Mo W, Nocioni, Barnes, Pietrus for MLE?

Chicago doesn't have cap space.

 

diogu looked interesting his rookie season, but was nailed to the bench under nelly.
The deal to move him to Indy I figured would do wonders for his production, as he is a more traditional halfcourt PF (although a bit undersized). to see him basically fall flat on his face after the trade was really a shocker for me...
..but if Indy was willing to part with him in some kind of howard package (aren't they in the market for good locker room guys?), by all means sign me up...

Murphy's outside shot has been inconsistant and his rebounding has likewise dipped. he has never been known for his D and is slow footed, which makes him an extremely bad compliment to yao on the defensive end. despite all of howards flaws he is intelligent and makes an effort on D, which is not something I feel I can say about Murphy (not to mention his contract is terrible even compared to jho)...

I would be willing to take a chance on jamal tinsley, considering his contract is comparable to battiers, which is palatable...on the condition alston would not have to be dealt in the process...(never thought I would say that...). at the same time I would look for Indy to sweeten the pot with either diogu or a trade swap for helping them clean house...

Indy does seem like a realistic partner to dump howard and possibly get the upper hand as far as talent is concerned in the deal

 

Getting Rashard is a dream but one that would be nice if it came true

 

We probably can't make the cap rise $4 million...but what about dropping our team salary close to that amount? Has anyone answered the question of whether we can buyout Sura's $3.8 million that we owe him this year...or possibly get an exception for it in some way?

 

grant hill with the mle?

 

I just have a bad feeling about Paxson signing him. I like Noc, but I fear Paxson may match the giant offer you outlined. And I do think he'd be a good fit on the Rockets, the less size up front (IMHO), the better. Yao needs room to work. He can't have a guy like Hayes, who I love, hanging around the weakside rim the entire game. Noc can help this team.

As far as the trade, I just don't see who would want Wallace right now. I like Ben a lot and would rather have him on my favorite team than Chandler (this year, at least), but why would Minnesota/Memphis et al want Wallace and his contract? Even if the Bulls would be paying off the other team (with an asset or draft pick) to take him on.

 

http://members.cox.net/lmcoon/salarycap.htm#20

DISABLED PLAYER EXCEPTION -- This exception allows a team which is over the cap to acquire a replacement for a disabled player who will be out for the remainder of that season (if the player is disabled between July 1 and November 30) or the following season (if the player is disabled after November 30). This exception can also be granted in the event of a player's death. This exception can only be used to acquire one player. The maximum salary for the replacement player is 50% of the injured player's salary, or the average salary, whichever is less (see question number 24 for the definition of "average salary"). Approval from the league (based on a determination by an NBA-designated physician) is required for this exception to be used. This exception can be used to sign a free agent, or to create room to accept a salary in trade. When used for trade, the team may acquire a player whose salary (including any trade bonus) is up to 100% of this exception plus $100,000 (not 125%). Also see question number 20 for more information on the availability and use of this exception.

If a player is disabled between July 1 and November 30, the team must acquire the replacement player within 45 days. If the player is disabled between December 1 and June 30, then the team has until October 1 to sign a replacement. If the disabled player comes back sooner than expected, then he may be activated immediately, and the replacement player is not affected. However, if the disabled player comes back before the exception is used, then the exception is lost.


Teams sometimes have had difficulty getting the NBA to approve an injury exception. For example, Danny Manning tore an ACL toward the end of the 1997-98 season, yet the NBA did not approve the Suns for this exception. More recently, the Magic did not receive this exception in 2003 for Grant Hill. However, this exception was granted in the 1999 offseason to San Antonio, so they could replace Sean Elliott, who was disabled due to kidney problems. This exception was also granted to Charlotte soon after Bobby Phills was killed.

Don't confuse this exception with the salary cap relief teams can apply for a year after losing a player to a career-ending injury or death (see question number 53). This exception allows a team to acquire a replacement player. The salary cap relief removes a contract from the books.


additionally ...

53. How do retired players count against the cap?

Any money paid to a player is included in team salary, even if the player has retired. For example, James Worthy retired in 1994, two years before his contract ended. He continued to receive his salary for the 1994-95 and 1995-96 seasons, so his salary was included in the Lakers' team salary in those seasons. It is at the team's discretion (or as the result of an agreement between the team and player) whether to continue to pay the player after he has retired.

There is one exception whereby a player can continue to receive his salary, but the salary is not included in the team's team salary. This is when a player is forced to retire for medical reasons and a league-appointed physician confirms that he is medically unfit to continue playing. There is a waiting period of one year following the injury or illness before a team can apply for this salary cap relief. If the waiting period expires mid-season (on any date prior to the last day of the regular season), then the player's entire salary for that season is removed from the team's team salary. For example, in March 2003 the Knicks were allowed to remove Luc Longley's entire 2002-03 salary from their books (and since the luxury tax is based on the team salary as of the last day of the regular season, the Knicks avoided paying any tax on Longley's salary). This provision can also be used when a player dies while under contract.

