How big a contact would it take to get Sergio Llull on the Rockets today?

.. ok, we need to pay about 8/9M USD to bring to the NBA, the salary with Real Madrid its about 5,6 M€, a year

 

If in theory an NBA team with a hole at PG/SG had his rights and called him mid season to offer him 4 years 40 million, and Real Madrid & Llull were able to agree to buyout terms with that team then sure, I could see Llull gladly accepting 4 years 40 million under those conditions.

Scola is pretty much the Hakeem Olajuwon of Euroleague and he accepted a similar offer to play for the Rockets when he was a free agent a few years ago, and teams from Europe were wanting him back. So you'd have to think that Llull, who isn't really a star player over there, would be open to that large of a deal.. especially if there was opportunity to be a starter or a key rotation player.

So in theory sure... in reality... no. The Rockets can't offer him that kind of money, and the conditions aren't right.

 

Why you asking me questions if you're going to answer them...??? Lol... I don't know the guy personally so I don't know if money is his motivation. He could be happy with what he's making and the lifestyle he has there. We'll just have to wait and see... But with Canaan waiting in the wings, I doubt Morey is even considering it...

 

IIRC, that offer to McCalebb turned out to be a $2.5M deal.

 

Our point guards got outplayed by Jose freaking Calderon,

Lin scores 1 point goes 0 for 5.

 

I was talking about when Scola went to free agency a few years ago and there were offers to come back to Europe and that is around what the Rockets had to pay to keep him. I'm not talking about the salary he first accepted to come over from Europe that I previously referenced.

You wanted to talk in terms of hypothetical (would he accept that money)and then you want to pick apart a benchmark example. You need some sort of benchmark to even make a guess. If you want to find better examples than fine, but I'm just using that as a high-dollar example.

Obviously every situation is different and nothing can be kept into strict hypotheticals, but the Scola situation is a pretty good benchmark for high end European star level players who are just looking for an opportunity to play and still have the opportunity to make a ton of money in Europe.

If you want a hypothetical, in a perfect world scenario, yes I think he takes the 4 years 40 million to play in the NBA.

And of course he wanted to play in the NBA just as I'm sure Llull wants to play in the NBA as well... the reasons why he says he doesn't is because he's smart enough to see his buddies Juan Carlos, & Rudy Fernandez wash out quick and come back to the Euroleague. If he knew he had the ability to have the career Scola, or the Gasol's have had, he'd be here in a heartbeat.

 

basketballaholic,

This Llull bidness wouldn't have anything to do with the extreeeeeeeeeeeeme and profooooound disappointment in our current guard rotation, would it?

Hunh?

Hunh?

Would it?

 

Daryl Morey did an interview a while back where I seem to remember him saying that Llull had let the Rockets know he wanted to win a championship in Europe before considering the NBA. This is strait from memory and I don't have a link.

 

If your a cheaper replacement but don't play as well, whats the point?

The Rockets seem to have a proven performer in Lin, I don't see peoples constant need to trade him away.

 

A4 paper size

 

"How big a contact would it take to get Sergio Llull on the Rockets today?"

Miss Ohio? (Can Asik get Terez to "contact" Sergio?)





btw: that bikini top is a size too small for her. What's wrong with those SI photographers, always getting the bikini size too small. No woman would buy a top too small like that.

 

This year? I believe the Rockets can only offer the minimum(unless a trade opens up cap room greater than that). But next year they'll have the full MLE. So I believe something like 4yr/$22mil-ish. It will take that amount for sure, assuming the Rockets do want him here.

The only way I can see this is if the Rockets trade a 3rd star/semi-star and is totally maxed out on the cap for the forseeable future. In which case Llul would replace either Beverley or Lin who was shipped out in said trade. Otherwise, he's trade bait at best.

 

I remember that too. I don't remember him quoting Llull directly but he did say he wanted to win a championship with Madrid.

 

My guess is the Rockets wouldn't offer that much. Who else besides Jasikevicius has gotten nearly $5M, as a free agent signing in the NBA? Pre-GFC, the Greek & Russian clubs could compete with MLE deals. Now it's mostly just the Spanish & Turkish teams but their budgets have never been as large.

Real Madrid's "max players" at around €2M would go to veteran stars and euro stars like Sergio Rodriguez, Rudy Fernandez and Ioannis Bourousis. The next tier at half of that & less are the American imports. I wouldn't be surprised if Llull's contract per year is less than that of his American teammates but with more money guaranteed over a longer term.

That said, he probably doesn't have the desire to leave Spain. Young stars like him usually find the bigger contracts outside their home countries, eg Papanikolaou leaving Greece for Spain this year. Seniority plays a part in how salaries are scaled for domestic players.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/nWjSUH-Ek4E?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

Has nothing to with how big a contract it would take to get Llull to join the Rockets, but I thought I'd share this Llull nugget with y'all, anyway.



Dat Moreyball shot-selection .

(via Simon Jatsch)