Do you agree with the Rox FO's No Extensions policy?

Its a good thing no one wants to be stuck with a hedo turkaglu type of contract .

 

It's really a moot point because if a player, such as Dragic, has good or great market value they are going to test the free agent waters to get the max amount of leverage and money. And you definitely don't want to give an extension ahead of free agency if a player has questionable market value.

The worst thing you can do as a GM is to over pay a player on a contract extension because it ends up haunting your salary cap for 4 or 5 years and diminishes the player's trade value, especially under the new CBA. There is an opportunity cost either way and the Rockets must feel more comfortable dealing with the risk of losing one of their players to FA vs. the risk of overpaying.

 

I think every case should be treated differently. What if parson explodes and put up 16ppg,7rebs,4asst. Then the next yr he's 20-7-5. Then the yr after 22-7%. What do the team do?

 

This gets tossed around a lot, but is there actual proof that Rockets players perform worse for us than for other teams who supposedly treat them fairly?

If anything, don't the Rockets overachieve in respect to their talent than other teams? I mean, there have been countless threads about how players are playing hard, gritty, clutch basketball. That doesn't seem like a team that's playing pissed at its management.

If anything, the "con" here should be that the Rockets are giving more incentives for players to play well so they can make more dough in the FA market.

 

Nothing should be set in stone -ya gotta move when the opportunity exists... It would be foolish not to try to wrap up Goran for an extended contract at this time... a restricted upcoming free agent on the otherhand, is another matter...

 

If Parsons truly blew up like that, there is precariously little the Rockets could do without cap space. The CBA would limit them to giving him a raise of 7.5% on his 4th year salary, that is, a starting salary of a little over $1M. If they have capspace in the summer of 2014, they can renegotiate his contract up and then sign him to an extension using the new, larger number.

Chase Budinger, on the other hand, actually has a team option on his contract for next year, so the Rockets could theoretically decline that option to make him a restricted free agent. He could then be signed to a new contract up to the maximum salary, and the Rockets would retain the right of first refusal. I highly doubt that locking him up for a much larger salary than the minimum is really much of a concern for the Rockets, however.

I think everyone is making way, way too big a deal over the Rockets not giving any extensions to players; it's simply not a very common thing to do for non-max guys. Here's a list of the players who have been eligible for an extension since Daryl Morey has taken over as GM since 2007. How many of them would you have given an extension to with the benefit of hindsight?

Juwan Howard
Luther Head
Kirk Snyder
Tracy McGrady (post-microfracture)
Yao Ming (post-foot surgery)
Ron Artest
Aaron Brooks
Kyle Lowry
Jared Jeffries
Shane Battier
Courtney Lee

Additionally, Goran Dragic and Chuck Hayes would have both been eligible for extensions starting at around $2.5M; no way they'd ever accept that.

As far as I can tell, Morey hasn't been wrong on a single case thus far, and while Courtney Lee is a really good player, I can't see him getting more than the mid-level, and when you compare it to what it would have probably taken to get him to agree to an extension (Jared Dudley money: 5yr/$22M), the Rockets only lose out about $1M per year, in exchange for not guaranteeing all that money without seeing what Lee could do as a starter. Morey has already proven that he can sign restricted free agents to deals without having to match offer sheets; he did just that for Chuck Hayes and Luis Scola, while matching Kyle Lowry and Carl Landry. I don't know how a rate of 50% suddenly becomes "100% no extensions or offers to restricted free agents"?

Matt Maloney, Kelvin Cato, Moochie Norris. Under-the-table deals with Mo Taylor and Shandon Anderson. The late 90s Rockets were unquestionably loyal to their role players, and it not only led to years of lottery hell and unwatchable iso-ball, but those salary albatrosses also prevented the Rockets from building a core of competent role players around Yao and Tracy. And for what? So Cuttino turned down more money from Toronto to re-sign?

Honestly, if you're voting against the no-extension policy, you've either got the memory of a goldfish, or started following the Rockets after Yao Ming was drafted.

 

Good post. I think you have to look at the circumstances and make decision on each case. If you want cap space flexibility in the offseason, you may not want to extend. But if you see a guy on the verge of exploding, you want to lock him up before he bolts. Letting the market set the price has its pros and its cons.

 

Yes because if the player didn't choose to sign an extension, there would probably be some pissed of fans and maybe some chemistry loss.

 

it's a good mauryball policy until one of your assets turns out to be a holy phenom and triggers a holy war between other gms. $$$ should win though.

 

Does this policy mean Cato, Maloney and Mo Taylor can return their money?

 

Extensions only work for max players where there value is higher than their salary. It becomes a no brainer. If we landed Dwight Howard, there would be no doubt that we would try to extend him the moment he arrived here.

 

I don't like it because there are very few ways for the Rockets to come out ahead. You're basically settling for one of two outcomes:

1. Lose your talents that have made big strides for nothing (Dragic)

OR

2. Match whatever the dumbest, most desperate team in the league is willing to pay

 

leebigez,

If he blew up like that, we would sign him just like SA signed Ginobili (cap space or an exception). This is because extensions for 2nd rounders suck. For a 1st rounder, the extension raise at the end of your rookie scale contract is limited only by the player's maximum salary.

As a 2nd rounder, Parsons, just like Ginobili and Dragic, would not sign an extension, because the maximum would be for only 110.5% above previous salary...something like $2m. Obviously, that is quickly becoming a bad rule as the draft gets deeper.

They have to give Parsons his payday as a Larry Bird exception.

Also, he will not be Restricted, because his current contract is beyond 3yrs.

He is signed for four years, structured as if he was a 1st rounder. The 5th year he has Larry Bird rights. We can sign him with an exception then.

So, we don't need cap space.

 

Extensions eat up your cap space and flexibility. It's generally risky to tie up cap space with early extensions when you are still trying to clear space for a franchise player to join via FA or trade.

 

What good is cap space and flexibility when there are no players to use that cap space and flexibility on?

Well, I guess it saves Les some money, but it doesn't help the team get to contender status anytime soon.

And you NEED contracts to be able to trade for other players, that is why people like Keith Van Horn and Christian Laettner and Antwan Jamison and their large contracts can be traded for players....you have to have something to match.

For instance, without Kwame Brown and his large contract at the time the Lakers would never have been able to put a package together for Pau Gasol.

DD

 

Superstar contracts and rookie deals are the best deals in the NBA. If your team has a superstar and you need to keep talent around him then sure, pay more but if you don't have any stars it's stupid to sign role players to big deals.

 

For what it is worth, the Rockets used the cap space to sign Dalembert to a favorable contract, after using it to pursue Nene and Marc Gasol. There are things to use cap space for in 2011.

 

I understand and I was against getting Dalembert because it does not make us any closer to being a contender, and by making the playoffs we lose our draft pick this year to NJ, and it keeps us in medicority land longer.

But I understand your point.

DD

 

Interesting perspective on the matter, the rockets have always been the scrappy overachieving team in the league. I wonder if this is truly why.

Couldnt we also trade players for future draft picks if the case where expectations are not met. In the current system, arent the rockets essentially losing on potential star players?