Teams are not allowed to trade for disabled players and then apply for this salary cap relief. Only the team for which the player was playing when he was disabled may request this relief.

If a player retires, even for medical reasons, his team does not receive a salary cap exception to acquire a replacement player.


to answer your question, yes we can receive an exception of half Sura's salary which is 1.9mil. But it can't be added on top of our mid-level exception, so it would have to be used to sign an individual player.

the retired injury exemption would be useless to us because it takes a year to realize and Sura's contract would have already come off the books by then.

we can however use his contract in a trade if the other team is willing to wait out the contracts expiration..

 

Thanks Pete. That explained a lot of questions that I've had about Bobby since he went down. I'm still a little confused as to when the clock starts ticking on the one year waiting period. The phrase above states "one year following the injury". As we all know, Sura was hurt and had surgery(s) much longer than a year ago. However, he didn't throw in the towel until much later (not quite a year ago).

Comments? In your opinion, there's absolutely no way to get the NBA to approve this relief during THIS offseason?

 

What about Francis? NY was planning on cutting him last year. The would probably end up doing the same this year. And he said he wanted to play for Houston. There goes two of your needs (a backup PG for Alston and scoring off the bench) right there. Yes, Francis would come off the bench for Alston. You don't need 3 scorers starting. This would probably take Head almost completely out of the rotation unless our next coach wants to run a 10 man line-up.

On the other hand, I'm liking Nocioni too. Fills a void, gives us a shooting 4 thats also a good defender.

Another guy to consider is Darko Milicic. Not as good as Nocioni, but has range, and can play both the 4 and the 5. So if Mutombo retires we would have a backup for Yao AND Hayes/Howard.

 

Casper, from the looks of it (and I am no capologist) the one year statement is only referring for teams looking to gain the retirement exception. that exception would give up relief for the entire 3.8 mil.

what Houston will most likely do (if not planning to trade the contract outright) is use the injury exception which only requires that the player be deemed incapable of playing by a league appointed arbiter. this exception can be used for a player contract worth of up to 1.8 mil in free agency.

 

Two names the Rockets should keep in mind at PF via the MLE:

Andray Blatche
Amir Johnson

Young, athletic, skilled and should be relatively cheap.

I think they should find perimeter help via the draft. Although, Sean Williams would be a good option at PF via the draft if his off the court problems drop him.

 

last I heard (and maybe kelly can shed more light on this) darko is looking for anywhere in between 7-10 mil teams, and is attempting to use the possibility of him going to play back in europe as leverage against nba teams...

I have a hard time believing nocioni will only go for the MLE himself...he fits the bill for alot of teams out there

 

My ideal scenerio would be this:

Luther Head and Sura and a 2nd for Ricky Davis. He could get 30mins behind Shane and T-Mac. It would also give the Rox a finisher and athlete that can get his own shot.

Howard for sign and trade for darko. Give the rox a guy with upside and potential. Better athlete than anyone the Rox have and a pretty good shotblocker/ rebounder in limited minutes.

Give the mle to Francis after he's cut or split it with Jason Hart and Mikki Moore.

 

I'll pass on more than the MLE for a guy that averages 8 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 blocks. The blocks look nice... but you have to be better than that on an 8th place team to get more than the MLE. You have way to much talent in this years FA pool to give Darko that much.

As for Nocioni... I figured he would probably go for more than the MLE. But you never know these days. Maybe they get lucky in the lottery and let him walk. Or maybe they do a sign and trade for Howard or something like that.

 

People we need to fill to 2 positions the PG and PF

PG - I expect Rafer Alston to have played his game as a starter because statboy Morey finds nothing exciting in Skip's shooting pct. The only real solution I see is Steve Francis getting the buyout and giving us the hometown discount.

PF - this shoud be the main focus in our trade attempts so perhaps package Bonzi and Howard for a decent starting forward.

Draft - Keep the pick and get a shooter like Morris Almond and such.

Coach - JVG will be gone by the end of the week so I expect either Rick Adelman or Larry Brown as possible repaclements.

Other than that we have pretty much nothing to offer and with no real assets I expect no much change to this team. However if the next coach can develop our young guys like V-Span, Snyder and Novak then we might not need much in the offeseason.

 

Rafer will start again this year, but this time he will get much less minutes because Francis will come back.

I dont think we can package Bonzi in a trade. That means Bonzi would have to take his player option and willingly be traded to Orlando. I don't think there is a solution to our PF woes this year. We'll just have to deal with having the Hayes/Howard two headed PF this year. I just don't see anyone willingly giving us a starter quality PF for Howard.

No Larry Brown. He's a master rebuilder, but he can't take a team thats already good and make it into a championship team.