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OFFICIAL: Omer Asik a Houston Rocket (3 year/$25.1 million)

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by bigbodymoe, Jul 1, 2012.

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mvpcrossxover Member

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A lot of people on this board are confused about Asik's contract.

i believe it's a backload contract, no?

First two years, Asik's contract is around 5 to 5.5 mil, right? and his 3rd year is around 15 right?

that's mean that Asik will get 2yrs to show if he can live up to his contract if he doesn't morey will trade him, right?

#681 mvpcrossxover, Jul 2, 2012

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tinman said: ↑

I'm more excited to see how the rookies play .
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the rookies will play better with some size behind them. right?

#682 LewLLOYD, Jul 2, 2012
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Rockets_Texans said: ↑

god give daryl morey a brain
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If he can get into MIT with no brain then I'm in good shape.

#683 ihatekobe, Jul 2, 2012
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mvpcrossxover said: ↑

A lot of people on this board are confused about Asik's contract.

i believe it's a backload contract, no?

First two years, Asik's contract is around 5 to 5.5 mil, right? and his 3rd year is around 15 right?

that's mean that Asik will get 2yrs to show if he can live up to his contract if he doesn't morey will trade him, right?
Click to expand...

That's how I understand his deal as well. And I agree that for the next 2 years his contract sounds great but it may not be so easy to trade in the final year. Yes he will be an expiring contract but he will be making 15 million so Rockets may have to take on a couple of really bad contracts to deal him at that point.

#684 Horry33, Jul 2, 2012
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mvpcrossxover said: ↑

A lot of people on this board are confused about Asik's contract.

i believe it's a backload contract, no?

First two years, Asik's contract is around 5 to 5.5 mil, right? and his 3rd year is around 15 right?

that's mean that Asik will get 2yrs to show if he can live up to his contract if he doesn't morey will trade him, right?
Click to expand...

No. 8.3 per year, unless Chicago matches.

#685 Fullcourt, Jul 2, 2012
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The way Chicago works is that they will match the offer, then trade Noah.

#686 Grigori, Jul 2, 2012
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His salary and his cap hit are different. Roughly 5 mil the 1st two years, then 14 the 3rd year. But, his cap hit that affects the salary cap is evenly distributed to 8.3 all 3 years. If I'm wrong, please correct me.

#687 Ricksmith, Jul 2, 2012

mvpcrossxover Member

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Fullcourt said: ↑

No. 8.3 per year, unless Chicago matches.
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so it'll be a backload if chicago matches?

#688 mvpcrossxover, Jul 2, 2012
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Ricksmith said: ↑

His salary and his cap hit are different. Roughly 5 mil the 1st two years, then 14 the 3rd year. But, his cap hit that affects the salary cap is evenly distributed to 8.3 all 3 years. If I'm wrong, please correct me.
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I don't think the contract is clearly explain yet. Until we officially sign him i guess

#689 mvpcrossxover, Jul 2, 2012
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mvpcrossxover said: ↑

so it'll be a backload if chicago matches?
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Yes. Its a crazy loophole in the system that the wrong guy discovered.

#690 tallanvor, Jul 2, 2012
mvpcrossxover Member

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tallanvor said: ↑

Yes. Its a crazy loophole in the system that the wrong guy discovered.

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Rockets start of the off season with a weird signing. Confusing a lot of people and they're screaming about it.

#691 mvpcrossxover, Jul 2, 2012
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http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/page/asik_120701/nba-how-houston-used-loopholes-woo-omer-asik

In the current collective bargaining agreement, it's known as the Gilbert Arenas rule. In the next CBA, it might be known as the Daryl Morey rule, because the Houston Rockets GM just drove a Mack truck through every one of the provision's current loopholes in agreeing to a three-year, $25.1 million offer sheet with restricted free agent Omer Asik, formerly of the Chicago Bulls.

Let's set aside whether Asik is actually worth $25.1 million over three years for a moment -- we'll tackle that later -- and just ponder the evil genius of the structuring of the contract and how it gives the Rockets a huge advantage in prying him away from the Bulls.

Under the "Gilbert Arenas" provision of the league's collective bargaining agreement, a player such as Asik -- a second-round draft pick coming off his second season -- can be offered only a maximum of the midlevel exception in free agency for the first two seasons but can be offered any amount up to the maximum in years after that.

Houston took advantage of this provision by limiting his offer to three years, rather than the maximum of four, and offering the maximum eligible salary in Year 3.

Rockets GM Daryl Morey makes things tough for Chicago by offering more than $14 million in the third year of the Asik deal.
It's so damaging because of how the league assigns the salary cap and luxury tax hits for the respective sides. In Houston's case, the amounts are averaged over the three seasons, requiring the Rockets to have a little more than $8 million in cap room to consummate the deal.

