The organization will just have to approach Yao and Tracy in way that won't be perceived disrespectful. Just put two offers on the table, one a max like offer and another that allows team to attract players. Tell them that by taking less, they can get them that third star. Tracy and Yao want to win real bad. You see it in their faces after a disappointing playoff series. So I think there is a good chance they'll take a lesser but reasonable offer. But you have to go about it the right way ... we don't want an Elton Brand situation happening here.
Its not possible to have both Tmac and yao while still having significant money to sign players. Just say its that 44m you quote. That meant yao -17m, Tmac-15m, Battier-7m and landry- 5m. So rox signs FA to a deal of 18m. Which Rox now have a salary of 62m. That leave 3m to sign 8-10 players? Whats the min numbers a team must have? And you still got to hope Tmac is willing to drop his contract by 1/3rd. Its just not possible. There is however someone saying that morey should take advantage of other teams that wants to drop salary. That to me is a much more possible scenario.
Well, it worked for the Boston Celtics this year. And the Rockets could potentially support a Big Three superior to Boston's. With a legit shot at the title, Morey has publicly stated that Les Alexander would be willing to pay the luxury tax. The roster would be filled out by some minimum guys, but there would be a strong buzz around the Rockets that would attract quality free agents (like Posey this year to Boston). I really think you could have Yao, Tracy, [INSERT STAR FREE AGENT HERE], Shane, possibly Luis, Carl, Brooks, Donte, and a couple of quality veterans for the minimum. That team could win multiple championships. Yes, it is possible . . . if Morey plays his cards right.
Its also important to mention that as of today, the Rockets have the 3rd or 4th lowest payroll for 2010. Just thought you should know.
Celtics traded for the players. Now how do you suppose Luis signs? A min contract? So? Check it again, he wants tmac who will be a FA to resign. While wanting to sign another star FA.
Well, let's do the math. If the projected salary cap is $65.7M, then we subtract the following salaries that I would expect to be on the payroll (assuming no major moves are made in the next two years): Yao Ming - $17.8M (max extension) Tracy McGrady - $12M (extension at this reduced salary) Shane Battier - $7.3M (expiring contract; could be traded) Carl Landry - $4.5M (could be less) Aaron Brooks - $2.0M (team option, likely to be picked up) Donte Greene - $1.1M (team option, likely to be picked up) Plus, Luis Scola's cap hold is $6.7M, meaning that if he wants more than that in the first year of his deal, the team will wait to re-sign him so that his cap hold is minimized. If he'll take only $5-6M, then Morey will try to sign him first to reduce his cap hold. But we'll assume that it's $6.7M. That leaves $14.3M in cap room. The Rockets would probably want to make a few minor moves (trade Battier; trade Landry; don't pick up options on Brooks and/or Greene) to open up a little more cap room to offer someone the max. But also keep in mind that some players will take a little (yes, only a little) less than the max to play with both Yao and Tracy. Of course, this largely depends on Tracy signing an extension at a reduced salary. But there is no need for Tracy to be let go or to take only MLE level salary.
lol, you are stretching it more and more. So now you hope to offer tmac at 12m, which is half of his previous contract, Landry goes from 5m to 4.5m , which leaves 14.3m to sign FA. with the possiblity to create more space by tradeing battier/landry away, meaning that now rox is going to trade to a rival team that have salary space that is hopping to sign a good FA as well. and hopping that players will take a <max contract. Put down the dream. Rox can certainly sign a big deal with a good player, but you can forget about the top tier players. If no tmac, why would LJ, wade come to rox, and with tmac, the salary will not be feasible. With so many teams aiming for that season, we be seeing possible more than 10 teams with sizable salary room, which will raise the price of the FAs.
I think people are thinking much too big when it comes to the summer of 2010. Lower you're sights. I could definately see Morey going after a guy who no one's talking about. The BEST thing about all these superstar's contracts coming up at the same time is that the normal players who would be in free agency won't be able to garner these outlandish contracts. For instance guys like Beno Udrih and Diop might get not have gotten fat contracts had this been 2010. I've noticed that Morey is a bargain hunter. He would much rather get a few good players on reasonable contracts than blow the cap on a superstar who may or may not get us a championship. Because of this, Scola may have to take less than what would normally be his market value.
