Actually, the Rockets owe more money to Justin Reed than to any of the following players: Mike Harris Carl Landry John Lucas III Steve Novak Bob Sura Kirk Snyder Jackie Butler Bonzi Wells Just something to think about before ASSUMING that Reed is automatically a goner.
They signed him what, like two or three days before training camp started. They have Scola, Chuck Hayes, they have Mike Harris already since he played in summer league, they have everyone else that you mention, so why sign him at all? Jon said he had no leverage to negotiate since the rockets had his rights, so why give him that much guaranteed money? Harris is only 100k to the cap and was only invited to camp, just like that Azabuke guy last year who actually plays for Golden State now. They are not going to sign someone last minute to just cut him a month later and throw away a million dollars. Don't forget the Rockets are over the cap so double up any guaranteed money that's being paid. Between the two, both are unproven NBA talent and so we don't know how successful either will be in the NBA and therefore big question marks. Are you going to cut a million dollar question mark or a 100 thousand dollar question mark? My little bit of money says that Landry stays for the one year on his contract.
Snyder is in the last year of his contract, Novak is making the minimum, with a team option for '08, Sura can be bought out for a million, Lucas is making chump change. Butler and Reed are getting enough money next season to make them a concern about the cap. Surely, we can find a team looking to make cap room in the near future and needs to fill out its roster, if they'll take Reed off our hands (or perhaps Butler... would rather move Reed), by taking Novak, Snyder, and Sura (all, or in some combination). We might even be able to snag a pick. Just a thought. We need to move players, and it might let us keep Harris.
Unfortunately, it is the Rockets who need to clear room under the luxury tax, so the types of trades you are suggesting would not be appealing to Daryl Morey. The Rockets need to find teams looking to round out their 15-man rosters with some upgrades to their own Players 10-15. They need to find teams with trade exceptions, i.e., Cleveland, Seattle, Golden State, etc. As a fallback, the Rockets would probably trade 2-3 players (including Reed or Rafer) for one higher-salaried player in the last year of his deal, so that the team could clear space on the roster and shed more salary after this season. Again, unfortunately, teams will only trade expiring contracts for players they deem to be real assets. That means probably Rafer, Bonzi or Luther and not much else.
Trade or waive: Certain Sura, JL3 My preference (not suggesting a likelihood) Novak, Snyder Scrappy bigs are always needed, and we've got an overload of guards. Novak is just too one-dimensional for the NBA, and Snyder's balling IQ and ethic are too low. Trade them for second rounders. Evan
Cut Novak and sign Hakeem for a 1 year contract, just enough to get another championship...... or cut Novak/Carl Landry/JL3/Rafer (or trade him)....and sign Clutch just to see him bear hug Lebron James to death...or something
Reed Butler or Novak Sura JLIII Snyder Novak has not shown much to me. I am still undecided about Butler. Can Butler be Yao's backup when Mutumbo retires? Who knows.
Well, nuts! I don't want to hear that. I know we're over the cap. but didn't Less make some noises about putting up with it, if he thought it'd make a difference this year? (I know, unlikely and a reach)
I hear ya, man. Les has made it known to Rockets management that he is willing to pay the luxury tax if it means the team can add a significant player (see Francis, Steve; Scola, Luis). However, I imagine that at this point, with the Rockets over the luxury tax threshhold by a couple of million dollars, that Les would strongly prefer to shed some less significant player salaries in order to get back down below the luxury tax threshhold.
You can't reduce your roster by sending a player to the D-League. Any player you send there still counts towards the 15-man roster. Minus Sura, the Rockets still have 19 players. You do the math.
Trade restriction: Harris, 50k (Limited salary protection) Landry, est. 100-150k (LSP) Players that can be traded: Lucas, 500k (LSP) Novak, 687k Sura, 1m (LSP) Snyder, 2.36m Butler, 2,38m Reed, 3.01m /2yrs Hopefully the Cavs or Bobcats because of their situations will get desperate enough to use a TE/capspace to trade for either Snyder, Butler or Reed.
i dont have a clue whos getting cut but honestly id like to see reed and harris stay, therefore, lucas, sura, novak, snyder and landry go somehow.
