Various sources don't seem to agree on when his contract expires. Some say he comes off the books this summer. Other's say he's got one more year remaining. Not to turn this into an off season discussion, but if you consider the rockets proximity to the LT you'll see that his $3M can be crucial in the negotiations to re-sign Ron and Von. So I ask; does anyone have the final word on when this contract expires?
I think he has a player option and some think he'd use that because he's not going to get that money from anyone else being a FA.
as others said he has a player option so if for whatever reason if he wants to he can become a free agent this summer. But he has already gone on the books saying that he will NOT opt out (he was interviewed by a LA sports radio station before the last Rockets/Lakers game) and will remain a rocket next year (until he is traded). He is exact words were something like "with an economy like this it would not dumb to leave that much guaranteed money on the table so I have to take it" When i heard this, it depressed me deeply.
actually, i think after re-signing our own players the rockets will be over the LT and will be looking to dump salary rather than trading endings for future costs. unless cook or barry (or both) are traded with tmac to make a monster $25M expiring package, i expect one of them to get "franchised." ...and by franchised i mean traded with a future pick to get them off our books. just like the rockets had to do with steve this season in order to get under the LT. so of course we name it after him EDIT: thinking back, the first time the rockets had to give away a pick in order to give away an expiring contract while getting nothing in return was glen rice (i think). so maybe we should call it "getting riced"?
Yeah it's trade bait, unfortunately it's not likely to be used over the summer, instead expect him to be dealt closer to the trading deadline.
yes he has a player option, but if it happens, will any other team cost at least 3million a year to resign a Garbage Time Level player like him? if not, maybe he will not use it, then, be part of a big trade?
We'll be stuck with Cook as he'd be stupid not to exercise his player option. That being said, we may be able to dump him and his contract midway next season when trading. He's one of those guys that could be tossed in to make the money work for the collective bargaining agreement. Then again, retaining his contract and McGrady's contract gives us over $25 million of freedom after the 2009-2010 season. That can certainly buy you something nice indeed.
I think Morey would rather have Cook for one more year. as 2010 fastly approaching, any expiring contracts is going to be like a hot cake off the oven. We saw what happened this pass trade deadline. things will only get crazier and with barry, cook, and Tmac's contacts. something bound to happen. let's face it Tmac at his age and after this surgery he is no longer becomes a player that worth max contact. we dump him, along with whoever needed and we could sign a max contract player like Lebron or Wade. Lebron - depends on this year failure or success. if he wins it all, then I think he may signed on for another 3 years. else, he is open to the next team that is ready for playoffs run. out of so many teams out there, Rockets is the only team that can present max contract and opening the door to global market - China. Have you seem much of other players ads in China besides Yao? If any of them is smart and knowing the market is tight, then China's market is one big source of income no one can afford to overlooked. Wade has a higher percentage in signing with us than lebron.
This season's trade deadline was a bust in terms of significant deals being made around the league. Big expiring contracts like Wally & LaFrentz couldn't be moved.
Cook would be an idiot to not pick up $3M of garanteed money. So yes he's on the book for another year.
not "couldn't"--at least in Raef's case, it was "wouldn't". They'd rather have his money come off in this bad economy than take on a long-term contract. For Wally, it was a matter of wanting more for his contract than teams were willing to offer. Add that to the fact that next year is "the 2010 offseason" year...and yeah, expiring deals will be moved if teams want to move them
this could be due to many different reasons. i believe that the teams with the expiring contracts were asking for too much in return. they understood that other GM's would love to clear cap space, but owners would also love to dump $10M+ of future costs in today's market. so they asked for a kings ransom and no one payed. when push comes to shove and the league gets closer to the 2010 free agent market teams will be a bit more willing to pay up. as long as morey doesn't take the same "not budging" stance as those gm's did this past deadline we should be looking at 1 or 2 new players very soon. probably over the summer.