This is why the contract's length is of utmost importance, not necessarily the amount, and why the line was drawn at the 4th year for Dragic. Maloney's contract was so bad not because he failed to live up to expectations, but because he remained on the books for what seemed like ages. It is okay to make mistakes when managing a team. What is not okay is allowing one mistake to hog tie future flexibility and cap a team's ability to maneuver/improve(see: ORL Magic). For anyone paying attention, it is plainly obvious that Morey has big plans for the summer of 2014/2015, the first year that punitive CBA rules come into play. I suspect that many unprepared teams heavily over the cap will start to blow their teams up for pennies on the dollar then. Morey is setting this team up financially to reap the rewards with the option of being predatory if and when that happens. That is why Dragic's 4th year is a huge risk, even though the overall contract was fair, because it disrupts our overall long term plans. Meanwhile, it is also why Lin's 3 year deal, although slightly overpaid, is not much of a risk at all.
Lin's contract is not long. The worst case scenario is that we got a bench player on a 8.3M per year contract. That's actually much better than Yao's last couple of years when he couldn't even suit up.
Lin is almost zero risk. Worse case scenario,he brings the team exposure,put's money in Alexanders pockets through marketing and sells tickets ... Best case scenario - He does all that and lives up to the hype. Wheres the risk ? Forget about Lowery and Dragic and look at our current alternatives.
BTW - The Rockets will get back the majority of those millions as long as Lin is on the floor from sheer fan-demonium. So at that point, we just Lin to be a serviceable PG who was better than what we had. Who did we have? Fortson and Machado. This contract = win.
Jeremy Lin will sell $14M in Rockets Jerseys in China his first year under contract. Y'all lookin at it from Morey's pov. Look at it from Les' pov. After all, the owner does own the team to make money. Not to satisfy us.
Howard is a bigger risk cause with Lin we won't be giving up any of team...Howard bolts and we got nothin but old former magic players...someone pointed out that the merchandise sales would make up for both players salaries which I agree with...I think the rockets have been so good at the pg developing and all so Lin I think can come in and be solid right away and his character is excellent and he has good athleticism and is smart and can pick it up quick.
You will find Lin worth that money when you see Rockets on cover story of SI and espn. Being one of the most boring team after Yao and Tmac gone, this team is seeking for attention desperately. Yes you might find a better PG with that money but nobody will give you that media coverage like Lin.
Anyone who thinks Lin is a risk in any way is dumb. There are two things you need to look at when evaluating a deal - a. what the player brings to the team and b. how much did it cost the team. a. We didn't have a PG worth playing. Fortson and Machado would be longshots to make most teams in the NBA....and one of them was about to have to start for us. So a big ****ing check on that parameter. b. Financially, not matter what happens, we will probably make money on that deal from merchandising....not to mention increased fan awareness in general, which is hard to measure.
There are other kinds of risks besides financial. Most folks here aren't interested in how the team does financially, but in winning a championship. So signing Howard is obviously a huge risk. The Lin and Howard situations aren't really comparable. Apples and oranges.
I think Lin is not the smartest move, but Howard is extremely high risk. If Morey sends the farm for a rental, well, that is just plain dumb. Lin has value beyond basketball. That is likely why he is coming. But, why oh why did they let this guy walk? They had him for pennies.
Morey's biggest risk? A month ago Morey was hated because "he never took risks." What happened? Good job Clutchfans.
What happened? Nobody acknowledges the future cap space associated with Dwight walking and his incoming trade teammates expiring. Or the fact that Morey might not even be employed by the Rockets once the results are in on paying a PG with a 26 game track record $15M/year. There's a difference between a risk and a calculated CYA.
Not sure why you still try to misrepresent the real pay, which is 8.3 per year. It may still be overpay, but a lot less dramatic as you want it to look. All risks are calculated, some more sloppily than others.
