ESPN: Team-by-team analysis -- who should Houston cut?

Does JHo put us into luxTax country or just over the cap?

I am not sure everyone understands this cut, maybe I don't. It is not a free waiver, the guy gets paid just like he is on the team and counts against the cap just like he is there. Where is the logic in cutting someone like JHo? Then you have to watch him play for someone else at your expense. Finley is going to cost Cuban 100 mil instead of 150 mil, that makes some sense.

 

just over the cap.

you will have to excuse Willis, he would want to cut howard even if he was the only 4 we had.

or is that tinman?..so hard to tell those two apart.

 

Man, Howard is soooo underapreciated.

He was our 3rd best player last year! We took off when JVG benched Mo Taylor and starting giving Howard all of the minutes at PF. If you guys watched the games closely, you'd see his value. He's very polished in the post, has a consistent jumpshot, is careful with the ball, hustles for rebounds, and when plays breakdown, he can get his own shot.

No, he doesn't have the pure athleticism to be a plus rebounder and defender like Swift, but if he's healthy, he has way too much value to just waive him - especially when you consider that Les would still have to pay him every cent.

 

I'm pretty sure these cuts only exempt the contract from the luxury tax, which doesn't apply to us anyway. Anyone we'd cut we'd still have to pay, and that money would still count against the salary cap.

Signing other teams' crap for cheap is the only way this might help the Rockets.

 

Cut Howard? You people do realize that just cutting him wont take his salary off the books or count against the Cap. It WILL count against the cap, just not against the LT which indirectly effects if we decided to spend our MLE every year. Otherwise we are cutting a player that gives us solid production.

No way would I cut Howard. Spoon is the clear choice to cut. It gets us below LT threshold and we still get production from Howard.

In general, the idea is to cut "dead money" from your salary if possible, not players that have value on the court.

 

Apparently Chad Ford doesn't even understand the LTax cut.

 

I guarantee if JH had been there in the Dallas series we would have advanced. Leaving Stro there backed up by Spoon and Baker is asking for trouble, Stro has been less than durable playing fewer minutes than JH and lets not concede the starting job to Stro just yet. I am never for giving up on productive players like JH when there is dead wood like VB and Spoon around.

 

if there is no luxury tax hit, then you don't cut Howard... but if you think there will be a tax implication in the future (and he will not be a productive player with his condition) - then now is your chance to avoid the tax issue on that salary.

it would be ideal for them to trade Howard if possible for someone with a shorter contract.



btw - it was tinman that started the season anti-Howard. I just joined the bandwagon

 

Or does it? We're at about 61.5 million this year after signing Swift and Head. Most believe the luxury tax line will be at around $60 million. That means, if you want to resign Deke or Barry, and say add a player for the LLE, you're potentially paying double for anyone new you sign. Cutting Spoon wouldn't affect our on court product (or, at least I hope we wouldn't get to the point of needing Spoon), but could save us anywhere from 1.5-6.3 million (Spoon's salary) in luxury tax costs. Depending on what we want to get done the rest of this offseason, it's possible cutting Moochie or Baker could achieve the same purpose, but above a breakline of 64.2 million (60 million plus Moochie's 4.2 million), cutting Spoon is the most effective.

I actually don't think Ford is completely wrong on this one - we should explore what we expect to be our future movements and commitments, and that could potentially lead to a case for cutting Howard. TMac, Yao, and Swift will cost a little over 35 million. Howard, Sura, James, and Head cost around 15 mill, which puts you at 50 million. If the plan includes signing and/or trading for an additional 15 mill or so in future commitments (including say, using the MLE next summer), then it makes sense to think about cutting Howard.

15 million may sound like a lot, but for instance - resigning Deke and Barry to 2 year deals at say 2 mill per season, and then sign and trading expiring deals for Stoudamire and Patterson/Miles/Anderson, and you're talking about nearly 15 million right there. In that case, it's a judgement call - is Howard as good as someone we could get for the MLE next summer? You also have to take into account risk of not being able to get anyone for the MLE.

It's a lot closer of a call than it may seem.

Ultimately, I think we just cut Spoon and call it a day.

 

NIKEstrad, is this one-time "amnesty" cut something that has to be used this summer? Can it be saved for a year or more to hedge against future MoTays?

 

What is the likelihood that the luxury tax is even triggered this year? Will the salaries of the guys cut with the lux tax amnesty count in figuring out if a lux tax will be in effect this year? If the lux tax is not triggered, it'd be foolish to cut Howard or Spoon.

 

topfive- One time, one shot.

JV-

1.) No clue, but high enough that Cuban will, or at least seriously consider cutting a still productive Finley
2.) Yes. In that respect, it's as if they're waived. Still salary being paid by NBA teams.

For 3...with Howard, it's tricky because he's still productive. For Spoon it's a no brainer. The guy played one minute in the playoffs - on a team without Howard or Swift (heck, or Baxter for that matter). Even if the possibility is only 10%, that potential of a $6 million savings for a guy who's not going to play except in the worst of circumstances is worth it.

 

Thank you NIKEstrad for the illumination. In otherwords, if I caught what you said correctly, we really don't know enough right now and it will be clearer shortly. IMO a SnT will clear out some contracts anyway, although that is somewhat an even trade, cap-wise, unless cash and/picks are involved. I could stand to lose JB because of medical ??. But, I hesitate to entrust PF to SS and Lonnie Baxter, say. Fortunately I don't have to do this for a living.

Btw: I would rather have Lonnie Baxter than either Padgett or Bowen. Both he and SS can play center in an emergency and I like that. I don't expect that he will put up numbers like the summer league, but I do think he could help.

 

I really wonder if there's some sort of "hush hush" league activity going on. As in, "hey, we'll cut Finley if you give us $X millions for his salary."

 

A.) Please, enough conspiracy theories.

B.) Given Cuban's relations with the league, you don't think he wouldn't go to the league in an instant if someone tried to extort him?

 

appreciation for a player has absolutely nothing to do with winning. howard has got maybe an entire season left in him. but after that he's going to be one expensive paper weight. cutting 6 mil compared to 26. that should be a no brainer. baxter is good enough for a back up if need be. cut howard says i.

 

In no way could cutting anyone help the team. The only one helped by cutting anyone is Les and his wallet. If he cares about putting a championship team together, then he needs to keep his assets, and Howard and expiring contracts are assets. For a sports owner, the LTax implications of a player like Spoon are chump change. It isn't like the Knicks saving $100 million by cutting Houston. I would rather have the chance to move Spoon at the deadline than save Les a few million bucks.

 

Unless the Rockets think Lonnie Baxter is the anwer at back-up power forward, the Rockets are going to need Juwon to play lots of minutes. I don't even know if Baxter will make the team. I hope he does.

 

Juwan Howard WILL BE kept. That's a no brainer. Les Alexander has to pay his money no matter what. We are not over the luxury tax right now. So would you rather pay Juwan to play or to sip pina colada on some beach?
I like Juwan, so I want to keep him no matter what, but waiving him makes no sense. I don't think the Rox are going to cut anybody, UNLESS WE SURPASS THE LUXURY TAX THRESHOLD. If we're not paying luxury tax, waiving somebody does not help in any way. However, those expiring contracts could be useful in trades.

 

Do we still have a contract for CWard? I woud cut the guy I dont want on the team.

Spoon / Baker / Mooch will be more valuable later in the season for teams that want to cut costs.

J