a few free agents as did Cleveland and that would impact their cap space.

I was just curious if it was even possible.

Any input from BT or other capologists would be appreciated

 

Interesting trade, I do cap work for the NFL for a fantasy based site, but know nothing about the NBA.

I wonder if Asik/Lin's salaries go from 8.4m to 5m due to the offer sheet and language of the deals from a yr ago. Cause of the 15M in year 3, or is it the same for any team trading for them that we would pay them in the next 2 seasons.

 

So what Papanikolaou, the second round pick from Portland.
Reports were that he wanted to come to the NBA NOW. Is it safe to think that the Rockets while trading for him agreed to bring him over and then a big part of the room MLE will be used to sign his buyout.

 

That would be risky. The room exception is only for 2 years. I don't know if Morey would want to let him hit restricted free agency in 2 years.

 

I guess Bima took a break from his own thread. Any other capologists out there who can explain the Canaan situation.

 

What do you mean by the "situation." They can't use the room exception on him for more than 2 years. If they want to try and do a Chandler Parsons with him they will need to create some cap space.

 

Here's the bottom line with Smith, Ohlbrecht, and Anderson.

If the cap comes in at $58.5 million then all 3 guys have to be dropped to give Dwight his max $20,513,178 deal. However if Dwight is willing to shave about $269,000 then we can spare Greg Smith. Or if he is willing to shave off $174,000 then we can spare Greg Ohlbrecht. And if he is willing to shave off a little over $300,000 then we could spare James Anderson.

I could see him shaving $174,000 for Ohlbrecht possibly. (That's around $750,000 that it will cost him over 4 years and a couple million $$ it will cost him in lost opportunity over 8-10 years). You have to consider the long-term opportunity costs of these types of things for big money.)

Bima keeps saying that all 3 of these guys because they are on non-guaranteed minimum deals will likely be picked up off waivers. So, here's my suggestion...if we know that to be the case then why not trade them to playoff teams that would not have a chance to get them through waivers for future second rounders?

So cross your fingers and hope that the cap actually comes back slightly higher. It would help us retain at least one of those non-guaranteeds (my preference would be Ohlbrecht) if it comes back at say $58.75 mil instead of $58.5 million.

Little hinges swing big doors.

Lin and Anderson is enough salary to trade for Danny Granger.

Sample trade:
Smith and Ohlbrecht and $3 million to Indiana for future second rounders.
Lin to Boston, Greg Monroe and 2 first rounders from Detroit to Boston.
Rondo to Detroit.
Anderson to Indiana (combined with Lin's salary) for Danny Granger.
Indiana buys out Gerald Green for $2.5 million and we sign him to the Room MLE for $2.6 million. (remember Aaron Brooks??)

Indiana trades Granger and gets Anderson and Smith and Ohlbrecht plus a $14 million TPE. We get Granger's expiring contract.



So my point is when the cap comes back we're gonna know just exactly how much salary we have to move to sign Dwight. Whatever salary that is...we should find a playoff team that will trade us future second rounders for those guys since they're going to be claimed on waivers anyways and we're gonna lose them for nothing. Boston liked Ohlbrecht. Perhaps he could be a part of dumping Lin by being traded to them for a second rounder.

Then you sign Dwight.

Then you sign Hassan Whiteside to a minimum deal.
And probably Daniel Gibson (maybe even Mo Williams) to a minimum deal.
And perhaps D.J. Kennedy or Anthony Morrow to a minimum deal depending on how guys like Covington look.

 

Are there any amnesty targets that may be worth picking up prior to signing Dwight?

 

Artest as long he is willing to sign for the vet min. I'd take him as the bench wing defender if our pursuit of Brewer does not come to fruition.

 

If the Rockets wanted to bring over Papanikolaou this year for depth at the forward position, how do they go about it?

Is there a restriction on buyout money and can he just be had for a minimum contract?

Any info helps, thanks!

 

I believe that the most you can contribute is 500000 towards his "buyout".

 

Rockets can contribute more than that, but it counts as salary after the first 500,000. Buyouts over 500,000 are treated like signing bonuses, if I recall correctly.

 

Thanks for correcting me.

 

Correct me I'm wrong but amnesty players are put up for a blind auction, they can't choose where to play.

 

The buyout amount has changed in the new CBA. It increases annually now. For the 2013-14 season it's 575k.

http://www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q75

 

Yes - but the only way the Rockets could do that (going past 575k), would be to use the room exception, and then they could only give him a 2 year deal.

I suppose they could give him a guaranteed 3-4 year deal at the league minimum, and give him 15% up front as a signing bonus (max allowed by CBA), but:
a.) Papanikolaou probably doesn't want to be locked in at the minimum salary
b.) The Rockets probably don't want 3-4 years guaranteed salary (see Parsons contract - they're all team options)
c.) That would only give him an extra ~$4-500k or so (rough estimate), which may not quite be enough.

My guess is, the Rockets either trade Papanikolaou, or wait another year to bring him over.

 

Promise him a spot next year. The kid spends one more year in Europe. He's only 21. I'm actually pretty excited about this guy. Gonna thrive around Dwight. Seems like his game is a good fit for what we'll be doing.

 

Exactly my thoughts. We just don't have anything for him, moneywise. Hell we may not have anything for Canaan moneywise. Bad news for rockets if the cap comes in at 58.5 or lower. We need 60 to make anything happen for Canaan and Kostas. 59 might be enough for Canaan.

I think the minute Morey signed Casspi he knew it was over for Kostas this year. He plays the same position and can be used as a stretch 4 the same way. I think Kostas will be much better but Casspi does have a history of playing well early on. Also

 

Papanikolaou is that how they say pap smear in Greek LOL