No biggie for Houston; they would happen to have exactly $8 million lying around if they renounce their rights to Marcus Camby, cut Shaun Livingston, Greg Smith, Courtney Fortson and Diamon Simpson, and either waive Jon Leuer or use the stretch provision on Jon Brockman. Houston could also get there by renouncing its rights to restricted free agent Courtney Lee, but that seems more unlikely.

And looking ahead, the Rockets are still in pristine shape going forward. An $8 million cap charge for Asik in 2013-14 and 2014-15 simply isn't going to hurt them.

But Chicago? Holy hell, this is going to hurt. The league calculates the cap charge differently for a team matching the offer sheet, using actual salaries instead of the average. So the Bulls get off easy in the short term; a $5 million cap charge for Asik this year and next should have been in their budget to start.

But then in 2014-15, it jumps up to about $14.9 million. And it's not clear how the Bulls are supposed to handle that, especially given their aversion to the luxury tax and the fact they may be subject to the repeater penalty by then. Between Asik, Derrick Rose, Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah, they have $61.6 million committed and that's without paying Taj Gibson, retaining Luol Deng, or adding any free agent or draft picks.

They're almost certainly a tax team, in other words, and in fact they're likely to be deep into the tax, even if the league's tax level rises a few ducats by then. Which makes the effective cost of keeping Asik that season closer to $30 million than $15 million. And as much as I may admire his defense and rebounding, it's inconceivable that Asik is worth anywhere near $30 million.

Houston will hope Asik can improve on that prognosis by upping his offensive production to slightly less pathetic levels, with the tutelage of Kevin McHale, but even so his defense justifies the contract.

Are there ways around this? Yes, but the medicine is worse than the disease. If in 2014 the Bulls were to use the amnesty clause on Carlos Boozer, who would be on the final year of his deal, that would cut $15 million from their cap number (and likely from their luxury tax bill) that season, but they would still have to pay Boozer, which would still make Asik's effective cost $30 million -- except in that case, it's $30 million and a starting power forward.

Alternatively, Chicago could use the stretch provision on Asik prior to Year 3. That would cost them $5 million each in 2014-15, 2015-16, and 2016-17, possibly saving them from a luxury tax in all three seasons.

But doing so would give them only two years of Asik, while still paying the entirety of the deal, which means they'll have signed him to a two-year deal for $24 million. Which is about as bad as the effective cost of three years, $39 million that we're presenting as the alternative. (You can also count the tax hits in Years 1 and 2, but they're the same in both alternatives so we'll ignore them for now.)

Basically, there's no easy way out for Chicago, which is why they're unlikely to match Houston's offer sheet. They still have Gibson, who is an absolute defensive beast and is extension-eligible this summer -- presumably on far better terms than Asik's deal. Meanwhile, Chicago can shorten its frontcourt rotation to three men -- Boozer, Noah and Gibson -- while using Luol Deng as a small-ball 4 in stretches.

Thus, in all likelihood, Houston is going to end up with Asik. I have to admire their cleverness in pulling this off, but I also have to shake my head that this was allowed under the CBA.

When they get around to the next one, maybe they'll realize that it's unfair to count the tax and cap hit in the season it hits for the matching team, while allowing the offering team to offer only one season at the higher level. Houston drove a truck through this loophole, but in the future requiring four-year deals for Arenas contracts will at least require teams to offer a more genuine maximum deal. Doing so in this case would have made it a four-year, $39 million deal from the Rockets, required nearly $10 million in cap space (and requisite harder decisions from the Rockets), and likely pushed them to a different alternative.

On to the next question: Is he worth it?

That's a bit of an eye-of-the-beholder question. Asik's advanced stats support the subjective viewpoint that he's one of the five or 10 best defensive players in basketball, and defense in general tends to be wildly underrated in the free-agent market (although weirdly, not in the draft). He is also, objectively, a monstrous rebounder, with his 20.1 rebound rate ranking sixth in the NBA last season.

Asik is a terrible offensive player, however, with bad hands, poor touch and a proclivity for illegal screens. Advanced stats seem to indicate that he takes away almost as much with his offense as he does with his defense -- but that overall he's a plus, even compared to the league average.

And that, in the big picture, makes him a second-tier starting center. And you know how much those are worth? About $8 million a year. Houston should know; they just paid nearly the same amount to the departed Samuel Dalembert.

Houston will hope Asik can improve on that prognosis by upping his offensive production to slightly less pathetic levels, with the tutelage of Kevin McHale, but even so his defense justifies the contract.

