The Rockets currently sit $2-3M above the luxury tax threshold. Also, before the New Jersey Nets suffered from temporary insanity and decided to trade away Courtney Lee ($1.35M) in exchange for the right to bench Troy Murphy ($11.5M) for one year and then watch him leave, the Rockets were sitting WAYYYY above the luxury tax threshold. If the Nets had more sense, the Rockets would still have Trevor Ariza and his $6.3M salary keeping this team well over the tax threshold. Given that the Ariza-Lee swap was part of a complicated four-team trade, I seriously doubt that Les Alexander knew he'd be able to swap his $6.3M player for a (somewhat-comparable, at least at the time of the trade) $1.35M player when he shelled out to re-sign Scola and Lowry and to sign Brad Miller. Seriously. Lay off Les and these fictional decrees to get below the luxury tax. That said, if the team's going nowhere by February AND no trades to improve the roster are available, Morey would be stupid not to try to get below the tax threshold. That's just good management. No decrees needed for that.
Incorrect. You have it backwards. You cannot combine a trade exception with a player to match salaries for another team's player(s). A trade exception that is large enough can be split up to fit in as many players as a team wants. Just go to ESPN Trade Machine and look at what happened to Toronto's (originally $14.5M) Bosh trade exception. A small portion of that trade exception was used to absorb Jerryd Bayless's salary in the Jack-Peja trade recently.
What if we know we are going nowhere before February? And if we are going nowhere, and we start turning players into picks, wont the luxury tax be moot?
Why pay a big contract for Brooks when you can keep Cousins on a rookie deal for next few years? You're going to give up on your number 5 pick after 13 games? If they value Brooks so highly, why not just offer him big money when he is a restricted free agent and keep Cousins also? I'm not saying the Kings wouldn't make a move on Brooks today, but there is no way they are going to give up Cousins to get him.
That's a fiction too. Les got a good employee who might have leaked some of this information to him before he took on the big contracts.
no you bring him (landry) off the bench like we did when he is here. It dont matter who starts, but who finishes. Landry has proven he will syep up at the end of games......IT IS WRITTEN.
You said it in a different way. The goal is to get under the tax if the team isn't looking like it's going to make the playoffs. One could also look to reach for players and go far over the tax if the team isn't doing well, but this won't happen because it doesn't make financial sense for Les. Further, no one is out there selling dollars for a dime. And man Brad freaking Miller....is Morey ever going to make a good free agent acquisition? Anyhow...do you see any potential deals out there that could turn the Rockets into contenders in less than a year?
.......................................................... Proof or you talking out of your ass? Because that is a ridiculous claim.
But if they're souring on Cousins early (a #5 pick), they may be willing to take Hill (#8) and Brooks (#26 and a proven player).
Les would be willing to go far over the tax in order to acquire a star. Not to pay an above-average player near-max money. I don't think that qualifies Les as being cheap. I agree that, at the time of the signing, I thought the Rockets overpaid for Miller. But he's actually had a pretty good year so far for what they're paying him. $4.4M this season. $4.752M for next year, which will be prorated DOWNWARD, like all other contracts, for every regular season game the league misses due to a lockout. And then Miller's final year (with a $5.104M cap figure) is only guaranteed for $848k. It's really not THAT bad a contract, and Miller is at least being productive. Yes, I can see a potential deal. I think the Rockets should trade nothing in exchange for a healthy Yao and Aaron Brooks. That trade would be awesome! Oh, wait . . . (And, yes, I am as skeptical as the next guy about Yao's health. I'm just saying that the Rockets at full strength are significantly better than a 3-10 team. Now, add another good player to THAT team, and you MIGHT have a contender. That's all I'm saying.) No problem, man.
That's exactly what I was thinking. I love Kanter and this trio would have so much upside. Get it done Morey.
Lol, the Kings are not going to trade Tyreke or Cousins. Lol even more at the people who say they wouldn't trade Brooks for Tyreke or Cousins for whatever ridiculous reason. If the Kings want a facilitator to move Tyreke to the 2, then they should be going after Lowry. But leebigez has said all along that the Kings are targeting Brooks. I wouldn't trade Brooks. With the emergence of Ish, Lowry is the guy that needs to go. I would offer them Lowry and see what I could get for him. If they don't want him, which seems to be the case, time to call Cleveland or Philly. Not sure if either of those teams would want him either, because they have PGs, but after watching that play Jrue Holiday made last night against Wall, the 76ers might be willing to take on Lowry in a package for Iggy. This will open the door for the Rockets to resign Brooks. The only players I'm interested in from the Kings that we have a chance of realistically acquiring are Whiteside, Thompson, and Landry.
Its time for fans to really look at Mr.Hill for what he is....a below average 4/5 that has alot of upside but doesnt look like he will be a double/double type of player on a consistent basis...... I say trade him with brooks for a seven footer that can atleast rebound and block a few shots.....i.e. H. Whiteside........His window of improving is also larger due to how young he is and this being his first year in the league gives our coaching staff a chance to work with him,turning him into the center we specifically need.Note he is raw but so is jordan hill 2/3 years later! Landry/1rst round pick/Whiteside............ FOR......... Brooks/Hill
