Lowry & Scola, are we really going to match?

I think it's partially posturing. They will match as long as the contract isn't completely nuts. They are trying to scare teams away from making them big offers.

 

I think we'll match for Lowry. I'm less certain about Scola. It depends on other trades the Rockets will make, and how much other teams are willing to offer him.

 

Anything over $13 Million per for Scola and they won't match

Anything over $4 million per for Lowry and they won't match.

 

I think they will sign or match both but not sure if they will be on the sqaud next season.

 

It depends on how much to match.

Both players are not in the big picture of the Rockets but both can have good amount of value if they sign the right contract.

There is definitely no contending next season with or without Yao being healthy.

 

I've been saying for Months that the real retooling of this team will occur in 2011.

We're going to have to make decisions regarding Scola - and it would be hard to imagine that Morey would let Scola walk after trading away Carl Landry.

One scenario is to sign them to a one-year contract to see what happens, but that doesn't work if they get multi-year contract offers which I am sure they will if they want. So the one year stuff is out.

Morey is going to have to decide - if he signs Brooks and Scola, I think it might mean this is Yao's last season in a Rockets uniform unless he is willing to take a big big pay cut (especially at 20-25 minutes a game).

It will be interesting to see how it unfolds. I don't think Denver is going to be able to beat the Lakers the next two playoffs, and that might be enough to entice Carmelo to make a jump.

If the Rockets play well next year in the playoffs - and this is very important that they do - it may convince big free agent stars that they can help bring Houston to the promise land and end their own frustrations. That's the key.

 

a lot of teams have cap space to wait for big fish. the closer to July 1, the more you believe big fishes will stay where they are now. therefore, those teams that have cap space will turn to 2nd tier. scola and lowry could get unbelievable offer sheets in the early of the summer. in this case, i really doubt morey will match both. the most likely decision is to match one of them.

the chance to match scola's one is bigger than lowry's. always remember to get bigs is always tougher than to get gds.

 

I disagree.

W/ a healthy Yao this team can & will be in contention next season.

 

If they sign other offers, we'll match within reason. I don't know if they'll both be Rockets next season, but don't see them signing one year tenders.

 

They'd need Scola for any sign and trade involving Bosh, wouldn't they?

 

of course we are DM isnt gona declare it so adamantly if he wasnt 100% sure
he would jus look stupid if we dont

 

DD, I could not disagree more. Other than the obvious point that the Rockets wouldn't match a ridiculous offer for either player (like Scola getting near max money), I think the team VERY MUCH wants to lock those two guys up long term. Both Scola and Lowry are viewed as key components of this team, whether or not it is built around Yao.

The fact remains that, as long as Scola and Lowry are retained at reasonable salaries (and the history of restricted free agency suggests that they will), it is actually better to have those two under contract heading into 2011 free agency than to have them as unrestricted free agents.

Here are a few points to consider:

--If Lowry is unrestricted, he's probably going to bolt to a team willing to give him a starting position.

--If Scola just accepted his qualifying offer this summer, his cap hold next summer would be about $8.21M. Most likely, if Scola is re-signed this summer, his 2011-12 salary will be less than that.

--If Lowry accepted his qualifying offer this summer, his cap hold next summer would be about $5.95M. Most likely, if Lowry is re-signed this summer, his 2011-12 salary will be significantly less than that.

--Based on the above-referenced cap holds, unless Les Alexander is okay with dumping those two (and apparently he is not), the Rockets would actually have LESS salary cap flexibility early in free agency when big name guys like Carmelo will be flying off the shelf. Not until Scola and Lowry re-sign to small amounts than their cap holds (if they can be re-signed at all) will the Rockets get any more flexibility in this regard.

--If Yao is done and the team is ready to part ways with him, then the Rockets would expect to have significant cap room in 2011, even including Scola and Lowry. It is impossible to know how much room they'd have, however, since the new CBA could substantially affect the cap. Even so, the Rockets would likely still have as much (if not more) cap room than almost any other team. Better to have a good amount of cap room and a roster that is highly competitive than an embarrassment of cap room and a sub-par team.

Yes, I know that the Rockets don't HAVE to keep Scola and Lowry. But those guys are terrific players and, more importantly, Les loves them. It may not always be for the good of the franchise, but guys who the owner loves get re-signed all the time, often to excessive salaries. Just look at the ridiculous extension that Rip Hamilton got in Detroit that basically ruined their rebuilding efforts. It is MUCH more likely that the Rockets get Scola and Lowry on affordable deals if it is done through restricted (rather than unrestricted) free agency.

Does that now make $0.04?

 

no way denver is going to win anything. denver is a showtime team. they have a group of very good players. somehow, if they become one of them, they care about showing off instead playing bball. they don't have defense. their defense is just to block shots or to steal the ball. those plays light out the fans and can end up on espn most overrated top 10 plays. they don't play any fundamental defense. on offense end, they like to play one on one. they like to beat you by dribbling and wait to shoot until you put hands on his face or by bulllying into paint area to dunk on you. players from denver kinda build up these bad habits. i don't know it would be a good idea to get this type of players.

 

Sacramento did an extreme test on the knee. They took extra time to make sure it was sound.

 

You make it sound like Lee just took the qualifying offer, which I believe would have been less than $3M. Instead, he took a one-year, $7M CONTRACT that was offered to him by the Knicks. This was done solely for the Knicks to preserve their salary cap flexibility this summer. Meanwhile, Lee got more than double what he would have gotten if he took the qualifying offer and at the same time preserved his Bird rights for this summer.

Personally, I think teams like Detroit and OKC were stupid not to try to sign Lee to an offer sheet and force the Knicks to either match or let him walk. I also think Lee and his agent should have tried harder to convince those teams to make offers. But, in the end, Lee had a great year in D'Antoni's "inflate my offensive statistics, please!" system and will probably make a good chunk of change this summer.

Sessions is actually also a bad example. Milwaukee actually CHOSE to let Sessions walk via free agency. They didn't even try to match. They were happy to select Brandon Jennings and were still stuck with one more year of Luke Ridnour. In the Rockets' case, the team desperately wants to keep Lowry and will do everything it can to scare off other teams. With Sessions, the Bucks basically INVITED other teams to sign him away. Bad move by them, IMHO.

Now, on the other hand, if you are saying that the Rockets will extend not only the $4.1M qualifying offer to Scola but also a separate one-year contract offer of $6-7M or so, sort of like the Knicks did with Lee, I could maybe see that. But you'd still face even worse "cap hold" issues with Scola next summer. Same concept holds true for Lowry.

 

Isn't this debate going on in two other threads? I don't need you to create a new thread to say what you've already said in other threads. Make a video if you're going to do that.