I was not referring to the Rockets having BOTH cap space and a Yao trade exception. I was merely referring to the alternative method (INSTEAD of trading Yao for a trade exception) by which the Rockets could conceivably create room to add a star player next season, in order to contrast it against the Yao trade exception route and show the advantages of one over the other.
Im noy a cap expert and I understand that trading Yao will give us a better chance to trade for a max player, but won't we lose the Chinese fan base??? Thats seems like alot of money for Les to lose to help out the Cap????
Does it bother anyone else that moves are being considered that make no sense, except under the current CBA? Just like government regulations, every rule that gets put in place to try to encourage or discourage certain behavior has unintended consequences, rules that can be exploited for some unintended advantage, rules that lead to inefficient/unproductive actions. Whenever I hear Bima explain why "it might be better to do X", even though X doesn't make any sense in a normal environment, I scratch my head. A simple hard cap with no other rules or exceptions would eliminate alot of these types of strange and unproductive moves. This is the type of framework Morey prefers. That in itself would go a long way to ensuring parity. The one thing it doesn't stop is superfriends teaming up and top 10 players only willing to go to a few teams.
Jonathan Feigen has reported numerous times that the Yao/China angle only adds about 5% or so to Les Alexander's bottom line. The NBA merchandising dollars from China go directly to the NBA, I believe, and are redistributed to all teams, not just the Rockets. Sure, that 5% probably translates into a lot of money. But if the Rockets are in a better position to become contenders by trading Yao, it'll work out financially in the long run. The Rockets can increase their bottom line by a lot more than 5% if they become title contenders.
But that is being so disengenious of him, because Les' bottom line is what is important not the Rox bottom line. If Les is making millions PERSONALLY because he has Yao Ming on his roster, then what is his motivation for trading the cash cow? Clearly it makes sense for the Rockets, but Les makes the final call, and if he gets into other business ventures because of Yao...well...... Look at the end of the day, this would be a "Get what you can" kind of deal and not guarantee anything going forward.... DD
i still have trouble to understand how to use the exception from yao's trade to get a mega player. let's say we got 12 mil exception. tell me how it would be possible to get a player with 16 or 17 mil salary.
That is correct. But that doesn't change the fact that they can still generate a huge trade exception. To return to my overly-simplistic "Yao-for-Francisco-Garcia" trade illustration, say that instead of trading Yao for Garcia straight up and generating a $12.2M trade exception, the Rockets instead absorb Garcia's $5.5M salary using the Ariza trade exception. That trade will result in Sacramento having over $19M in cap room into which the Rockets could trade Yao (and his $17.7M salary) in order to generate a tremendous, $17.7M trade exception. Again, this is just the simplest illustration I can think of to show my point. But you get the idea. Take back some salary. Get the other team's cap room close to (or over) $17.7M, and then trade Yao for a huge trade exception. EDIT: AggNRox, this answers your question above.
did not know that, thanks! I agree, creating a product thats a title contender will definitely increase the bottom line a lot more.
It doesn't....but what it can do is get you a player that is a max type earlier in his max deal.... DD
a $17.7 million TPE would be a nice asset to have... IMO if we trade Yao for a TPE then our top priority is to use that TPE before it expires...
I've heard other posters cite this 5% figure as well, but I'm extremely skeptical about this report. It simply doesnt jive with even a cursory glance at how much popularity and revenue Yao has brought to this team. CCTV regular broadcasts of Rockets games, post game press conferences in Chinese, a multitude of Chinese national basketball newspapers (there were none prior to Yao's arrival in 2002), the consistently high ratings for Rockets basketball games, regular scheduling of Rockets games into prime time slots during the regular season....I remember struggling to find Rockets games being radio broadcast online, researching local radio affiliates of their opponents to be able to listen to games. After we got Yao, the number of games broadcast on TNT, ABC, and ESPN grew exponentially. That doesnt take into account the additional ticket sales, sponsorships, merchandise sales, and other revenue forms that have grown with him. It also doesnt account for general interest in the NBA that has grown as a result of his play, as well as players that have ridden his coattails to endorsement deals in China with various companies (Shane and Chuck are two players that come to mind). In short, he can say that Yao's only contributed to 5% of this teams total revenue, but unless and until he can actually explain how that number came about, I'm not believing it.
Great article Bima, knowing that Sacramento is a trade partner and underneath the cap, but what other teams could absorb that contract? Could Indiana be an option with granger coming back? I would like us to try and get back a C out of the Yao trade, perhaps Dalembert, but taking him back won't provide as big as a trade exception also his contract expires this year. Rockets won't move Yao unless it improves the team for the long haul, as said in your article, but then again there's plenty of revenue coming only through Yao & his loyal fans in China. Morey has his work cut out for him, but apparently he likes to have and eat his cake. All in all the Rockets community should be excited for the flexibility given to us due to the disabled player exception.
it makes sense. then the question is which way is better, having 17.7 mil off the book at the end of the season or having 17.7 trade exception by absorbing 5+ mil salary to the cap.
