Someone can correct me if I'm wrong but i think after tax payments, to match the $15 million deal for Ariza's 33 year old season we're talking a total of like $40+ million after the tax plus the repeater tax clock starts. And his play dropped off significantly that season. At least half the owners in the league (and definitely Les) would not be willing to pay that unless they had a star player effectively forcing them to do it. I'm not chiding Lacob for what currently looks lighting $68 million for Oubre on fire. That's great for the team and their fans that he's willing to spend that somewhat recklessly. But most owners aren't. The "luxury tax savings" moves we've made haven't seemed that out of course relative to the majority of NBA owners to me. Sarver straight up sold the #7 pick (Luol Deng) to avoid paying the tax back when it was dollar for dollar and there was no repeater. He also straight up sold a late first rounder that was a somewhat productive NBA player (Rudy Fernandez) he could have stashed overseas anyways and worried about the tax impacts later. OKC gave us Harden coming off a finals appearance to avoid going a few million into the tax and figuring it out later. Nothing done under Tilman in terms of team payroll is close to that. Even looking at other teams, Boston could have given Hayward the same deal Charlotte did instead of losing him for nothing with no real way to improve their team but balked because of the crazy tax implications. Looking at James Ennis as a possible facsimile for Ariza is much less ridiculous than swapping out Hayward for Tristan Thompson.
Boston was not in the same situation we were and Sarver is generally known as a very terrible owner. We should have paid Ariza imo. Simply because of what Ariza went for as a trade asset.
Yes, and this is the real issue I have with it. TF wants all the praise at none of the cost. He tells everyone that will listen that he will pay the tax and then he does everything possible, including losing assets to avoid the tax every single season. No one expects TF to spend 68 million in the tax, but people also expect that if an owner is going to be cheap about it, then don’t claim you aren’t being cheap.
All roads lead back to Oubre... It wasn't a reasonable expectation that Ariza at $15 million could have fetched real assets. The Oubre-Ariza trade really only happened because the "Which Brooks are we talking about?" trade hilariously fell apart and Ernie Grunfeld was still incompetently running the show in Washington. I wish Tilman would have thrown caution to the wind and re-signed Ariza since it would have been incrementally better for our team. But realistically looking at it, a lot of owners (and again, definitely Les) would have made the same decision. I don't think the situation with Boston is that much different. They went to the ECF last year and their conference is wide open.
How does signing Ariza to a 1 year deal hurt the future of the franchise? You know what hurts the team? Selling draft picks for cash, attaching asset to get rid of a contract to reduce cost. I can't believe we have "fans" arguing against this. How much is Tilman paying you? NVM, He's too cheap to do that.
Your comprehension level would have to be between a 3 year old and Forest Gump to think that is even remotely close to what I said...
Why? Ariza was traded and signed for assets another time after that. He was worth the money. He signed for 12.5 mil two years with the kings and was then traded for assets to the Blazers. Not only did he not sign Ariza, he replaced all our signings. with minimum players who were trash and forced Morey to give up assets multiple times that year. And Les would be wrong too. And he would get the same heat. Les also does not interfere with Morey's work. He also doesnt go on TV/News and talk a bunch of crap. They are a young team with more time to grow, they are not in the same situation as us imo.
Sarver is widely known as one of the worst owner in the league and certainly among its cheapest. The fact that you keep comparing Tilman to him isn't doing him any favor. Half the owner in the NBA doesn't want to pay luxury tax. I agree. But Every owner in the NBA has one way or another claimed that they would pay to put a championship team together. Only one has proven that he wont even do that and sadly he owns the Houston Rocket. If he wont pay to keep a 65 win team, he's never ever EVER paying the tax.
How was it going to help? He was already washed and no longer belonged on the court....so why light money and cap space on fire just to say you did? He was at best a bench scrub by then and it was his terrible play that contributed to the Rockets getting bounced from the playoffs...tell me again how deciding not to waste a roster spot on a net negative player like that hurt the team.
You keep saying one thing....that paying the tax does nothing, while trying to suggest that paying the tax does something other than light money on fire when there's no difference makers available. Perhaps you are impressed by stupid business decisions like wasting money and cap space on garbage, but that simply doesn't do it for me.
You still haven't explained how signing him to a one year deal hurts the future of the team. Ariza was washed? He was the starting SF for one of the best team of all time. He was only 33yrs old when he signed that 1 year deal. Lighting money on fire? Are you footing his bill? Why do we sign anybody this year? This year's team certainly has no chance to contend for a title. Literally any transaction we do this year is also lighting money on fire by your definition.
Tilman the Tool man is honestly a great owner, a lot of people like to blame him for their problems and misery but he is actually trying to bring a championship to Houston. All the misinformation and bias has clouded people's vision here so people keep repeating the same old "cheap owner" joke but the truth is Tilman is an owner to be proud of. Looking forward to seeing him hold at least two trophies up. And since he is from Houston, they will stay here this time...
Draymond Green hasn't played a game yet this season. You can argue he's overrated but he was certainly an allstar caliber big that theoretically should still be in his prime.
A one year deal? It doesn't....and it doesn't help anything either. It's just lighting cash on fire which might end up having a bad player like Ariza end up on the court too much....actually hurting your team that year. The final 3 post-seasons with the Rockets, Ariza, our 3 and D specialist, was getting burned on defense right and left and was shooting under 30% from 3 despite 40% of his attempts being WIDE OPEN. By not wasting cap space, the Rockets maintain roster flexibility which has allowed them YET AGAIN to put a contending team around James Harden despite Harden pushing CP3 out and really hurting the team. They have done an amazing job keeping the team moving forward.
Nah man the GSW owner made so much money getting 3 titles and like 5 straight finals appearances or something. He pays 68M for a lotto team big whoop. Ask NYC owner how many hundreds of millions he has paid while being in the lotto. I feel like being the owner of an investment team is like owning a drag racing car for a billionaire. Yeah you can prob make some money betting and winning races and stuff...but the expectation is its an expensive hobby and you will burn money more times than you will earn money. I dont understand penny pinchers who look at it as an investment, dude like put your money in Berkshire Hawathay or some other investment firm if you wanna earn money. You can prob get 8% return from a decent hedge fund YOY and thats what you should be doing if you wanna earn money, not buy a bball team wtf.
