Brian Cook feels sorry for you that you are not making 3.5 million per year like he is while doing something he loves.
<object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/A6Ao5C0BjdA&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/A6Ao5C0BjdA&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object> Some nice alley-oops: Spoiler <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/lTxm__usZJg&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/lTxm__usZJg&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/9mXl5cIP-W4&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/9mXl5cIP-W4&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
Bye Mr. Barry. Good luck to you and may your future shine as brightly as your championship ring with the Spurs.
You know, I was thinking about this as well. I think this was more a favor to Brent than anything else. It certainly wasn't smart cap/luxury tax management. Waiving Barry will cost the Rockets between $2.1M (his salary) and $7.2M (his salary plus the maximum luxury tax [another $2.1M] and lost shared revenues [$3M, on the high end of estimates] if Barry's $2.1M salary turns out to the difference between the Rockets being above the tax threshold or below it). Assuming that the Rockets won't be able to get back within $2.1M of the tax threshold (which is possible if Brian Cook's contract were dumped at mid-season), then waiving Barry likely ends up costing the Rockets about $4.2M. Waiving Dorsey, on the other hand, would "only" cost the Rockets between $881k (his salary) and $4.7M (his salary plus the maximum luxury tax [another $881k] and lost shared revenues [$3M, on the high end of estimates] if Dorsey's $881k salary turns out to the difference between the Rockets being above the tax threshold or below it). Assuming that Morey could have possibly traded both Barry and Cook mid-season (at the likely cost of multiple future second rounders and/or a future first rounder, plus a lot of cash), the Rockets could realistically have gotten back down below the tax threshold. The waiving of Brent Barry might possibly signal that Les Alexander has resigned himself to (finally) paying the luxury tax this season. At this point, the only way to get below the tax (that Daryl Morey would actually consider) is to: (a) make a T-Mac deal in which the Rockets get the minimum possible salary in return for T-Mac's salary; or (b) dump Brian Cook's salary (plus a pick and/or cash) to a team under the cap or with a trade exception large enough AND still dump another smaller contract or two. In the case of dumping Cook, the additional salary that would need to be slashed would require the Rockets to dump Hayes, Andersen or MORE than one of the rookies. It's looking like Les is paying that tax this year. I hope those insurance proceeds on Yao's and Tracy's contracts make up for the tax hit.
I like how these things read out when you read it years later on after it happened, "Brent Barry was cut for some scrub named Will Conroy?", though the context at the time shows its a good move. "Kelvin Cato was kept, over Hakeem Olajuwon!?" I wonder if Brent or his agent balked at the suggestion of a buyout lol. Or if this is 1 of those "favors". Why keep any little bit of money on the cap? Unless they're confident in their ability to trade later...
Well... wasn´t Eric Snow officially on the Cavs roster all year while also working as an NBATV analyst.. I wonder why the Rockets didn´t or coudln´t pay some other team, say, $3 million to take Barry´s $2 million off the books. I mean, Barry´s impact on the books would be at least $4 million (salary, plus tax) unless I am missing something... it should be worth it to pay another team rather than to waive him. Perhaps theay reached a very good buyout number to make it worth it...
I think there may have been a buyout agreement, too... when a player gets bought out, he is also ¨waived¨officially. So waiver doesn´t preclude a buyout. Lets wait and see.
It sucks that we were never able to sign Barry after his contract expired in Seattle. Always wanted him on our team and even though he pretty much sucked last year I still appreciated having him around.
Chron saidf there was a buy-out. And, Larry Coon says a buy-out amount replaces the salary amount in the salary cap calculations (does this include luxury tax calculations?). I would have to guess that Barry agreed to a buy-out that would be more financially advantageous to the Rockets than cutting Dorsey would have been. I don't think we'll ever get to know what the deal was.
Its gonna be a bit strange w/out a Barry on the team. Brent's professionalism will be missed. And the guy may have lost a step or two, but he could still provide more contribution than the much younger Brian Cook. Too bad there was no way to switch their salaries.
I still would have kept Barry over Cook even though Cook has a larger expiring contract. At least Barry can do something. Everytime he shoots, I think it's going in.
