I wonder if the Rockets will ever have a calm and quiet summer? Well, I hope not... we gotta win a championship(s) sooner or later.
Aelliott, won't O'Neal's base year amount be $6.96 million, his salary from last year? If that is the case, the package will not have to be so large to cover "the gap." $18 million in salaries going to Indiana might be more like it, which could return O'Neal's new salary figure, plus Croshere. Rice, Mobley, Griffin + a future No. 1 ought to work salary-wise.
Aelliott chimes in. Yep, a third team would have to be involved, one with cap space to take on a contract they would want. A trade that might make sense for Indiana, to facilitate this? Indiana has supposedly looked to deal Al Harrington and Tinsley. The Wizards will have cap space; maybe Harrington/Tinsley for Jared Jeffries (plays either forward spot, a native of Bloomington, IN) and the #10 pick (Hinrich, or any one of many decent available PGs this year). That would give a trade exception of about, um, $4.5 million, I think. Or Al Harrington for the #3 pick (re: Carmelo Anthony). That would also make sense for the teams involved. But these are asides; an idea that something of this sort would have to happen before the Rockets could trade for Jermaine O'Neal. And I wouldn't think too much about Aldridge's initial "report" of the trade. Sounded like he got the names being thrown around all mixed into one. Remember, he reported the Rockets turned down Shareef for EG; Rice would have to be in that mix. As he would have to be in this mix as well. And we would probably have to take back Austin Croshere. Cat (5 mil) + EG (2.5 mil) + Rice (10 mil) for Jermaine (10 mil) and Croshere (7.5 mil)......and a third-team trade. Good luck pulling this one off, Rockets. Damn; just get Brand. The Clippers will always suck anyway. Not to worry about bolstering them.
the clippers will match any offer for Elton Brand. That's the problem. He'll be a free agent next year however if he just signs a one year deal.
It really doesn't matter if we got those three in the starting lineup........hell me and you can play with that squad I'm dusting off the "air force one's" as we speak
No we haven't, unless O'Neal wants the MCE. Also, Indiana's priority is O'Neal, not either of the Millers. That much is obvious. O'Neal is out of reach unless you start talking Francis and Griffin, even in a S&T deal. The Rockets don't have the cap room to make it happen otherwise, and there are at least 5-7 other teams that he could go to that would have a better shot at a ring and at giving him a big payday in 2-3 years.
i seriously doubt that the trade will happen but if it does i don't understand why all these people are worried about sg and sf. My god if you have three perinneal allstars/olympians all in their 20's, there is nothing to complain about. O'neal and Ming downlow would be a dream come true for the rockets and a nightmare for the rest of the league. Everyone thought shaq was bad, what about 2 guys. look at duncan, it was him and a bunch of decent players, parker was above average but everyone else wasn't.
Indy's cap situation is really better than ours. They will resign Miller at a discount rate, resign O'Neal and maybe even sign and trade for Zo if B.Miller leaves. I can see Harrington leaving before O'Neal.
Of course! But, what if they sign J.O. and let Brad Miller walk? Then J.O. is their only big man, and that's something he may not like. It's a lot of work and wear on one guy to do all the banging for the team. So, our only chance is that J.O. had told Donnie, "if you don't sign Brad, I am going to San Antonio". It seems obvious that if Brad Miller wants $10M + (which he should) Pacers can't sign both of them. In that case Donnie would much rather have Cat, Cato and Taylor + get riddy of Croshere and Mercer, than just let J.O. walk. And J.O. still gets his Absolute Max Deal as he would be signing with the Pacers as opposed to San Antonio.
I love Jermane O'Neal and I think he's one of the top if not the top free agent available this off season. My question is can the Rockets really afford three max players in O'Neal, Francis, and Yao in two years?
I've got to believe this is O'Neal's time to get paid. He is more valuable this off season than he has ever been in his career so I think his decision will be made on money and money alone and for this reason I don't think he's going to end up in H-Town. If they're smart, he and his agent are looking for a high paying long term deal, not a one or two year contract like the Rockets would likely be offering. And there are teams out there that can afford to make such an offer this off season (San Antonio, Utah, and the Clippers immediately come to mind. Watch out for Orlando if the NBA allows them cap relief from Grant Hill's contract (the Magic petitioned the NBA for a medical cap exemption this morning)).
Barkley ruined the chemistry? If my memory is correct, which it is, Barkley got us past the Sonics which always beat us in the playoffs and swept us one year. If John Stockton doesn't hit that last second three pointer, the Rockets would have played a game 7 and headed to the Finals for the 3rd time in 4 years.
Dude, you totally don't get it. O'Neil will be getting MORE money if he came to the Rockets via s&t then if he went to any other team. If he was to look for the most money his best bets are Indiana or a s&t. For a s&t Indiana will have to cooperate. So if he was to get the most money, the big cap-space teams have nothing to offer the pacers. Teams that have things to offer are Houston (Cat, Taylor, Cato), Dallas (Fin or Nash plus fillers) or Minnesotta (Brandon's papers).
<i>Aelliott, won't O'Neal's base year amount be $6.96 million, his salary from last year? If that is the case, the package will not have to be so large to cover "the gap." $18 million in salaries going to Indiana might be more like it, which could return O'Neal's new salary figure, plus Croshere. Rice, Mobley, Griffin + a future No. 1 ought to work salary-wise. </i> JBC, That's correct, his BYC amount would be the greater of his prior salary ($6.9M) or 50% of his new salary. O'Neal is eligible to sign for a max of 25% of the team salary cap. That hasn't been determined yet, but let's assume it's $42M, which is what I believe it was last year. Then he can start out at $10.5M for the first year. That leave about $3.6M in BYC money that you'd have to cover with the 15% difference allowed in trades. If my math is correct, then that works out to $3.6M = .15x where x is the total salary from Indy. $3.6M/.15 = x $24M = x. You'll have to throw in more players on both sides of the deal to make it work. So, we'd have to bump the total of the salaries that we take back in the deal to $24M.
O'Neal may be Indy's top priority, but if he says that he wants to be a Houston Rocket, do they re-sign Reggie Miller? Do they let him walk, and STAY over the cap? Meaning, let him walk, get NO help, and not have any capspace? Traditionally, when big names decide to go somewhere, they will NOT yield another star. If O'Neal says he wants Houston, Indy has no leverage, and O'Neal will be informed by his agent to play it out like he'd walk to San Antonio or Houston. Believe me believe me believe me. If Jermaine O'Neal says he wants to go to the Rockets, Indy would rather have MoT and Mobley (not re-sign Reggie) rather than let him walk. Replacing Regie Miller with Cuttino Mobley and Jermaine O'Neal with Mo Taylor really helps them. In fact, if we throw in Rice and they throw Croshere in, the deal actually starts to look good for them. I really really can't see the Pacers letting O'Neal walk. It's just unheard of. There are absolutely NO positives to that kind of thing. Also helping everyone's case is that management is crazy about O'Neal and O'Neal is crazy about management, so screwing each other over is a very distinct possibility.
