$8.374 million. But keep in mind the trade rules. 150% can come back if we are under the luxury tax. If we can add a little over $1.6 million to one of those deals then we can take back +$5 million.
The cap figures are what is important in trades. Eventho the owner of whatever team would have to dish out the full amount, it doesnt all count on the cap. SO, for trading and cap purposes, it's 8.3M. the real salary the team owner has to pay is 15M.
That's why I'm not going to get too excited about the draft. I think it's going to take adding a first rounder to get Lin off the books.
I don't see how we are going to make much of anything happen this summer. You can move Asik but is what you can replace him with really going to give you that much more? It's clear we need more bench production. Adding a third star would be great but seems like such a stretch. More than likely we have to roll with what we have. It would be amazing if we could get that 3rd star and make Parsons a restricted free agent and then match. We would then have a complete team and could fill out the bench by going over the cap. But that seems more like a fantasy.
biggest takeaway that ive completely missed is that morey probably has a plan to have mchale recruit another top talent. clutch alluded to love, that would be awesome, but my question is would he keep mchale beyond that? i think you have to to see what he can do. that means we're basically at the end of dwight's contract hoping we've got the pieces to resign and keep him... so long lin and asik.
so you want 2 guys that play laxed defensive? i guess the strategy would be to significantly outscore teams, assuming they can co-exist. my guess is that we'll go after any big name, if they don'r work out then we'll flip them for the pieces that do. morey isn't shy about getting and keeping similar players as we've all seen him stockpile undersized pf's in the past
Perhaps Lin's performance next year will determine if he's staying or leaving. If he play like he did in the Playoffs, i think there are chances he will stay.
as a lin fan you should want him on a team that will showcase him, allow him to dominate the ball, learn from his mistakes without having that much pressure of going to the championships. he can't do that here and it is gut-wrenching seeing him fail at the expense of our rockets!
Just looking at the rest of the league and their cap situations, local markets, roster, etc. Morey definitely has his work cut out for him in regards to moving Lin and/or Asik. That cap hit and the balloon payment doesn't make either player look attractive for ANY team, even a team that has money AND capspace like the Lakers.
There’s no doubt about it, Kevin McHale looked lost at times in this series. He didn’t make series-altering adjustments until Game 3. His team seemed unprepared in big moments. Ultimately, the Rockets underachieved and fell short of expectations. Milk Hair is the Kubiak of basketball.
Jalen Rose and Jacoby discuss Melo to Rockets and Lillard's last sec shot in Game 6 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vV0QCrXaBBI
I don't think were at that point anymore, he's gone, maybe not by September , but he's gone nonetheless. ....... ....... .......
Really great article Clutch! Spot-on on a number of topics. I'd say I just about agree with all of it. It is really going to be interesting to see what roster moves are made.
Just think guys. ANOTHER year of "what will they do in the offseason to get us excited" and "which assets will they trade or bring in"? Great article, Clutch, but like Les' comments, I've heard it before! What's the Wizard going to do? Will our star SG be able to get us out of the first round by changing x, y or z about his game? Our coach is great at this, but sucks at that. I guess at the end of the day only 1 team wins it all... and it would be unfair to say the team hasn't made progress. Youngest team, two real stars already, incredibly deep Western Conference... all true. It's just amazing to me that with those 2 guys, with a seemingly SOLID group of supporting cast, with home court advantage, that playoff series is how the season ended. Giving up historic performances to not one, but 2 players on your opponent (both LMA and Lillard doing things that are rarely if ever done in the playoffs), losing 2 of 3 at home, blowing lead after lead, and giving up what will go down as one of the better shots in playoff history (not that it will be ultimately remembered much outside of Portland given the circumstances, since it wasn't a late playoffs play... but it will be remembered). And after all that, it seems the answer is we just don't have enough superstars on the team? Don't get me wrong... more superstars are clearly better... but so is a coach that doesn't suck, and any semblance of defensive intensity. I love the idea of adding a Melo or Love... BUT, then I stop and think. The team scored a TON of points, in the regular season and the playoffs. They absolutely DID get bogged down in the 4th offensively, but I can see that happening AGAIN even if they had Harden, Melo, Love and Dwight all together. Because it becomes a stagnant, half-court, post-up and stand around type game. And absent Dwight, who else is going to play defense? PBev is incredibly overrated, even defensively. He plays HARD, and AGGRESSIVE... but not always SMART and EFFECTIVE, even defensively. I'm leaning more and more towards Rondo being the better/best fit. I hate his shot, and have concerns about his health/knee. But whether Rondo, or someone else, I'm not sure PG wasn't mentioned as more of a need?? Because if Milk Hair is coming back, increasingly I think we can't rely solely on Harden's decision making as it relates to organizing a team in the 4th quarter... and we clearly can't rely on his defense. AND the team had rebound problems at critical moments that were more than just the bigs not getting boards. Rondo is a BETTER defender, a much BETTER rebounder, and a much much BETTER playmaker and floor general than anyone the Rockets have had at the point in forever. For all the talk about how useful Asik was in the series... AND he was, I think Rondo would have been more useful. Because worst come to worst, Dwight was the most effective against LMA. It was nice to have Asik and those extra 6 fouls... BUT, LMA killed us regardless, and more Dwight on LMA would have been better anyway. But we couldn't stop Lillard at all, and our smalls had crazy rebounding problems, and the offense got way too bogged down in the 4th. That's when Rondo helps. A similar name that would be an awesome get, but is likely impossible, is Mike Conley. Maybe some kind of three team deal where we take Zach Randolph, too. I think Randolph has a player option, which he might pick up - won't get paid as much in a new deal though will have the longer guaranteed contract. Might be a way to get the Grizzlies something for a player they don't expect to stick around long-term anyway? Probably not...
so the entire portland team calling ISO every time they are guarded by him so they can easily run past him is because of defensive awareness? Nah thats a lack of foot speed and quickness
This would make sense if there weren't stretches of time when he DID defend effectively. Sometimes he tries and more frequently, he doesn't. I truly think it's that simple.
Clippers dumped 30 mill in cap on the UTAH Jazz to free up space for free agents. If morey will give up draft picks, it can happen
I wish they wouldn't put the "he ain't leaving $30 mil on the table so they better do a sign and trade" BS out there for public consumption. That's just not an option (link).
Totally agreed. I am getting tired of hearing "which assets will they trade or bring in" year after year. (not tired of Clutch's write ups though) At some point, I want to see a core grow into a contending team. But TBH, this core does not appear to have that potential, after watching them a full season. Maybe because we have flawed coaching. Maybe because we have flawed superstars. Maybe because we have flawed fits. It looks like there is still a lot of overhauling to do. I am numb.
