Question about what we can offer Brewer next season

No way Morey pays Brewer 8 million if he asked Brewer to waive $5 million next year.

 

Asking him to waive his player option simply puts us in a position to have flexibility to either bring him back or manuever to make a big move in free agency.

If no free agency options exists, I could see us signing all these vets we have bird rights for to large one year deals and try again in 2016 free agency.

People laugh and joke about flexibility, but its a great way to operate.

 

I hope BimaThug will clarify things for us.

 

I don't think Brewer commands anywhere near 8 million. Bad teams won't wanna waste cap space on him, and good teams can only give him the MLE, which is what I expect us to offer, in the 5-6 million range.

The book on him is written at this point. He can be a very helpful player, but he is flawed (can't shoot, gambles on D). His only value is to a contender off the bench. If some bad team does overpay for whatever reason, then we would let him walk.

 

BimaThug.. Come help us.

 

That's what I'm thinking. He's not worth 8 mil a season. 5-6.5 mil definitely. Now there could be some stupid team out there that throws 8 mil at him, but I can't blame Morey and Les for letting him walk if that happens.

There's no reason not to bring him back for 5-6.5 mil though. Enough with 3rd superstar obsession. Our depth is one of the biggest reasons we have the record we do.

 

BimaThug, wherever you are (and whoever you are), I guess we need you here.

 

Doesn't a lot of this depend on the cap jump next year? If Houston can't sign a top tier free agent this offseason, I could see them signing Brewer to a long contract, probably one like Ariza's where it declines every year. That way he'd be overpaid for a year, but as the salary goes down and the cap goes up he'll be a very reasonably paid veteran that could be traded pretty easily if need be.

 

We need our #RedNationHero!!!

 

Can't we offer him whatever we want? He is a UFA, when you trade for him you get his bird rights too (as long as his original contract was for 3 or more years in length), similar to Miami picking up Dragic. Like a poster above said we want to be as flexible as possible this summer the outside chance we want to operate under the cap to set up a big move. He is the most likely to be back out of he, KJ and Josh IMO.

 

I don't know what we'd have to shed to keep him, which I feel is the other part of the equation, but I'd really like to, if possible. He provides that spark that Beverley did a couple seasons ago, except Brewer's isn't going to go out. He'd be a spectacular 6th Man for us. I also loved his defensive synchronicity with Ariza in this past game. I'd keep him over Bevs and Terry and let him become an additional face of this franchise. I'd go so far as to say that the number one thing the Rockets lack is not talent, but energy, and Brewer pushes the team more than anybody else in that department on both ends of the floor. And it's upbeat, controlled energy, not Pat's brooding, unhinged energy (there may be a role for both, but I doubt the money works.) Keep Brewer or he'll be lighting us up from another team next year.

 

Yes, you are correct. This question has been asked and answered before, including by Bimathug, for those who don't believe anyone else.

 

Lock him up asap! We need a consistent core, not turnover and looking for the next guy. I don't want another third star chase, before we have guys like Brewer under contract.

 

I think he's a goner but maybe he gets $8mil coupled with the team option to cut him after each season.

 

I don't think the early bird is the correct one to use.

Full bird goes to players that have had three years under contract and his bird rights were transferred from MINN, which would make him eligible for the full bird.

 

Let me put it this way.

The day Ariza and Brewer make over $15 million combined on this team is the day Morey is no longer the GM. The only way I see Brewer making more than $5-6 million here is if Ariza is gone.

 

I think all of this was outlined in another thread (Paging Bima: The Josh Smith Contract) and assuming the Rockets are operating above the cap:

Brewer: early bird rights held by Rockets, meaning they can sign him to an agreement that starts at the amount indicated by OP. They can also use the MLE on Brewer but if he is retained, it is likely using his early bird rights.

Smith: No bird rights held, so he can only be brought back using cap space (by operating over the cap, means this isn't a realistic option) or the MLE starting at ~5.5MM if the Rockets are under the luxury tax threshold or starting at ~3.4MM if the Rockets are over the luxury tax threshold.

KJ: No bird rights held and is a restricted free agent. He can only be brought back at an amount that doesn't exceed the MLE (depending if the Rockets are past he luxury tax threshold) if that option exists because it wasn't used on Smith or someone else. Due to his unique contract status and just for the sake of getting everyone back next year + keeping 2016 flexibility, the best case scenario is him taking his QO again (pushes his restricted free agency to 2016 and doesn't count as part of the MLE) and then hope he could be secured with the BAE (the Rockets get it back in 2016) or MLE if he proves to be a long-term keeper based on what the Rockets see behind the scenes.

2016 flexibility and keeping this roster intact for another year is predicated upon all of the above taking one year agreements at amounts using early bird rights, MLE, and QO respectively.