Rockets luxury tax watch 2019: What we are doing and why it matters

I agree. I just see some bad signs here that are concerning me about this owner, and its got me a bit freaked. Been watching how the Bulls have been for too long.

I NEVER thought I'd see a Daryl Morey GM'ed team give away multiple draft picks like this.

 

So do we just call up G-Leaguers to fill out the remaining 2 roster spots or...?

Edit: We are now $630K under the luxury line. The vet min for the remainder of the season is $270K. So we now can sign 2 buyout players and still be under. Good thing you're wrong!

 

A team filled with scrubs? Yeah, that'd be dumb. But if you let Morey work to find guys who had good value, and fit holes on this roster, even if you had to take back salary from the other team, you might not have a team filled with scrubs then

Besides, it's really premature to sweat hitting the repeater tax, when it takes three of four years to even trigger the damned thing, and you haven't even hit Year One of it yet. Especially when sweating it, and avoiding opportunities in the trade market, means pis*ing away one of the finest performances by an NBA player since Jordan. Get a trophy, then come crying to the fans about how the Rockets have to cut money.

Doing it before that, OTOH, sounds a whole lot like Blimpy asking for the hamburger today, and he'll catch you later. I wonder if Shumpert, Faried, and some magic beans are the "help" that Harden was supposedly asking for earlier this year?

 

Wait, I was told they were saving the rest of their MLE ($3.?M) for the buyout market?!

 

i would of thought you would atleast see what shakes out once the open roster spots are filled before having the reaction you have been displaying. giving away some of the picks was just a testament oh of how bad the likes of the players he needed to give up. when was the last time he had unplayable useless players like them to that degree. knight still can barely walk after how much time off. chriss may have the lowest bball iq in the league. ennis was pretty much done once hou acquired shump

 

yup...Tilman gotta pay LT to maintain our quota of scrubs for whatever reason

How many GM’s in this league are doing that? Maybe if the Rockets were playing like last season Tilman would be fine with LT payments.

 

No the season isn't over and the roster isn't set either.

They have added depth with Faried and Rivers and Shumpert and they will add at least another in the buyout market.

If they manage to add Morris, they will be in about as good a shape as anyone could have expected.

It is amazing that Morey somehow cobbled together a roster with so many holes.

 

If they snag a Morris twin out of this trash heap of a trade season I'll resend at least one of my critical posts here.

 

They have 3 roster spots. Would be interested to see how those get filled. They might only fill 2 spots though.

Yeah, if they get Markieff Morris, then they will yield (Shumpert/Morris) instead of the rumored (JaMychal Green/Temple) tandem.

 

Huh? Holes?

CP3/Melton
Harden/Gordon
Ariza/House
Tucker/Anderson
Capela/Nene

How is the current team any better than the one the Rockets could have brought to this point without giving up anything at all? Indeed, the Rockets lost assets and got worse.

Go through the same motions and the Rockets are left with

CP3/T. Johnson
Harden/Gordon
Ariza/House
Tucker/
Capela/Faried

With Ellington, Ennis, Nene, Melton, a 1st and two 2nds to grab a non-replacement level player.

 

I can’t believe it’s come to me wanting a Morris. But if that’s the best stretch 4 on the buyout market, then it is what it is.

Morey really is incredible. Legit.

 

With what assets tho? Has Morey not been trying all season? Nobody wants what we’re offering. Harden can ask for help all he wants, but that would require a team to actually want what we have and be willing to give us something good in return.

I don’t see why Tilman should be paying LT for this team. If this was the 65 win team, it would be a different story. If Morey was able to acquire Butler or some other high impact player, it would be a different story.

 

lol i think you'll be back to normal in due time

 

The Rockets have added Rivers, Faried and Shumpert to their rotation in the last 5 weeks.

Those are three rotation pieces that were not on the Rockets around Christmas time. That doesn't even include anyone else they add through buyout.

So yeah, the Rockets now have a lot more depth than when they started the season.

