How much would it cost to sign Nesterovic, Frye or Carney? Roger Mason showed a lot more promise than Carney did last year and the Spurs got him for the Bi-annual exception or less than what we gave Barry. They will likely not be very sought after, I'm sure we could pull some kind of 2nd year team option deal or something. They can still be "young talent" throw in's in a trade considering that we have 5 expiring contracts this year (T-Mac, Cook, & Barry while Hayes & Dorsey's are team options so they work the same) Yes we are rebuilding, but you need talent to rebuild and like someone already said, it's crazy to expect good production out of rookies. So, if you can get a few lightly seasoned players cheap, and see if they can develop, we should roll the dice. It is a much more high reward, low risk move than trying to sign Gortat, Ariza, ZaZa or even Von to a 3 mil to 5 mill contact for 3-5 yrs.
I'm actually not set on using it at all. I was concerned about going after Gortat, but it sounded like Morey's offer was nowhere near full MLE (be it years or dollars). That said, I wouldn't necessarily be opposed to giving a guy like Carney a 2 year deal with a team option for year 2. It'd probably take a little more money up front, but he could be worth a flier.
I agree with ya! If we're not going to have a strong lineup, it's better not to lock in to anything just for the sake of locking something in. We DO have some flexibility next summer, so signing players for 1 year + 1 year option makes sense to me. I'm not sold on Carney though - I think we desperately need something in the 7' category - sadly I can't see much worthwhile there if Gortat is gone... Pachulia?
NIKE or GATER: wouldn't it be ok to spend the MLE this year if the rockets traded either scola or lowry for an ending contract which doesn't have a cap hold next summer? scola and lowry's cap hold's are supposed to be a little over 6 mill each. losing that would balance the spending of MLE money allowing us to maintain cap room. correct or way off?
All ending contracts have cap holds -- it just only matters if you're under the cap. I suppose you could trade them for a crappier player plus a pick. And it all depends on what you think you're getting for the cap room -- someone better than Scola or Lowry?
All contracts have cap holds, but you just completely rescind your rights for that player from your roster to negate that cap hold. Yes, that would mean you lose the ability to over an Bird or Early-Bird exception to sign said player, but then you have the cap space to sign other free agents that you are targetting.
good to know. thank you. for argument sake lets suppose scola (being much older than lowry) is the one who gets traded. the return is a bench warmer on an ending contract (to which the rockets could waive their rights, thus releasing the cap hold, right?) and a draft pick. this way the bet would be a draft pick and cap space, or scola. as a rebuilding team, i doubt the rockets will be interested in resigning a player on the wrong side of 30. plus, i doubt scola will want to resign if there is no chance of winning a championship soon. basically the ron situation all over again. this way we get something for him, rather than letting him walk like what is about to happen with ron. in other words, we would be guaranteed the draft pick and the cap space, but scola may leave us with nothing.