I could have done without the terrible news today but not much that can be done now except move forward now I had a few questions that maybe the resident BBS capologists can hopefully answer in regards to Yao's injury and the ability for the team to move forward: If Yao is out for the entire season will insurance cover all of that or majority of it? Also can the rockets apply for a Medical exception for him? What are the requirements to request a medical exception? How much will the Rockets get? I read somewhere here that it was supposed to be 1/2 of Yao's salary or the MLE whichever is lower. If the rockets do receive this exception for Yao (or McGrady for that matter) when can they use it? Can they use it during the off season or will they have to wait during the season to sign someone? Also does the medical exception count against the cap? Are medical exceptions basically 1 year deals or can you sign a multi-year deal with someone where year 1 doesnt count towards the cap but years 2+ do? While I find this highly unlikely, Clutch did tweet that someone he talked to in the Rockets organization mentioned the "R" word when it came to Yao, meaning Retirement. If Yao decides to outright retire (which would be a total shame IMO) what happens to his contract? Does his contract still count towards the cap? Or will the Rockets just not have to pay him but have his contract still part of the cap? I doubt Yao would retire or opt out of his contract here, his money people wouldnt let him, but at times you can imagine Yao's sense of loyalty, duty etc and I believe it would bother him more than the average NBA player who would be sitting on his butt collecting paychecks while doing nothing. I am curious because the future of the team and what the FO does from now on has drastically changed. Depending on what the Rockets maybe able to do may decide whether or not if a "retooling" or "rebuilding" is the best long term plan.
Ok, some more info. Medical Exception: we can sign ONE player for $5.5 mil or less. As for insurance: It's prorated to the amount of games he plays, that is, if he plays 75% of the games, insurance covers the other 25%. However, this still hurts us in the cap department, no matter what we take an $18 mil hit if he decides not to retire.
Oh! and if we play the medical exception card Yao needs to be inspected by an NBA doctor, and he must agree that Yao will be out for the ENTIRE season. That means, if we apply for it, make the playoffs and he is ok to play, we CANNOT play him. Medical exceptions are rarely given out for injuries, and mostly given out for diseases/death (ie Sean Elliot and his kidney issues).
Also means we have two big expiring contracts to trade, one of which the other team won't even have to pay the guy. (Yao's insurance)
If Yao retires due to injury, his contract will count against the cap (and luxury tax) next year, but not the year after (I am assuming if his injury is career ending, he'll want to pick up the player option for the last year of his deal-- no impact to Rockets, not count agains the cap, insurance pay for most of the salary). Rockets get diabled player exception-- essentially the MLE, but you can also use it in trades. Not all that useful since the real issue here is the luxury tax limit.
Tracy is in a similar situation as well. He's insured, and he's slated to miss 1/4 of the season in rehab. Trading Yao isn't realistic tho, I'm almost tempted to start a thread about why trading Yao is the most asinine thing we could do.
If Tracy can play at all this season, the insurance doesn't pay. Yao, if the news is true, has essentially a Terrell Brandon contract. I doubt he picks up his option or that he even can? Most likely, he retires and the option isn't counted as being picked up, making this his last year. Keeping him would be pointless, unless you're going for the cap room. With that said, I hope we don't knee-jerk Tracy/Yao into an overpaid star just to try to stop the ship from sinking.
True, but correct me if I'm wrong it's my impression the doctors said he can't take the court until february.
Right, but the fact that they say he CAN take the court means the insurance isn't paying, IIRC. Right now, assuming the worse, Yao's contract is slightly more valuable than Tmacs, because the other team wouldn't have to pay Yao.
