Why didn't the Rockets make an offer (publically) to Chandler before the Mavs? Example, say Rockets offer Chandler ~$10 mil a year for 3 years. Then Mavs come over the top with their $15 mil a year max. At least give Chandler the option to say "man that's a lot of money, but I've decided to accept less" (as if). Even if that chance is small, it's better than 0%. In that hypothetical scenario, Rockets can still match Mavs' offer, right? So what do they have to lose? Or am I missing something here?
They negotiated with Chandler before the Mavs offer. I'm sure they had something they were ready to put on the table if Chandler was willing, especially if it was in the $10m/yr range. I don't see any reason or benefit of the offer being public.
They did make an offer. Typically, teams and players negotiate, but of course the player is low balled and then you'll hear how they couldn't come to terms, so the player is now a RFA. The bottom line is Chandler wanted a bigger role and max money, as he basically said himself. His agent controlled negotiations in a way that benefited Dallas and made it very difficult for Houston to keep him. So, that small chance you're referring to, was at 0% the whole time.
You are missing something here. If the Rockets objective in the off-season was to re-sign Parsons, and come back with the same team, then they would have made him an offer right out of the gate, and tried to secure him as soon as possible. However, it seems the Rockets objective in the off-season was to make a significant improvement, and come back with a different squad. Making an official offer to Parsons would cut available cap space, and the 'oh so close' pursuit of Bosh would have been off. Most likely they DID tell him the salary range they had thought of (possible in the $10m/ year mark) - when he got offered $15m, they just let the time dwindle on, but moved on to Ariza as a frontcourt partner to Bosh. Bosh fell through, c'est la vie.
Thanks, DieHard Rocket and RV6. When writing the original post I was under the impression that the Rockets organization merely waited for another team to bid first. So in other words, Clutch summed it up best when he said Chandler Parsons won’t be getting a free pass any longer. I'm still optimistic (cuz moping: ain't nobody got time for dat). Remember when Doc Rocket said "All will be super happy on Thursday" and nothing happened? And what a drag it was instead? Then a few months later James Harden was acquired right before the start of that season out of nowhere. So even by the preseason something could go down.