It also helps that Houston gets somebody under lock and key before re-signing its own free agents. The cap holds for Lee and Goran Dragic are low enough that it behooves the Rockets to use the cap space first, and then rebuild their backcourt.

From there, Houston can go in any number of directions, depending on Dwight Howard's availability and the market for Kyle Lowry. But first they took care of the most urgent need; if the Bulls don't match, the Rockets will have a real starting center this year, and they won't be overpaying for him.
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Morey is an evil genius

#692 LandryMegaBeast, Jul 2, 2012

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ashleyem said: ↑

No way they give up Noah because of Asik.
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It won't be just because of Asik. Chicago was already trying to shed either Deng or Noah for some cheaper players. Asik is cheaper. They would shed Boozer if they could, but there wouldn't be any taker for Boozer. Deng and Noah, they can maybe find takers. Boozer, no way.

Remember, Chicago's owner is a lot stingier than Les Alexander is and their GM has always operated under pretty strict conditions.

#693 Grigori, Jul 2, 2012

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35 page debate on Omer Asik?! ****! And 25 million over 3 years? Double ****!!!!

This contract is as bad as Kelvin Cato's 6 year 42 million contract we offered back in 99.

Speaking of Cato... Asik reminds me A LOT of him except he's white, not nearly as athletic and even more plodding. Other than that the similarities are uncanny. Both of these guys have negative offensive game, can't shoot FT's worth crap, turns the ball over a lot, gets into foul trouble early and often and Asik even has Cato's trademark stone hands. Besides, if we sign Asik to that ludicrous contract Camby (God I hope we sign him) is going to severely outplay him anyways and Asik will be ClutchFans new favorite whipping boy. I put that on everything. Asik and Cato were even about the same age when they got their contracts from us. ****!

PRAY PRAY PRAY the Bulls match... use that money to pay Camby and hope we get someone else and if all else fails I'd rather roll with Patterson at C.

I really really hope Cato part II doesn't happen.

#694 Asian Sensation, Jul 2, 2012
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Ricksmith said: ↑

His salary and his cap hit are different. Roughly 5 mil the 1st two years, then 14 the 3rd year. But, his cap hit that affects the salary cap is evenly distributed to 8.3 all 3 years. If I'm wrong, please correct me.
Click to expand...

You are correct. The cap hit will be 8.3 mil a yr for 3yrs, but Les will pay him 5mil the first two seasons and 15 mil the final season.

#695 macho87, Jul 2, 2012
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BossHogg713 said: ↑

Omer Asiks GF!

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YUM! :grin:

#696 BEARCLAW, Jul 2, 2012
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this deal is a freakin' genius deal.

people are choosing to turn a blind eye to Batum, Hibbert, Nash, Garnett, deals thats commonplace in today's NBA.

Get with the times, people!

#697 W22_STREAK, Jul 2, 2012
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Horry33 said: ↑

That's how I understand his deal as well. And I agree that for the next 2 years his contract sounds great but it may not be so easy to trade in the final year. Yes he will be an expiring contract but he will be making 15 million so Rockets may have to take on a couple of really bad contracts to deal him at that point.
Click to expand...

Sounds to me like they are taking a risk.

Maybe McHale thinks he can improve Asik's offensive game?

If Houston signs this guy, they'd better hope McHale can do so...

#698 BEARCLAW, Jul 2, 2012

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Asian Sensation said: ↑

35 page debate on Omer Asik?! ****! And 25 million over 3 years? Double ****!!!!

This contract is as bad as Kelvin Cato's 6 year 42 million contract we offered back in 99.

Speaking of Cato... Asik reminds me A LOT of him except he's white, not nearly as athletic and even more plodding. Other than that the similarities are uncanny. Both of these guys have negative offensive game, can't shoot FT's worth crap, turns the ball over a lot, gets into foul trouble early and often and Asik even has Cato's trademark stone hands. Besides, if we sign Asik to that ludicrous contract Camby (God I hope we sign him) is going to severely outplay him anyways and Asik will be ClutchFans new favorite whipping boy. I put that on everything. Asik and Cato were even about the same age when they got their contracts from us. ****!

PRAY PRAY PRAY the Bulls match... use that money to pay Camby and hope we get someone else and if all else fails I'd rather roll with Patterson at C.

I really really hope Cato part II doesn't happen.
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I don't understand your whine. His 3-year contract is way better than Cato's six-year contract.

I agree we overpaid him but this is they only way to pry him from the Bulls.

#699 ashleyem, Jul 2, 2012
mvpcrossxover Member

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BEARCLAW said: ↑

YUM! :grin:
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she's only 5'4"............... omer, you crazy sunovabeetch

#700 mvpcrossxover, Jul 2, 2012

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