If anyone here on CF is ever the owner of the Rockets. I think they/I will be sure to change the jerseys back to those.
If he is only pouting about 600k why not just offer it, then their wouldn't be any problems. He said he wants to be back.
Like I said earlier, the million bucks isnt the problem. It is what that million dollars means towards the luxury tax. The Rox will be close to the tax and at this point will probably be shedding salary at some point to barely get under the tax. Add 1,000,000 more to the team salary and it will be harder to get below the threshold. If that happens, not only do the Rox pay the tax, they also dont get a share of the money paid by teams who are over it. I think that usually ends up being about 2 million bucks or so. Basically adding 1,000,000 to Deke's salary might mean paying 1,000,000 in tax, and not receiving the 2,000,000, so it could be more like a 4,000,000 loss.
If we made decisions by sentimentality, he deserves more than the veteran's min. If we made decisions solely on the basis of basketball, we might not even resign him. I think the vet min is a fair offer.
I think this summerizes the whole thing. Rockets do not need Deke anymore. (it is actually encouraging) but I'd hate to see Deke being a MAV. ....
That's my point. Without Deke's play, the Rockets would not have won as many games as they did, and Ex-Assistant coach Gundy totally dogged him out by not giving him the minutes he deeserved. Come on Les, you're going to make up that Lux tax money since you have a team with a coach who isn't depressing and dogmatic, and the team that will be exciting . That alone will sell more tickets and merchandise Les. At least give the man enough perks on the side to make it worthwhile for him to consider the vets minimum.
The team would not go over the salary cap because Deke falls under the Larry Bird exception. He has played for the Rockets for 3 years or more so Les could exceed the salary cap without having to pay a luxury tax. This is just an example of Les being cheap. Larry Bird exception Perhaps the most well-known of the NBA's salary cap exceptions, it is so named because the Boston Celtics were the first team permitted to exceed the salary cap to re-sign one of their own players (in that case, Larry Bird). Free agents who qualify for this exception are called "qualifying veteran free agents" or "Bird Free Agents" in the CBA, and this exception falls under the auspices of the Veteran Free Agent exception. In a nutshell, the Larry Bird exception allows teams to exceed the salary cap to re-sign their own free agents, at an amount up to the maximum salary. To qualify as a Bird free agent, a player must have played three seasons without being waived or changing teams as a free agent. This means a player can obtain "Bird rights" by playing under three one-year contracts, a single contract of at least three years, or any combination thereof. It also means that when a player is traded, his Bird rights are traded with him, and his new team can use the Bird exception to re-sign him. Bird-exception contracts can be up to six years in length.
I think the vet minimum is $1,250,000, and the league would pay $500,000 out of that. So he would cost us only $ 750,000.
I disagree......completely. If a team plays fastbreak basketball, typically the center is not involved in the break, unless it's to clean up a missed shot after finally lumbering down the court. Look at the Kings with Vlade Divac. Could Vlade run? No! If he did, he'd start hacking at half court after all the filterless Camel cigarettes got to him. Sacramento had a potent offense with a slow center in the middle. His backup, Scott Pollard, wasn't very quick up the court either. Look at the Mavs. Erick Dampier is about the slowest center in the West. But their offense is fantastic with the run and gun. Golden State? They have those two Euros (Cabarkapa and Biedrins) neither of which can blaze up and down the court. Then there's Foyle. I don't think I need to build a case there. Cabarkapa is probably the most athletic of the three. But by no means is he going to play a big role on the break. Frankly, if you are going to discount Deke in this way, the same can be said for Yao, who is not going to be running the break either. Adelman's offense doesn't need and isn't designed to have a gazelle for a center. Never has been. As of right now.....gone are the days of the Hakeems, the Admirals, the Chris Ansteys (just kidding about that one).
True. FALSE. Probably. The luxury tax is the issue here, not the salary cap. Bird rights mean nothing in regard to the lux tax. As is being said, the vet minimum is an intentional money-saving loophole that the league introduced to encourage teams to retain vets as opposed to cutting them for younger players (at the time, stashing HS players on the bench). Evan
The concern is not the salary cap but the luxury tax. We are already well over the salary cap. I believe we are currently over the luxury tax as well. But, we have to assume we'll be shedding some salary to get under. If $600k is going to be the difference between being over or being under, fine, but I'd be surprised if it was the straw that broke the camel's back. In fact, since the league fixed the "cliff" so that teams that were barely over the luxury tax were not so severely punished, I'm not sure it'll matter anyway. I don't expect other teams to spend anything besides the minimum or the bi-annual exception on Mutombo. The MLE requires a multi-year contract. Of course, we can sign him to any amount, but I think the market will dicate either $1.2 or $1.8 million. Now, is he worth it? I think so. I think people are too quick to type-cast Adelman's system. If he can use Yao, he can use Mutombo. A guy like Butler may be young with his best years ahead of him, but I can't reasonably expect Butler to have a game-changing impact. The best to hope for is that he doesn't let down too much while Yao is taking a break. Mutombo on the other hand, can still dominate on defense and on the boards. He is occassionally a difference-maker. Guys that can actually change your fortunes in a game must be worth $2 million.
not sure how to feel with more scorers now deke can be even more of an asset as it wont be a terrible 4vs5 offensively like it was last season. deke could still rebound and block with the best of them given appropriate minutes, but that was in jvg's system. as slow and unathletic miller,duckworth, and divac were in adeleman's system they all were threats to score the ball, namely from the outside with 12-15 foot jumpers. deke cannot do that. i want him to retire a rocket because he is a great teammate and an even better person. i would really like it if this team was able to win a ring for deke because no one in the nba playing right now deserves it more than him. i dont think the vet min is a total lowball for him, not sure if les could offer him more without paying tax but deke should probably realize that he can play effectively because he is backing up yao. he started to lose his efficiency towards the end there right before yao was about to come back. i hope he stays if he goes to the celtics i wont be upset but hopefully he is aman of his word, he said he would retire if not a rocket next season
Do we really want to see Jackie Butler play 36 minutes at C, when Yao is injured? Butler is not Deke.
I know we all want to sex Mutumbo, and I'll be very disappointed if Deke isn't resigned, but I don't think it's classless that they only offered a 41 year old the vet minimum. How many 41 year olds get offered contracts at all? Especially by teams dangerously close to the luxury tax. If Deke doesn't return to the Rockets or retire, I hope he goes to the Celtics. He'd really help them and I'm going to be rooting for them in the East. I'm a huge Garnett fan. I've met him several times and he's such a friendly and humble guy. (I met Deke once and he was very friendly and humble too. )
yes we can. we have deke's bird (or is it early bird?) right. the question is whether it's worth it, considering all the lux tax implications
