Can the Rockets sign Weber for a lot of money and then sign Hakeem with whom we presumably have Bird rights?
No capologist here, but I believe the answer is no.... I think Hakeem has to be renounced to create the room. You can sign him then for the $4.5 million exception (it is being upgraded to that, correct?) But if everyone has that exception, everyone will offer the same to Dream. ------------------ NOTHING BUT .NET CLUTCHCITY.NET
I'm not a capologist either, but I think there are two reasons why we can't do that. (1) If you're under the cap, you lose the exception. I don't know whether this means you get it back if you go back over the cap? I'm guessing no. (2) If you renounce a player, you can't re-sign him until like 60 days into the season (or something similar). I remember that was the rule a few years ago, and I think it still stands. Also if you renounce a player, of course you don't have bird rights any more. The way to keep Dream would be to sign him to a low dollar contract first, and then sign Webber. That's what we did with Barkley, who we signed for $1 million prior to signing Quitten (in order to free the cap room for Scottie's bloated contract). ------------------ In Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.
aelliott: Lets say the Rockets were able to get a fire under Cato, Rogers and Williams for the rest of the year, and we were able to use them in a sign and trade for Webber, what could we then offer Webber, Mo and Dream for next year? I assume we'd lose Anderson ... ------------------ the more I know, the more I know I don't know...
I've got a couple of questions. 1)If we are able to do a S&T with Sacramento of Walt/Cato/LOS/? for Webber, then wouldn't we still have the cap space from Dream's expiring contract? 2)If that is the case, then would we have to renounce Dream in order to sign him for $4-5 million a year or will the CBA allow us to sign him for less than his previous contract without renouncing him? Would his salary that counts against the cap drop to the level of his new contract? If we are able to do a S&T for Webber without losing Dream's cap space, we should be able to resign Dream/MO/Moochie/Shandon & possibly a FA. We might have to resign Shandon last in order to make it all happen. Sherlock, I don't think we'll lose Shandon, because we have his early bird rights, unless the team doesn't want to go over the cap. I don't see the Rockets letting him go even if it means going over the cap a little. At this point, assuming that the answers to the questions come out the way I think they will, it looks like A S&T is the best way for us to go. ------------------
Best I can figure, here's the best case (not necessarily realistic) scenarios using RealGM's numbers: Assume Cap of : $42.7M Note: Since we'll be under the cap next offseason, Cato will lose his BYC status. 1. At the end of the season, prior to renouncing any free agents our cap number will be $61.17M if Anderson doesn't opt out and $61.6M if Anderson does opt out. 2.In order to sign a FA, we'd have to renounce Hakeem. If we renounce Taylor, we free up $2.7M and there's no downside since we don't have his Bird rights anyway. So, assume we renounce Olajuwon, Taylor and Bullard. 3. We'd then be $13.5M under the cap if Anderson doesn't opt out or $13M under if he does opt out. Scenario A: We use the majority of the cap space to outright sign Webber. Whatever is left of that money after signing Webber could be offered to Hakeem or any other FA.We could then resign Langhi at a 120% raise and Moochie to an Early Bird Deal. Probably not enough left over to sign Hakeem. Scenario B: We trade Williams, Cato and Rogers to teams with cap space and take back no salary (not a likely scenario). That would take us to either $29.1M or $29.6M under the cap. Of couse with this kind of cap space we could sign Webber and still have $18M left over to use on other players. It won't happen, but that's the extreme. Scenario C: We trade Williams, Cato and Rogers in a Sign and Trade for Webber (again, this won't happen). It's pretty much the same scenario as B, where we end up with $17M+ in cap space. Scenario D: Trade Cato and picks for Webber in a sign and trade starting at $11M. We're basically picking up $5M more in salary, so our available cap space is still around $8M. Scenario E: Same as D, but we trade Cato for draft picks, to a team with cap space and sign Webber outright. Again we end up with $8M in cap space. My personal favorite is trade Cato to the Bulls for draft picks. Sign Webber outright starting at $11M. Trade 3 first rounders to Atlanta for Theo Ratliff. It most likely won't happen, but I'd go to war with a starting 5 of Stevie,Mobley, Anderson, Webber and Ratliff. That would be a potent offense and defense. ------------------
1. Hakeem will count at 150% of his salary ($24M) until he's resigned or renounced. 2. If they renounce Hakeem, we'll only be around $10M or $11M under the cap. Without renouncing Hakeem (and assuming we don't dump salary elsewhere), we're over the cap. So, to sign Webber, we'd have to renounce Hakeem. Signing Webber would pretty much use up all of our available cap space. 3. We won't have a mid level exception next year since we'll be under the cap. 4. Once we renounce Hakeem, we lose his Bird Rights and the ability to exceed the cap to sign him. We can resign him immediately, it's just that we can't use a Bird exception to do it (the 60 day rule was the previous CBA). 5. Since we'd be over/at the cap, the best we could do is to offer Hakeem $1M which is the minimum for a 10+year veteran. 6. Of course, if we could trade some players (Cato and/or Williams for draft picks)and open up some more cap space, then whatever money Webber doesn't get, we could offer to Hakeem. ------------------
The way to have both Hakeem and Webber on this team next season is to focus on the last point in aelliott's list. The Rockets pursuit of Brad Miller as a means of dumping salary would have provided that avenue. Basically what you do is re-sign Hakeem to say 4.6 mil or some small amount above the league average which is what the mid level exception will become this offseason and then use the remainder of the cap room to sign Webber. However, to make this happen will require a salary dump (Williams and/or Cato). ------------------ Check out the Best Source for Draft Info Draftsource.net
In this scenario, we'd also have to dump salary to re-sign Taylor, is this correct? What about Moochie? If Shandon opts out, the Rockets could sign him using Early Bird, right? ------------------
Nice to have aelliott back ! ------------------ Why is it that everytime BC defeats a major conference opponent, that opponent promptly goes on a losing streak? PS. Notre Dame sucks