 

I don't get this. Did these "unplayable useless players" fall from the sky into Toyota Center or something? Morey picked them. This isn't a case where Morey had to come in and clean up Carroll Dawson's mess. This was his from the start. O.K., maybe Paul and/or Harden forced 'Melo on him, but the rest of this poo-poo platter all came from Morey's kitchen.

Mostly, I think the fans are just frustrated with the rising tide of bulls**t flowing from Toyota Center about this team's future promised acquisitions. From last offseason---we're going to have our pick of free agents---to pre-trade deadline, and hey, maybe Thibs was the one to blame for that abortion that was the chase for 'General Soreness'---and now they're supposed to be strong contenders in the buyout market. It's not ringing true anymore. Just complete one move this year that doesn't stink of desperately trying to dump salary.

Even with Morey finding guys like Rivers and Faried and House on the scrapheap. Though even with House, they've tried to cheap their way through it. Criminy, just see if you could sign House for something like 8/3. It'd still be less than you're committed to giving Paul, as annual raises.

 

what does morey picked them have to do with them being useless? he thought they could contribute, they didn't and werent even close. is morey picking them some kind of reason for them to be immune from that?

house doesn't deserve any more than what was offered. that was absolutely a fair offer for someone whose still never gotten an nba contract and still needing to prove he can play

 

Which would be SOOOO much better.

Although I really do like JaM Green. But Temple is a scrub.

 

I think Morey's been trying, but with the major, Fertitta-imposed, constraint of not being allowed to take significant extra salary back in any deal. Which, given you've accurately noted that Morey's been reduced to trying to peddle our trash to try and get something decent, (as well as the fact that the rest of the league seems to have learned not to deal with him straight up anymore), means that Morey really can't do anything. Other than identify and acquire prematurely-discarded players like the aforementioned House/Faried/Rivers.

If he was allowed to ignore, within reason, LT concerns, I think he'd be able to get quite a few players that'd fill big holes here. Like for example, 'Kieff from the Wizards. And possibly others from teams whose GM's early on decided to not strongly compete this year.

But if all he can do is stay under the cap, while simultaneously working around Paul/Harden/Capela/Anderson-->Knight's deals, then all we should rationally expect from him is more vet minimum guys plucked from the scrap heap, and, eventually, maybe actually drafting and keeping someone...

 

It's kinda' his job to not pick useless players. If they turn out to be useless, then that absolutely should reflect on him as a GM.

As far as House's fairness/unfairness of the offer, you realize that Morey offered him the absolute minimum that he could expect to make as an NBA player for three years? (And, if reports are to be believed, the first offer wasn't even fully guaranteed!) If he was playing in the NBA for the next three years, he could do no worse than what Morey offered him. And for people yammering on how this was the perfect showcase for three years for him if he'd just have taken the offer, this is the same GM that's infamous for trading people the second he sees value in one of his spreadsheets that he do so. I wouldn't have believed the Rockets would have kept me for the full three years either.

Yes, it was LOL-small sample size, but the guy shot near 50% from three in January, got along great with our star, and actually could D-up a little. If Woj had broken the news that the Rockets acquired that guy for something like 8 or 9/3---or less than the amount Morey already agreed to give Chris Paul as an annual raise---everyone would be filling CF with posts about how Morey's letting em hang on the league. So why not offer that to House---it's still less per year than they were committing to Nene---and see what he says? Especially since the likelihood of using the MLE otherwise in the buyout market looks like slim and none. If he asks for something ridiculous like 10 a year, laugh at him, and convert him at the minimum.

Many of you seem to have the opinion that we shouldn't expect much from Morey, given he's had to try and peddle this garbage to other teams. Well, when he's the guy that picked out the garbage at the store, bought it, and took it home, then it's not unreasonable to hammer him for it.

 

good luck finding a gm that is 100% perfect on every single move

as far as house you release the money he was offered is as much as a 1st round pick. but apparently house is supposed to skip over that according to cf's